Chapter 1: Characters
When you first start off writing, you need to know who you are writing about. You need to ask yourself: "Who is my main character? What is my main character's background? Where is the story located? What is going to happen through the course of the story?" These are important questions to ask!
-How do you outline a character?
-The perfect character.
-The villain and the antagonist.
I. Character Outlining
So, who is your main character? Is she a girl that was brought to the Bionicle world by a powerful sorceress-like being? Is he a Toa sent from the future to warn our heroes of a great disaster? Who is this character we should be able to relate to?
What was your character's life before he and/or she met the Toa? Did they have a mom? A dad? No family at all what-so ever? Or did they have a humongous family? How were they treated at home? Were the abused? Loved? Respected? Outcasted by their peers at school? Where did they live?
Is this character on Mata Nui? Metru Nui? Xia? Earth? Or some distant land in the Bionicle world we have never heard of?
Does the main character have to save our Toa friends? Or do they have to save him/her? Do they go on an adventure together? Do they have to save the Bionicle world? Does the main character fall in love with their best friend? Does their best friend get kidnapped and they, along with their teammates, must go and saved the closest one to their heart? What is the plot?
Take my fanfic, The Everbinding Tales. Ultimately, it was the worst train wreck you have ever seen. But, it was my very first story. My main characters were the Toa Nuva. We know their background as well as we know ourselves (that is, if you are a true and loyal fanatic). The story is on Metru Nui. Through the course of the story, we meet my Toa Jumi (I admit, they are some of the worst). The Toa Jumi are looking for a friend of theirs' who was taken and they believe she is in the Coliseum. Basically, they save their friend and the island and live happily ever after
I tried to make my characters non-Sues, but I believe I failed miserably at that.
It is alright to mess up the first time, but you should slowly and gradually improve of creating a believable character within a believable plot sequence. Remember, humans are complex, so your characters should be too.
II. Making the Character
This is mainly is you are creating a character to insert in the original plot.
Well, first thing is first, what is your character's name? It is okay not to have a name for a character when first starting off, but you need a character.
I am going to teach you a little exercise I used to use when I first began writing. I still use it but it takes me three seconds to come up with a character.
If you are on a computer (you had better be!), open up Microsoft Word or Notepad. Type "Name:". What is the first name that comes to mind? Type that next to name.
Next, type "Gender:". Is your character male or female?
Type "Species:" (is your character a human, a Toa, a Matoran, a Turaga, a Rahi, et cetera). What do you think your named character is? Type it down.
If your character is human, type "Age:" and then their age, "Hair color:" and their hair color, and "Eye color:" and their eye color.
If your character is a Toa, type "Mask:" and their mask, "Mask power:" and their mask power, "Color:" and their armor color, "Element" and their element, and "Weapon" and their weapon.
The same goes for a Matoran, minus the element and weapon part (unless the said Matoran has a weapon in your story). Matoran bodies are too small to channel any sort of mana, or elemental power, thus not allowing their to use said element.
With Turaga, you may keep the element part, although it is not necessary. We do not know for sure if Tuaraga can wield any elements.
For Rahi, type "Color:" and their color, "Eats:" and what they eat, and "Region:" and where they live.
Next, come up with a bunch of questions about your character (in example, What are their weaknesses? What are their strengths?).
Here's an example the exercise:
Name: Lionne Gender: Male Species: Ko-Matoran Mask: Kaukau Color: White and silver What are their weaknesses? What are their strengths? Where do they live?
He is stubborn and does not know when to stop.
He can predict the future with his tarot cards.
He live on Mata Nui is Ko-Koro.
See? Very simple.
Now, why not try this exercise for yourself? It may or may not help you.
But what about they bad guy? The villain?
Did you know there is a difference between a bad guy and a villain? Yes, there is, for you doubters out there.
In Saya Moonshadow's A Road Not Taken, Mano, Shay, Siahta, and Malvado were bad guys, not villains. The true villains of the fanfic were the Shadowed One, Shinoda, and Tsuyayaka. If you have never read the fantastic wonder that girl created, then I shun you and suggest you do. If you have, then you know what I am talking about. Saya Moonshadow has explained it well without meaning to.
Bad guys are not quite villains, but they are fully heroes, they are somewhere in between.
If there is one thing I know, it is how to create a villain. Ultimately, that is all I ever create. In my opinion, Teridax is by far the best villain I have seen in a series meant for children.
A villain must be cunning, witty, and deceitful (things I see in Teridax). A villain must be a trickster, like Tamora Pierce's Kyprioth in her Daughter of the Lioness duology (although Kyprioth is stuck a bad guy and a good guy, he has many villainous qualities about him). They should have an air of power and strength about them, the kind that would make you cower and loath them. They should be seemingly flawless, but as we know, they should have many flaws to make them believable.
III. The Villain vs. The Antagonist
Why would a villain verse himself?
Well, technically an antagonist is not the villain, they are simply the ones going against the protagonist (often portrayed as the hero). If have ever taken a writing or theatrical course, then you know this is true. Your protagonist does not have to be the hero and your antagonist does not have to be the villain.
Let us take the Piraka. Now, everyone hates the Piraka and they hate everyone, so it is fair. But, instead of them being the antagonists, they are now the protagonists (meaning our Toa Inika are now what most would consider the "villains").
To be repetitive, the antagonist is simply someone who opposes the main character, not the villain.
So remember, when you are writing, do not always make your protagonist the hero, it gets old and very dull after, oh, about two thousand years or so.
