CHARACTERS
Every story you tell needs to have characters in it. It’s impossible to tell a story without
characters. If you do, it’s not a story, it’s an explanation or an instruction. Remember,
stories are meant to capture and lead the imagination of other people! And the way that
happens is to have them identify with a character in your story so that they can
experience the emotions you want them to.
The characters in your story can be broken down like this:
- Main Character
- Supporting Characters
Every story needs a main character, something which the action of the story centers
around. The best main character for your own stories is YOU.
Remember, people experience emotion and feelings vicariously through your main
characters. When you are the main character in your story, they will associate all the
feelings and emotions they experience TO you!
So you want to make sure those emotions are good ones. Don’t make yourself out to be
stupid, or mean, or evil, because people will associate whatever you let them experience
with you. If you want to make a point about someone being stupid or mean, use someone
you don’t like as an example so those emotions and feelings are associated with them and
not you.
The main character is the person the action centers around. They’ll be the ones who
drive your story forward from point A to point B.
A main character must be ACTIVE in your story.
If you tell a story about how you witnessed a guy fight three men by himself, you’re not
the main character of that story because you weren’t the one fighting! The guy who took
on the three men is the main character, because it’s his actions the story is centering
around.
Understand?
Supporting characters is everyone else that populates your story. They interact, support,
hinder, or fight against the main character. They can be your friends, your enemies, your
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