Chat has the honour of hosting the second Writer Talk Carnival. Our theme for this month is Main Characters.
The theme is a mashup of ideas from a few of our contributors. To keep our egos out of it, we are publishing as Guest Writer. Feel free to make wild guesses as to who wrote what, which we will not confirm or deny.
The previous carnival was Writing Tools & Style. It closes in the next day or so. The next carnival was WIPs.
Main Characters (aka Protagonists)
A story is usually about someone to whom things happen as they try to get something they want. This person is called The Protagonist. Other terms might include MC, main character, or hero.
A protagonist (from Ancient Greek πρωταγωνιστής prōtagōnistḗs ‘one who plays the first part, chief actor’) is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles and choices. If a story contains a subplot, or is a narrative made up of several stories, then each subplot may have its own protagonist.
Protagonist, Wikipedia
Your starting prompts
Here are a bunch of questions we came up with. You only have to answer the ones you want to, and can take things in whatever fresh direction you wish. We’re not the boss of you.
Tell us about your protagonist.
- Who is this MC?
- What is their setting (or starting location)?
- What do they want? And what do they need (if different)?
- What’s stopping them from getting it?
- Who or what opposes them?
Are your protagonists based on you?
Writers often say that each character has a little of them in it.
How much of you is in yours?
Do you stick with a single protagonist, or do you have several?
In your current work in progress (WIP) or any other writing, do you have just one main character, or is it more of an ensemble cast?
How do you name your characters?
Some of us carefully choose a character name to match the vibe of the characters. One chooses a name with a meaning that reflects the character in some way. Random name generators and baby name books are also popular.
How do you name yours?
How did you come up with your main character?
We writers don’t always know where our character ideas come from. Maybe they arise organically from the plot or setting. Perhaps they came to you in a dream. Maybe you designed them like a master architect.
If you can, tell us about where your protagonist idea came from.
Lightening round
- Favourate food
- Unusual hobby
- Earliest memory
- Painful memory
- Long-lost item
- Favourate colour
- Best friend
- Greatest fear
- A lie they told
- A lie they believe
Bonus content – the full MC interview
Author Buzz UK has a thread of interview questions for your main character. If you like, for conceptual bonus points, you can use them to interview your character.
Now it is all up to you
All that is left is for you to write your post and talk about your character. You can submit via Comment, Reply, or WebMention (the latter being the best and easiest).
Remember to link to this post and then ping us when you are ready. (The ping form is under the comments.)
Thanet Creative is starting a writers’ blog carnival. It is open to anyone who considers themselves a writer. You can take part pretty much anywhere…
Chat has the honour of hosting the second Writer Talk Carnival. Our theme for this month is Main Characters. The theme is a mashup of…
Posted in reply to Shall we talk? (Writer Talk Carnival: Main Characters)
This was written for this month Writer Talk Carnival on the topic of main characters. You are still invited to participate? (Way too short notice, I know)
I know that the modern books are all supposed to be about the interesting, relatable characters that want something. That the character is the one most important part of the story. Except when I am writing fiction, I basically never start with the main character. I start with the setting and the problem and the characters get inserted into the story – the story limiting what kind of characters they can be.
Maybe that is why I find writing fanfiction easier – the restriction then is on the characters and the setting, and not on the plot.
Out of the three original stories that I am working on, I have one with the mostly defined characters (because it is another entry in the world where I already wrote the story). The very vaguely defined characters for that piece I started for the drama writing group, which I will need to change to prose. The basically almost not defined story for the mystery/hanahaki story that I want it placed in Ljubljana during second world war.
None of these ideas started with the characters.
The first one started with the conversation in the local queer club, where somebody pointed out that monasteries were historically an excellent place for the lesbians and ace people. The reading of the novelised biography of Hildegard of Bingen proved that to me. Creating a weird, society defying women monastery. Which eventually got inhabited in the characters of Marija, Alberta and Živa. I started with the main character Marija, because I loved the idea of introverted, happy, aro ace character. The character of Živa and Valeria in that story changed completely between different version of the story. While I think Marija is a bit too passive – all she wants is peace to research and work, I do love the Živa and Alberta and I am sure they will drag her to more adventures.
The second one started with somebody telling me how the listened to the hours long mystery of who took the dump. The story takes place as the wedding, where somebody poops in the middle of the room and they try to figure out who did it. I have the names for the couple of characters – for example the bride and the groom are names Janez and Eva. I know some of their motivation – Janez loves Eva but wants to avoid the wedding night. Eva is hiding one very big secret. Their parents have their own motivations. I don’t have the feeling I already know them as a character though. I would not be able to answer most of the questions, if any, from the lightning round for any of them.
The third one… I have a vague feeling of the characters. They are still very malleable and I am sure they are going to change a lot while I will be writing and rewriting the story. I don’t want to talk about them much, since I don’t want to calcify them in their current form yet.
I know I had another story that I wrote for the drama club. I remember I like the main character and the attitude to her situation of always being the murder victim and their relationship to the death. Maybe I should be revisiting her as well – she was cool.
I am sure I had some other past ones as well, I simply have no plans to revisit them. Which means that when I talk about the main characters I am currently writing, this unfinished playthings are the only thing I can write about.