Main Character

It’s said about people that the first impression is a lasting impression. That statement also applies to fiction as well.

As far as stories are concerned, this doesn’t mean that the initial introduction to the main character of your story should be elaborate. Nor does it need to be an entrance that shocks us or takes us by complete surprise. But I do mean that the introduction should be a memorable one.

The night Max wore his wolf suit and made Miss chief of one kind or another, his mother called him “wild thing!”

Your primary challenge is to know who you are writing about. You must understand your character both inside and out. Only then can you create characters that children want to read about.

Conflict lives in the heart and soul of the plot. If the reader forgets what is driving the hero, she won’t care enough about him to finish the book.

Without the reader cheering for the success of the hero, the story falls flat and becomes a bland reading experience.

Just because the hero makes discernible progress towards his goal in one scene, don’t allow him to move forward unimpeded in the following scene. Overcoming one obstacle after another without a setback makes for dull reading.

If your character is moving toward the goal and every obstacle he overcomes is on the same level of difficulty, the story becomes less interesting.

Think of your obstacles as Olympic events. The first obstacle the hero confronts must meet a rating of say “three” on the predetermined level of difficulty. But by the end of the climax, the hero should have vaulted over an obstacle that’s a solid and impressive “ten.”

In the purest sense, character is story.

What happens to characters- how they suffer and celebrate, how they meet challenges, overcome obstacles and find redemption- is the heart and soul and spirit of the story.

It is the uncovering of this truth – the search, the investigation, the examination – that makes a story compelling.

When you create story characters, your challenge is to find a way to fit them into their own unique world.

We need to do everything we can to create characters strong enough to revoke their own unique responses.

The fundamentals of character

Kids need to identify with the characters they are reading about. You accomplish this by plunging the character into a specific situation.

Your hero can live in the desert, rescue stray dogs, be an alien or pan for gold in the Yukon. It doesn’t matter where the hero lives or what he does. As long as their emotions and responses of the character or then take, the reader can create a bond with him.

There’s not a kid alive who hasn’t, at one time or another, felt like an alien. There is not a kid alive who hasn’t been embarrassed in front of his peers, disappointed in the face of hope or embroiled in conflict with parents. These themes are familiar, and these feelings are universal. No matter where they take place are under what circumstances they are played out, kids can relate to them.

Seven Key Character Traits:-

1. Someone the reader cares about.
2. Likable
3. A child, or an adult, or animal who is childlike.
4. An imperfect character.
5. Someone who behaves in ways believable to that character.
6. Active, not passive.
7. Able to solve their own problems.

Five things you must know about your picture book character:-

1. Name
2. birth date and age at the time of the story
3. appearance
4. relationship with others
5. personality

Ten tips for creating memorable characters…