Why Character is so important to your story
Let your characters take you where they take you. Let them speak to you. Your characters are the baseboards.
Ad infinitum, every good story is a combination of many pieces working well together - plot, theme, action, dialogue, the point of view, backstory, conflict, humor, pacing, setting, and subtext. Take a piece out of this puzzle and the whole thing collapses. Not one of the pieces is more vital than character.
All the subplots, shocking twists, and complex philosophical themes are great, but stories will always be about people.
Sure, readers want thrilling, mind-tingling plots. They want intimacy, suspense, action, and intrigue. But none of this compares to a character.
We need characters who are real and make us understand something about life that we may have missed, or affirm what we already appreciate. They need personal magnetism.
The goal is to neutralize the Director. Give your characters soul!
Ad infinitum, every good story is a combination of many pieces working well together - plot, theme, action, dialogue, the point of view, backstory, conflict, humor, pacing, setting, and subtext. Take a piece out of this puzzle and the whole thing collapses. Not one of the pieces is more vital than character.
All the subplots, shocking twists, and complex philosophical themes are great, but stories will always be about people.
Sure, readers want thrilling, mind-tingling plots. They want intimacy, suspense, action, and intrigue. But none of this compares to a character.
We need characters who are real and make us understand something about life that we may have missed, or affirm what we already appreciate. They need personal magnetism.
The goal is to neutralize the Director. Give your characters soul!
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