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.
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, Rempy 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.)