By:
K.M. Weiland
Good character development is easy.
Writers sometimes approach it as if it’s the hardest thing in the world to create a
fully fleshed-out, compelling character. And certainly there’s a lot of
nuance involved. But truthfully, there is just one single key to
amazing character development, and that can be summed up in one word: contrast.
Or two words: conflicting traits.
When we write a plain vanilla character
(whether he’s good or bad or funny or pathetic) if he’s just that one flavor—if
that’s all he is—then he’s not likely to be a good character. The
best characters are like that chocolate-vanilla twist ice
cream cone that was always our first pick when we were kids.
This is why killers with a conscience and
their like are perennial archetypes. It’s not the killing and it’s not the
conscience that makes them interesting. It’s the contrast.
This isn’t just true of really complicated
characters, it’s also true of characters painted with broad strokes. There
is an absolutely fabulous example of this is Pixar’s Toy Story.
We’ve got the sadistic neighbor kid Sid,
right? And his evil is pretty much unmitigated: he wears black, he rips apart
toys, he loves explosives.
He’s a prison mug shot waiting to happen…
.
. .
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- Become a Hybrid Blog-to-Book Author - How to Blog a Book http://ow.ly/TwlU0
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Writability : Are Your Characters Too Passive? http://ow.ly/TwlYP- 5 Hacks to Create a Good Writing Habit http://ow.ly/TwlZM
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: The World's Greatest Book http://ow.ly/Twm0j - Peggy Bechko: Flashbacks – 4 Commandments of Writing One http://ow.ly/Twm19
- The Secret to Sales Without Selling: Your Author Newsletter - Elizabeth Spann Craig http://ow.ly/Twm2s
- Stop sweating the synopsis and write it. - Venture Galleries http://ow.ly/Twm3E
- The Evolving Literary Agent: What Savvy Writers Need to Know | WritersDigest.com http://ow.ly/Twm4h
- Five Books About Imaginary Religions | Tor.com http://ow.ly/Twm4W
- Operation Awesome: Weaving a Tapestry of Page-Turning Story http://ow.ly/Twm5K
- Writability: On Trying Something New http://ow.ly/Twm6y
- The Legal Side of Writing for Anthologies (Part 1) | Writers In The Storm http://ow.ly/Twm7c
- Hanging in the Back Matter: Indents Are the Rule http://ow.ly/Twm7Q
- A 12-Month Strategic Plan for Marketing Your Book before Release | Live Write Thrive http://ow.ly/Twm8v
- The Secret to a Powerful Author Brand | Kristen Lamb's Blog http://ow.ly/Twm98
- Pay-What-You-Want
Pricing: Does it work for books?
by Abs Farah http://ow.ly/Twm9V - How My Novel Became a #1 Bestseller | Indies Unlimited http://ow.ly/TwmeM
- Let Toy Story Show You the Key to Subtle Character Development - Helping Writers Become Authors http://ow.ly/Twmko
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