Post by K'Sennia Visitor on Oct 1, 2018 18:15:04 GMT
My favorite protagonists are ones that learn and grow throughout their story. Aeryn Sun in Farscape is a wonderful example. When I first started watching that show I didn't like her at all because she was so cold and unemotional, and then throughout the story she learns to love, learns to trust, opens up, and she became my favorite part of that story. In Babylon 5, Londo and G'kar's immense character growth is most viewers favorite thing to watch. But then I would say all of the main characters grow and change throughout the show, and it's one of the things that makes it so satisfying.
Edmund in The Chronicles of Narnia was always my favorite probably because of how his character grows the most, as well.
Characters that start out cool and awesome from the getgo don't really have anywhere to go, but down. Poor Castiel. ;( One problem you can have if your story goes on too long is that your characters can only grow and change so much. If you change them too much they become unrecognizable and what your readers liked best about them will be gone. Your characters will become strangers, and your audience will leave you. If you try to not change your characters and just keep them at baseline, you can continue your story for a long time, but it tends to get stale and boring, after a while, unless your plots/mysteries are really amazing.
IMO characters that don't grow or change are boring. It's why I get bored with a lot of Star Trek and Stargate series's. The stories have so much potential but because there are no lasting consequences it doesn't matter. Discovery changed all that, of course, and DS9 did, too, to a certain extent. It never went far enough, but at least it tried.
It might be better to start characters out as unlikable so that when they grow they can become likable. Or you can make them blank slates like Bella in Twilight, but then actually build them a personality. The risk is that readers will hate your characters, be bored, and not have the patience to wait for the payoff. Which is why you have to give readers some reason to stick around, some promise of better things to come. Skillful writers are the best!!!
How do you handle your characters and their character arcs? Do you cause them to grow and change or do you prefer to write stories which require them to be more of a template, with ups and downs in each episode/book, but no or few lasting changes?
Edmund in The Chronicles of Narnia was always my favorite probably because of how his character grows the most, as well.
Characters that start out cool and awesome from the getgo don't really have anywhere to go, but down. Poor Castiel. ;( One problem you can have if your story goes on too long is that your characters can only grow and change so much. If you change them too much they become unrecognizable and what your readers liked best about them will be gone. Your characters will become strangers, and your audience will leave you. If you try to not change your characters and just keep them at baseline, you can continue your story for a long time, but it tends to get stale and boring, after a while, unless your plots/mysteries are really amazing.
IMO characters that don't grow or change are boring. It's why I get bored with a lot of Star Trek and Stargate series's. The stories have so much potential but because there are no lasting consequences it doesn't matter. Discovery changed all that, of course, and DS9 did, too, to a certain extent. It never went far enough, but at least it tried.
It might be better to start characters out as unlikable so that when they grow they can become likable. Or you can make them blank slates like Bella in Twilight, but then actually build them a personality. The risk is that readers will hate your characters, be bored, and not have the patience to wait for the payoff. Which is why you have to give readers some reason to stick around, some promise of better things to come. Skillful writers are the best!!!
How do you handle your characters and their character arcs? Do you cause them to grow and change or do you prefer to write stories which require them to be more of a template, with ups and downs in each episode/book, but no or few lasting changes?
