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Balancing characters



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Wed Nov 11, 2015 9:53 am
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Storygirl95 says...



Hi, everyone. I'm struggling with something and wonder if you have any advice.

I have two main characters, a guy and a girl.
In the beginning, the guy is very shy and the girl is the absolute opposite. Over the course of the story, we see him get more confident and her show more vulnerability. This is what's supposed to happen.

However, I don't want her to seem too meek and him to seem too bold. More like equals.

Also, I'm struggling with them when it comes to character flaws. As humans, we all have things "wrong" with us. We're not perfect. I'm having a hard time because I feel like the girl needs to be less flawed. I'm worried people will find her annoying. On the other side, the boy needs to be MORE flawed. He's supposed to help the girl through her journey, but he can't always be the all knowing, always has an answer guy that's perfect. I'm concerned there isn't enough of a balance and I don't know how to fix it.

Any ideas?
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Wed Nov 11, 2015 6:53 pm
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Rosendorn says...



Don't worry about your female character being annoying. They tend to get judged unfairly by others. Let your female character be a person, flaws and all.

It might help for you to think of them as "traits" instead of "flaws". Take, for example, confidence— it can be seen as a highly positive or highly negative thing, depending on the context and others' expectations.

It might also help for you to think of them as "limits". We are all limited, which is both a good and bad thing. Make a list of what he doesn't know and what biases he brings to the table. Do the same with her. Ask yourself:

- How would they interpret the other person's behaviour?
- What do they know for sure about the other person?
- What do they think they know about the other person but are wrong about?
- What do they not know about the other person?
- What do they know about the other that the person doesn't know about themselves?

This should help you create people. Characters have traits that can be interpreted as good or bad (the traits are not inherently good or bad, because every trait can bite you or help you depending on context), limits, biases, and imperfect information. It's an artifact of human interaction that nobody knows all information in play. Remembering that when you're writing will improve your character relationships tremendously.
A writer is a world trapped in a person— Victor Hugo

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Thu Nov 12, 2015 5:00 am
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Lightsong says...



Well, if you have trouble thinking about him and his flaws, relate him to something or someone. Sometimes flaws do not come just from ourselves, sometimes they're about our relationship with others, or perhaps our experience on somethings. So, think of something that relates to him.

You say he's shy. Why is he like that? Is there any chance you bring up the source of his shyness to trigger his shyness again? Or perhaps there's someone he doesn't want to meet because of his horrible past with that someone. O.o You can think of many reasons to bring his flaws. You don't have to focus solely on him.
"Writing, though, belongs first to the writer, and then to the reader, to the world.

The subject is a catalyst, a character, but our responsibility is, has to be, to the work."

- David L. Ulin
  





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Mon Nov 16, 2015 7:31 pm
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Apricity says...



When you're asking yourself these two questions, you have several things you need to fix. Since this has happened to me heaps of times here's my two pennies. Keep in mind every writer works differently but this may give you some insight.

When writers have trouble with their characters it often reflects a problem with the author itself than the characters. Rosey's questions are great, I'll provide some more fundamental ones.

How well do you know your characters, ask yourself, do you know their values, beliefs, morals? How deeply do you know them?

How do they fit into the world you have created? What are their relationships with other characters? How do they act? Do you think they act like a normal human being?

Character development is tricky but it seems to me that you're trying to create a perfectly balanced set of characters(carefully or they'll turn into their respective 'sue'). I'm going to tell you now that a little character asymmetry is good, as it is with humans (perfect balance between two people is extremely rare and can be boring if not carefully handled). This link explains it better and gives you advice on how to fix it.

Last of all, if this is the first time you're writing this story. Which sounds like you are, it's important to keep this in mind but don't fret too much over it. It's more important to map out your character's entire trajectory before fixing the details.

Best of luck.
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