Chapter two of our textbook is all about creating great, complex characters for your stories. It’s often hard to wrap my head around how some authors build characters that I love so much. However, I’m often surprised and amazed when an author aims a character towards villainy, but I still love and connect with the character. Something that the book said that I really connected with and helped me to a realization was, “Part of what makes them [villian characters] so compelling is the tiny bit of ourselves we can see in them” (30). This really stuck out to me because it’s actually so true. In the most recent book I’ve read, Caraval by. Stephanie Carber, the villain character is running a magical game in order to mess with people by making the line between truth and fake fine. After a horrific heartbreak in his early years by the love of his life, he created the games to play with people and show them what it feels like to be played. Some people connect with, and like this character because of that little heartbroken element. Pain like that can really change and mess with people. So, the heartbreak turned him cold and made him act like an evil womanizer.
Another really important aspect of this chapter to remember is that you must get to know your characters as if they were your new friends. Like the chapter was saying before this point, your characters’ actions need to be consistent with their personality as if they were a real person. In order to do this, they suggest an author imagine how their character would react to various different situations. Would they avoid everything and just run away? Would they react with anger and violence? Thinking of them as a friend really helps because I know what most of my friends would do in certain situations because I know their personalities and tendencies. The reader should also be able to see deep enough into the character’s personality to be happy with the consistency of the actions.
