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Tips for writing |
I know that sometimes I have trouble thinking of plots, characters, or just flat out writing. So I've decided to post tips on writing for others, so they don't run into the same problems! |
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ifTHEYcouldSEE...
Community Member
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Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2006 @ 02:11pm
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Adding spice through character history
When you're doing multiple character stories, which is almost always, you should be very careful and particular about their biographies. A good story will have many elements. Say you were writing a story about a group of five people who are friends. You wouldn't want their bios to look the same. While it's often in stories that one character will be beaten by some person they know, then when they finally admit it, the person they admit it to also has the same problem. Doesn't that kind of plot get boring rather fast? It's always about characters solving the same problems over and over. Repetition is NOT good!
And when you see a story with a group of heroes out to get the bad guy and their reasons are all the same, doesn't that annoy you? Such as...
character 1: wants to kill the bad guy because he killed her brother
character 2: wants to kill him because his wiped out his whole village
character 3: wants to kill him because he was the cause of his best friends death
character 4: wants to kill him because he killed his last living relative.
Doesn't that seem kinda boring? Why don't you change it up a bit. Try something more varied, like this:
character 1: Wants to kill the bad guy because he murdered her brother. Fights with everyone in the group because they aren't that serious about it.
character 2: Doesn't really want to kill the bad guy, he just wants his best friend, who was tricked into joining sides with the bad guy, back. Fights with character 1 because she wants to get rid of all of the bad-guys disciples as well. But he doesn't want his friend killed.
character 3: He's just along for the ride. Him and character 1 get in fights alot because she is serious about it and he is just playing around, going after the bounty on the bad guys head.
character 4: The only one who -almost- gets along with character 1 because he is following in his fathers footsteps, and trying to banish all evil. But he gets side-tract a lot when other little evils pop up. He's very religious. Character 1 doesn't like it when he has to stop for religious events and to purge evil from other places. He doesn't agree with her on killing the bad guy, though. He just wants to purge the evil in him.
See how much more varied the character bios can be? And isn't it more interesting, too? And as for the bad guys, you have to have a reason for why they are evil. You can't just neglect the reason. Nobody is evil without a reason. Maybe they went crazy because of some huge event in their past, such as a friends betrayal, or the death of a family member. Try to concider this part of the story as well. You could even add a twist. Maybe the bad guy went evil because a friend betrayed him, but that friend turned out to be the father of character 4. What then? See how much just adding some variation in character history can add to the plot?
I know this probably seems cluttered and rushed; I know it. So don't point it out. I will come back and fix it up upon a later date. For now, just make what use of it as you can. Any comments or suggestions are welcomed.
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