User blog:Emerald Pup/PUPPYGIRL1244'S OFFICIAL WRITERS' TIPS AND HELP GUIDE SAGA! SESSION 2

'''PUPPYGIRL1244'S OFFICIAL WRITERS' TIPS AND LESSON GUIDE SAGA! '''

SECTION TWO

Hey  guys, PuppyGirl1244 here--and its time for our second lesson in "PuppyGirl's Official Writers' Tips and Lesson Guide Saga! And YES, I know I keep altering the title SOMEHOW. Don't ask--I'm crazy like that.

Anyway, for today, we are going to be talking about one extremely important topic in intricate/broad/elaborate stories: CHARACTERS.

Unless you are making a poem/a statement/well--anything that's NOT a Narrative, you are going to probably want to add characters to your stories. Mind you, not ALL stories do or even have to have characters, although characters are a extremely useful/fun add-in, and usually an audience reading for fun will be more interested in a story with elaborate characters than a story with none at all.

Although Character-Building MIGHT seem super easy, in truth its not, in fact, incorporating characters into your stories can be EXTREMELY difficult. (And YES my tone is off but we'll get to that lesson some other time, and heck I'm giving the lesson: I'M USING FREESTYLE TONE :D).

If your creating a story with characters, its important to fully and even creatively portray your characters. One quote I once said, "One of the ways you can tell an OUTSTANDING, NO DOUBT, TRUE TO THE BLOOD author is seeing how they portray their characters--or if they portray them at all." Now, mind you, I didn't say the ONLY outstanding/no doubt/true to the blood authors portray their characters like that. I know a lot of extremely good authors who wrote stories without any characters, or characters that were kinda dull (believe me, flip open a book in about 75% of a library and you're bound to see dimly-portrayed characters).

Portraying Characters
When you create a character and plug them into your story, you must FULLY DEVELOP their character. Don't just have your characters be random folks just floating around into their plot/setting/storyline, just going through whatever their conflict is. Don't have them be watery, with basically NO personality, NO mind of their own, just are sitting on this minecart of their story, rollin' with it. If they are your main character, don't have them be all Goody-Goody Perfect watery, just getting on with it, and if they are your antogonist/(your protaginist's enemy), don't make them just one big ball of evil doing what the story has them doing. NOPE. Give your characters PERSONALITY, and have them live by it. Stories with un-portrayed characters ARE quite common, and usually they are extremely boring to the audience. You want your story to have pizazz with their characters. And you don't have to make them average--that's the wonderful part! With a portrayed character, the audience has an easier time connecting with them, and makes them someone they can root on. With a half-portrayed/non-portrayed character, the audience might have a harder time connecting with them.

If it's confusing you, let me give some examples.

Example 1: Johnny walked stealthily down the halls, gripping onto his sword, trying to make not a sound--or his life might end. He could hear the man strolling down the hall in front of him. Johnny was scared, but he could hang on for now. He was mad at the man, who had messed with his life too much, leaving him orphaned and left to die. He continued to stalk the man, extremely focus on his task. Suddenly, the man turned around and saw the boy, but he had already lunged at him.

Example 2: Johnny walked stealthily down the halls. His sweaty hands were barely able to grip onto the handle of his sword. He mustn't make a sound--his life depended on it. He heard deep, intent footsteps in the hall in front of him, and could just make out the calmness, the glee in it. Johnny narrowed his eyes, filled with rage at the giddiness that figure held within him--even though that same figure had done him wrong, leaving the boy orphaned, struggling for life, hated amongst all others. Johnny's heart thudded against his chest, but he held his head up high, and forced himself to breathe. ''You haven't backed down from a challenge before, now have you?! ''he thought to himself. ''What's so hard about this? Today--all shall end--your parents SHALL be avenged...don't lose the chance. He left you to die--yet you got through it. ''Johnny raised his head up higher, twisting his face in a sneer, and followed behind the man silently. Suddenly, the man turned around, with that undeniable nasty face--the same face he wore when he stood over the boy's parent's bodies, the same face he wore when he had the villiagers try to kill him--and the same face he wore as he fell dead in the hall, Johnny's sword inside his neck.

Johnny stood over his body and spat, "You deemed me weak, yet it was YOU to fall."

Now, the difference:

In Example 1, it was just the story going on--you don't really connect with the characters. But in Example 2--how did you feel? Did you root for Johnny/wind up hating  him? Would you rather read more with Example 1 or Example 2, or are you neutral?

Example 1 had no-portrayed characters--Example 2 had characters with more personality.

Notice how in Example 2, there's more descriptions about the CHARACTERS. You can picture them in your mind. Descriptions will be found in stories like Example 1 too, but notice how the descriptions better define the characters. "...raised his head up higher, twisted his face in a sneer..." from this, you could see how affected he was from his experience, making him seek revenge, or how he might not be a forgiving person at all--and the audience decides whether they want to root for him or not. "...undeniable nasty face..." could tell how Johnny pictured the man--evil, ruthless, filled with hate. That is sort of what you want in your story for portrayal.

Another important key in portraying: Dialouge. HOW they speak--their tone mainly. Their tone usually should match their personality/self. For instance:\

"I wanna go to the park--but mommy won't let me. But I think we all need to go to the park because its FUN! And if we don't, then giant waterbug spiders will come and they will eat Timmy, so we MUST go so that won't happen! But Mommy doesn't know that. So pretty please, Daddy, save Timmy and take me to the park!"

With his piece of dialect, you can probably guess this was a small child with a high amount if intelligence, who is probably mischevious if she is conning her father into taking her to the park. Portrayol. How about this?

"I don't wanna be 'affiliated' with ya anyway! So why don'tcha do what's good for ya n' GIT OUTTA MY FACE!"

"Y-Your face? You're my uncle! You already know what happened to Mother--I have no one else."

"Oh, poor you. Scram!"

"Y-yessir, a-and I'm sorry for yellin'..."

Now what did you get from this? An uncle and his nephew. The uncle seems not to care the slightest bit about his nephew or even his deceased sister; this could mean he is self-centered and possibly ashamed of his family. The nephew attempted to stand up for himself, but only turned out shriveling back. This might show low-self esteem, skittishness, or possibly respect for his elders.

Each character needs to be unique in their own way. Now, about the MC.

Try to make your Main Character with their own personality--not your own. You CAN do your own, but that might take away from the fun...

For stories, they are usually either in third or first form. First form is quite common, and for me personally its a lot easier, but its EXTREMELY difficult. Why? Because when your story's in first person, the entire experience is from their point of few--so the reader sees the entire story from THEIR perspective. For the writer, however, they MUST write the story the way they'd view it if they were the character in that circumstances. In other words, they must temporarily become the character. How does the character feel when this happens, how does the character handle this situation, etc. Again, try to make the character THEIR OWN CHARACTER, and make sure they are properly portrayed!

Well thats it for now folks! I need to edit. I probably should add more but I'm tiiiired and I'm sure you are too after reading ALL of this

Anywya bye