The 10 Elements of a MAIN CHARACTER
To all the writers who have ever been told âYour characters have to be three dimensional!â or âThey should be well-rounded!â and just felt like saying:Â âWhat does that even MEAN?! What goes into a 3-dimensional character? Specifically? And how do you go about creating one?!â
Good news. Thereâs a way.Â
Great main characters â heroes, protagonists, deuteragonist, whatever you want to call them â have ten things in common. Ten things that are easily developed, once you know what to create within your character. So no one will ever be able to tell you âneeds to be more three dimensional!â ever again. Ha.Â
1) Weaknesses:Â Main characters should be flawed, but Iâm not saying this because it will make them more realistic (though it will) â Iâm saying they need to be flawed because if theyâre not, they shouldnât be a main character. Story is another word for change, or more accurately, character growth. Not character as in âfictional personâ, character meaning âheart and soulâ. Story is someoneâs character changing, for better or worse. Main characters at the beginning of the story are lacking something vital, some knowledge of themselves, some knowledge of how to live a better life, and this void is ruining their lives. They must overcome these weaknesses, if theyâre going to become complete, and reach a happy ending. There are two types of weaknesses: Psychological and Moral. Psychological ones only hurt the main character. Moral ones cause the main character to hurt other people. Easy. Â
2) Goal:Â Characters exist because they want something. Desiring something, and the fight against opposition for that desire, is the lifeblood of story; and because character is story, itâs also desire that can breathe life into words on a page, and begin the process of creating a real person in a readerâs mind. Itâs this âdesire for somethingâ that sparks that first connection between reader and character. It makes us think âWell, now I have to find out if this person gets what they want.â This is a powerful link. (How many mediocre movies do we suffer through, when we could easily stop watching, because weâre still trapped by that question of âwhat happens?â) So if this is powerful enough to keep people watching an annoying movie, imagine how powerful it can be in an excellent story.Â
Like in Up, the goal is to get the house to Paradise Falls.
3) Want: If the main character wants something, they want it for a darn good reason. Usually, they think that attaining the goal will fill the void they can sense in their lives, the deficiency they can feel, but donât know how to fix. And theyâre almost always wrong. Getting the goal doesnât help anything; which is why, while pursuing that goal, they discover a deeper need that will heal them. Which brings us to âŚ
4) Need/Elixir: Main characters are missing something, a weakness in their innermost selves is causing them to live a less-than-wonderful life. Through story, these main characters can be healed. Once they discover whatâs missing, and accept it, and change the way they live to include this truth theyâve uncovered ⌠theyâre healed. Learning this truth, whatever it is, forms the purpose of the story for the main character. The reader, and the character, think the story is about achieving that big tangible goal the premise talks about; really, underneath it all, the story is about someone achieving a big intangible truth, that will ultimately save their life and future. Often, this need is exactly what the character fears or professes to hate.Â
Like Finding Nemo, where Dory states exactly what Marlin needs to learn.Â
Ghosts are events in your characterâs past which mark the source of their weaknesses and strengths. Because these happened, the character became who they are. All we need to know about backstory are these moments, because who the character became is all we care about. Thereâs really only one ghost you absolutely need: the source of their moral and psychological weakness. Something happened that knocked the characterâs world off kilter, and everything from that moment onward has been tainted by what happened. This moment haunts them (hence the name), and holds them back from uncovering that need that will heal their weaknesses. Pixar are masters of this: the source of Carl being stuck in the past, curmudgeonly, unable of loving anyone new? Ellie dying; his ghost. In Finding Nemo, the source of Marlin being suffocating, protective to the point of being harmful, possessive, and fearful? His wife and 99% of his children being eaten in front of him; his ghost.Â
6) True Character:Â These are the strengths, values, convictions, fears, faults, beliefs, worldview, and outlook on life that make the main character who they truly are.Â
7) Characterization:Â This is everything on the surface of a main character. The way they look, talk, act, etc. All of this originates from those deeper elements of their being, the strengths, values, ghosts, weaknesses, needs, that make them who they truly are. So often, you can think of this as a facade theyâre projecting, a way to shield the the truth about themselves, how they wish to be perceived. The story, and the other characters, are slowly going to see deeper than this characterization, revealing more and more of the reasons it is the way it is.Â
8) Arc:Â If the character is going to change from âIncomplete Personâ to âComplete Personâ thereâs going to be a journey they go on to make that possible. The external story, the pursuit of that big tangible goal the premise is about, is causing an inner journey to take place. What they have to do in pursuit of that external goal will apply pressure to those weaknesses, and pressure causes change. This process has seven steps, but if I write it all here this post is going to be obscenely long. So I might wait and give this its own post.
9) Changed Person:Â Who is the character going to be at the end of this story? They better be different, or else the story didnât work. How do they show how different theyâve become? What is the moral choice they make, that spins their trajectory from âthe future doesnât look so greatâ to âhappily ever afterâ? This should be known right away, maybe even before anything else is settled about the character. This gives a distinct end goal, a way to work backwards, a destination in mind that you can navigate towards. Â
10) Fascination and Illumination: The surface characterization, and the brief glimpses of the true character underneath create curiosity in the reader/audience. What the character says, and the implied subtext beneath the dialogue, creates a puzzle the audience wants to solve. Actions they take work the same way; if the writer indicates thereâs deeper motivation behind why a character behaves in the way they do, we buy into solving that mystery right away. We canât help it. âWho are you really? Why are you the way you are? And how is that going to effect the story?â These are all the unspoken, almost not consciously acknowledged, questions that fascinating characters provoke. Searching out meaning, connecting the dots to find the truth â we canât resist this. Weâre not fascinated by tons of backstory and exposition about a character; weâre fascinated by story, by mystery, by the technique of withholding information and having to interpret and hunt out the truth on our own. Â So gradually, the story and the characters will force that character to reveal a little more, and a little more, until we have a complete picture of who this person is. Crucial that this information isnât told up front. Gradually illuminate it. Itâs just like getting to know a real person.Â
So how does this work in a real character? Letâs take a look at Flynn Rider/Eugene Fitzherbert, because almost everybody has seen that movie.Â
Moral Weaknesses: Heâs selfish. Heâs a little greedy. Heâs a little rude. He uses his charisma and bravado to keep people at a distance from the real him.Â
Psychological Weaknesses: Insecurity, fear of vulnerability, feels like the real him (Eugene) would be unwanted, unlovable, and have nothing â just like when he was an orphaned kid. Also, he doesnât know who he wants to be, what he wants to live for.Â
Goal: Flynn wants to get that crown. So he has to get Blondie to see the floating lights, so sheâll give it back to him, and then they can part ways as unlikely friends. Â
Want: Why does he want the crown? What does it mean for him? He actually states it (reluctantly) in song: âI have dreams like you, no really. Just much less touchy feely. They mainly happen somewhere warm and sunny. On an island that I own, tanned and rested and alone. Surrounded by enormous piles of money.â He senses thereâs something off in his life, something is missing. But he mistakenly believes this missing piece is money, which will allow him to buy a lonely island, where he can live out his days as Flynn and no one will ever know Eugene.Â
Need: âAll those days chasing down a daydream. All those years living in a blur. All that time never truly seeing, things the way they were. Now sheâs here, shining in the starlight. Now sheâs here, suddenly I know. If sheâs here, itâs crystal clear, Iâm where Iâm meant to go.â He wants a crown ⌠he needs to fall in love with Rapunzel. He needs to love something more than himself, and find out that love isnât something to fear and push away. He needs to abandon the âTales of Flynnagin Riderâ ambition, and get a more worthwhile, new dream.Â
Ghost: The source of all of his weaknesses can be linked to his âlittle bit of a downerâ childhood as an orphan. Interestingly, he isnât aware of another facet of that ghost, and Rapunzel points it out to him. âWas he a thief too?â she asks. He looks taken aback, before answering âUh, no.â Somethingâs gone wrong. The choices heâs making are not living up to that original role model. Â
Characterization: Flynnâs charming, funny, smart, charismatic, and arrogant (in a somehow charming sort of way). Heâs also rude, contemptuous, and sarcastic. All traits that help him keep up that âswashbuckling rogueâ facade, and push people away from the real him.Â
True Character: Underneath all that, heâs a Disney prince. That pretty much sums it up. Â
Changed Person:Â âStarted going by Eugene again, stopped thieving, and basically turned it all around.â He started the story as the guarded and evasive Flynn, he ends as the selfless and thoroughly-in-love Eugene.Â
Fascination and Illumination: Imagine if everything about Flynn had been told, right up front. We know heâs an orphan, we know heâs upheld a fake reputation, we know heâs a kind and loving guy underneath it all, we even know about his âtales of Flynnaginâ childhood dream. You know what happens? We like him ⌠but weâre not interested in him. Thereâs nothing we need to find out. Thereâs no curiosity. And if thereâs no curiosity, and nothing being illuminated, your storyâs not going anywhere. So instead, we find out â alongside Rapunzel â more about Flynn as the story progresses. And that is how it should be.Â
Developing characters in this way, Iâve found, really reduces worries about how âwell-roundedâ and three dimensional Iâve made them. They feel real to me. And besides helping me create characters, this ten element technique has also let me analyze characters I like, which is strangely fun. Itâs a great way to figure out why a character works, what causes them to be so effective, and how you can go about creating them yourself.Â
Yeah, Iâm a bit of a nerd.Â
But if you want, try it out. Develop a character. Analyze a character. You might find it as useful/fun as I do.