[stylist] advice on protagonists

[James Canaday M.A. N6YR]

Hi Frank,
glad you're still out there!
to remedy, r e m e d y,  that well you have
lots of options and you've gotten good suggestions.  as I think of a 
character, I try to imagine that character, perhaps what he or she 
sounds like, looks like.  what's the character's function in the 
story?  do you want to give your character traits that only support 
this role, have no effect, or maybe that work against it.  a 
character who is a TV repairman in the '60s, being detail oriented 
and by-the-book would fascilitate his profession.  if he has red 
hair, that's likely neutral, though some people believe some things 
about redheads.  then, what if he is impulsive, or hates to read the 
manual/schematic?  those would be personal attributes he would have 
to overcome to be good at his work.
also, do you want to give mental issues, physical disorders, family 
ties, or personal histories?  if you have a 7-year-old american girl, 
maybe she wears her hair in pigtails.  but what if her parents 
adopted her from russia six years before this point in the story?
I agree with the implication of what you're asking, characters need 
to be believable, have believable human traits, and the reader wants 
to identify with them.  at the same time, characters need to stand 
out from each other, and from other characters in literature.
think about your friends, they're certainly not all alike.  yet, they 
may all, or most, have some common traits.

another thing I like to see is a character who starts in the story a 
bit shallow, not a lot of fire, emotion, emotional issues.  but then 
as the story proceeeds that character grows.  character growth is 
common in most stories.
good luck Frank,
jc
Jim Canaday M.A.
Lawrence, KS

At 10:28 AM 8/28/2009, you wrote:
>Greetings all;
>
>I find that with my current project i'm falling into the 'round 
>table' syndrome with my protagonists.   They're coming out too much 
>the same, and i am not sure how to remody this situation.
>
>Any suggestions would be appreciated!
>tkx
>
>
>
>
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