The most important aspect of most stories will be the protagonist or “main character”. I have found over time that the stories people will want to read the most are those that the reader can connect with or at the very least see as an entity that exists in a world where they either identify with its problems or understand its concerns. This does not need to be something physically based or even necessarily something that the character and the reader share in common, but it needs to be something that the reader can see and identify with as something that they should care about. Of my four examples, I will be using Velana Sinoryn primarily to explain this concept.
Amusingly enough, Velana Sinoryn was actually created after the story concept that she became the lead of was developed. I had wanted to write something that involved elves and a military school, and at the time was focused more on the school than the students that came with it. For example, I had already planned out the courses taken, the professors that would teach them, and the trials that the students would go through without actually having a cast in mind. In a way, I view creating your lineup of characters very much like doing a series of auditions for a play. Everyone walks out and reads the part they’d like, but in the end you get to select just who would fit best where. This became very obvious with the character of Velana Sinoryn.
Initially, I had every intention of using Velana as a stand-offish and distant character that was relevant to the story but did not carry it at all. Another character in the story who would later return as a focal point was initially intended to be the focus of the story, Aryn Tobin. When I created Aryn I had in mind a fiery individual that was drawn down by society. There are heavy societal overtones in almost everything involving Shadow of the Dragon, and Aryn as a new student to this school was under the strain of not only being something of an outcast, but also having quite the chip on his shoulder. I wrote five chapters with him as the lead, but I just couldn’t feel the flow of the story and it quickly began to fade away. I couldn’t connect with Aryn, so why should I expect anyone else to be able to?
That was when I touched on the idea of using that “stand-offish” character as the focus of the story. As a quick bit of background: Shadow of the Dragon is based upon the adventures of Velana Sinoryn, a member of the First House. There are three Houses in the story: First, Second, and Third. The First House is the most prestigious and is something of an aristocracy; the Second House is more of a militaristic gathering; and the Third House more or less completes the Peasant caste. There are distinctions of magical aptitude, combat prowess, and perspective between the three houses, but what is important is that Velana Sinoryn came from the most prestigious house. Even more importantly: from one of the most prestigious families in the story.
Selecting Velana Sinoryn as my main character had more than its fair share of penalties. For one, female protagonists generally do not receive a fair deal in fictional work. I have encountered two types of female leads in many stories, but most announced when a person approaches the realm of anime – Complete Moron and Complete God.
The “Complete Moron” angle does not always have to be quite so severe as the name suggests, but even if there is a ‘reason’ for why she is so incompetent, the point remains that this character is more than likely the only female in the story and also more than likely thoroughly incapable of completing something. She will, at most times, be rescued by someone else that later becomes a love interest. Despite her hardest efforts, she never rises above being a middle of the pack ___(fighter, for example) and will more than likely dues ex machine out of a dangerous situation.
The “Complete God” archetype on the other hand lends itself to the Joss Whedon type of female lead. More than likely this character will be without flaw or at least very capable of overcoming challenges presented without more than 5 minutes of a hitch that actually shows her perseverance more than anything else. If anyone has read the graphic novels “Blade of the Immortal”, you may know of the character Makie. Although many of the characters in that series are very powerful, Makie’s abilities place her in a different universe than others and she is simply capable of tearing people asunder without having to blink. I find the “Complete God” type of character to be almost irritating than the “Complete Moron”, because while the Moron at least has the hope of becoming powerful, the God has already set sail for fail. Once you’ve made a character a god, there’s really not much else you can do. I’ve felt that the Complete God female character is a way of assuaging the male psyche for allowing a male character to be defeated by a female. It’s not that he was bad – she’s just unrealistically good! Complete God is generally a complete bitch, unlike Complete Moron who is fawningly pathetic and places a high level of importance upon the secondary character in the story.
Tangent aside, I did not want Velana to fall into either category. So I thought to focus on different aspects of her personality before instantly damning her to a life of suffering at the hands of being overpowered(I will touch on Character Scaling at a later time) or underwhelming. Her personal tormentor became her elder brother, who is a character that later goes on to be quite the evil bastard. It’s likely that many readers either have an elder sibling or are one themselves, so they more than likely can identify with the dichotomy of younger sibling/elder sibling. In Velana’s case, it goes a long way to explain why she became the way she was. The imperfection of her perfection became her flaws. To be perceived as perfect comes with a high cost, and Velana shows that through her internal dialogue as well as actions (or in some cases, lack thereof).
On the outside, Velana is a pretty easy character to sum up. Demure, respectful, beautiful and well poised. Boring, right? The problem is that the façade is difficult to keep up, most of all for herself, and as the story presents itself you find that despite the fact Velana may say certain things that society would appreciate, there is something inside of her that tells her the way that things are do not necessarily make them the way things should be.
Internal turmoil.
That is probably the key to making any character into something that people can appreciate. Provide the reader with the fact that your character doesn’t know everything or have the answer to every problem. If something bad happens, perhaps your character just turns away and walks in the opposite direction. Yes, it may not be the heroic thing to do, but let them think of themselves a little bit. I’ll be honest, a lot of the emotions that Velana goes through are those I think most people do. Hesitation. Regret. Denial. All three are very important aspects of being plausible and believable, and all three go a long way to assisting in establishing blood for your character.
As I mentioned before I will touch on “Character Scaling” at a later time, but I will state now that it is fine to make your main character a special little snowflake. It doesn’t have to be a physical trait or a special power, but give the reader a reason to identify this character as being worthy of fandom. I have always been a fan of allowing your character to rush into the scenario, and not letting your scenario overcome the character. In the case of Velana, as will be explained at a later date, your main character can come from a very special background – that gives them a plausible reason to overcome what they will face in the future. Because the moment your character starts to do things that are without explanation is the moment your character begins to lose its identity.
