The Saturday Character Clinic: What kind of friend is your character?
Exploring the Questions that Bring Characters to Life
Characters are memorable only when the author has taken time to consider the whole person. Emotions, flaws, past experiences are important - details matter. While you can’t examine every aspect of a character’s life, each character must be considered carefully before writing your story.
THE SATURDAY CHARACTER CLINIC is dedicated to discovering how thoughtful questions help writers to better understand their character.
THE QUESTION CORNER
What kind of friend is your character?
WHY THIS QUESTION MATTERS
Friends shape a character’s personality and growth. Joint experiences, points of view and conversations affect how a character views himself and the world.
Character friends increase the emotional stakes that a protagonist undergoes. The potential loss or safety can become the most important driver behind the protagonist’s actions.
In many fantasy novels, the friend character helps the protagonist by using skills that the heroine does not have. The friend often travels on the hero’s journey and helps to keep the protagonist from sinking into despair.
UNLOCKING THE CHARACTER - QUESTIONS BENEATH THE SURFACE.
Below are some of the basic questions when starting to plot a character. This is not a complete list, but it will start the conversation.
How did she meet the protagonist?
How long has the friend character known the protagonist and does she consider her be a good friend, acquaintance, or best friend? Why?
What drew the friend character to her? Did the friend like her humor, intelligence, kindness, straight-forwardness, etc?
Do they live near each other? If they do not, did the they live in the same vicinity in the past? Is the landscape, politics, or the community the reason they were drawn together? Is this how they met?
What do the protagonist’s friends/family think about the friend? Do they socialize with her? Do they understand the relationship? Do they approve? How do the friends and family affect how the protagonist and the friend interact?
Did they go to school together? Did they participate in the same social groups? Was there something that happened at school that affected them in the past and now. What kind of school did they go to?
What kind of talents does the friend have? How do they help the protagonist on her journey? Is there something that the friend is bad at? Does it cause problems for the heroine?
What is the friend’s favorite memory of the protagonist? Why?
Does she consider their friendship to be happy? Is she proud of their relationship or does she believe she needs to stop associating with her friend? Why?
How will the friend help the plot to move forward? Is she an integral part of the story?
POCKET-SIZED WORKOUT- TRY IT YOURSELF
Write a short paragraph describing a character’s friend and how they met. How did she feel about meeting the friend? Was she initially drawn to the character or did it take several meetings before they became friends? I’d love to read your paragraphs. Post them in the comments if you like.
CHECK IN
Is there a particular question that you would like to ask the friend about the protagonist? Why?
NEXT WEEK’S QUESTION
What belief about people or the world has most affected the current personality of your protagonist?
