I'm trying to polish up my character profiles for the comic I'm working on, but I keep running into the same problem... originality. It seems like every idea has been done before, at least with starting off points. Like, one of the characters is an ex soldier, for instance. Either he ends up too much like Jayne from Firefly, or I try to go in another direction and suddenly realise he's become more like Captain Jack from Dr Who.
For those that either write or read a lot and think about this kinda thing, do you think it's best to just acknowledge your inspirations, accept that there's going to be references and aim to reach an original character through the story? That's what I'm currently thinking is the best solution, but if anyone has any other thoughts, let me know.
I guess the other factor is that I'm just seeing the characters' skeletons so their basis is more evident to me as their creator. Just because a character comes across as X to me, doesn't mean the audience will see them the same way.
4 comments:
This is a really interesting subject. Of course, there's no right way to do it, but here's what I think:
What I find interesting is contradictions. I think a lot of my favourite characters from TV and books are characters who defy a stereotype - a high-school jock who's also an artist, a tough-as-nails reporter who's also hiding a terrible secret, a cocksure fighter pilot who's hopelessly in love, gay cowboys.
I think what's interesting about these characters is that they're primed for stories to happen to them, as they resolve these inherant contradictions. The jock has to choose which life he's going to lead, or find a way to live both. The reporter weighs her commitment to always finding the truth against her need to keep a secret, and so on.
I think referencing existing characters is fine - so long as the surface details are different - but I also think it's important to be aware of what lies under those details. I think as gamers we're often attracted to the surface "colour" of a show or film or book, rather than its substance. So, we like Star Wars for the Jedi and the space battles, rather than the story about coming-of-age and daddy issues. Or we like True Blood for the badass vampires and Anna Paquin's boobs, rather than the allegory about gay rights (Not that those are the only valid readings of those properties, just that creating something that's all style and no substance leads to really weak storytelling).
So what's important about a character isn't what kind of gun they carry or whether they're more Joss Whedon wisecracky or Tarantino foul-mouthed. It's the issues that are going on withing the character - the things they care about and the things that are coming between them and their goals. If you get that right, it doesn't matter how much your character superficially resembles some other character, you'll have created something unique.
Oh! Fun way to make a well-known character unrecognisable: Change their sex.
Jayne as a woman would be a fascinating character.
Time traveling dog, but he's just a regular dog. The other characters know when hes enjoyed a meal because fifty of him turn up for it! And when he's not around, the other characters can all be asking each other "where's Poochie"?
More seriously, personally I'm attracted to the notion of characters that seem to have been exhausted by life, all their potential used up and the world seems to expect nothing more from them. An elderly man in decline, a seemingly hopeless addict, someone so traumatized by their life that just functioning seems impossible. They're finished, kaputski. But then in the midst of some internal or external crisis instead of finally being crushed by that one last burden they rise up, shake of their burdens and master it. Or at least go down swinging. Think the Colonel Tigh type of character, hopelessly flawed and seemingly used up but they're just not quite finished yet. The drunk in the midnight choir, that's my favorite character.
Ooo! Or the Angel of Small Unit Tactics! Throw him in too.
Something to try for when fleshing out the finer details of the character are their affectations and some defining mannerisms. The character of Jayne for example carries with him a few of these kinds of character signatures, from accent and speech signatures to the types of clothing he wares (t-shirts and combat pants etc) By tweaking these little details you can gain quite a bit in the way of defining the character as their own person. Try for example, giving jayne a cockney accent, a pair of goggles and a black trench coat. All the same lines, the same actions. The character is now completely redefined. These things can be even stronger in a graphic novel situation, Change up the fonts so we no the character speaks differently, always show them peeling, slicing of eating an apple, have them constantly shifting their eyes from frame to frame. These sorts of things will help make a character your no matter what the bones may be. In the end most of the truely great character concepts are gone. It's how they are presented which will speak as to weather you're simply re writing someone else's characters or creating your own.
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