I tried to give novel writing a go and sent my best shot at a publisher some years ago. Needless to say I didn’t make the cut and the comment about them not making it past chapter 1 due to how horrible it was deterred me to make further attempts. It’s not that I fully gave up writing stories, I just don’t have the time to sit and craft what goes on my head universe these days. The experience gave me more value when it comes to character analysis and writing.
Warning, this post contains spoilers taken from different games and shows you may or may not have heard of for the sake of adding better visual representation.
The biggest flaw in my writing was not having enough depth in making my characters more believable. They got their moments but I wasn’t making them in a way people can get behind their motivations. Sure self sacrifice, being evil, and doing good deeds was part of the basic plot device to showcase each personality but the writing was too flat to give justice to how the story went down in my head universe. We’ll start with the case of Arash from a game called Fate Grand Order.
The Media Used Matters
The medium used also influences how the audience will perceive the character and during their supposed iconic moments. If the character is portrayed in literature, the audience will have to rely on their own mental imagery based on the scenario the author tries to portray. Whereas films removes the stress of imagination and let’s the audience be directed on how the scene was supposed to go down.
Below are two comparisons between how Arash was portrayed in a visual novel medium vs a film adaptation. While both instances would end up Arash having to end up self sacrificing fro the survival of his friends, how the events eventually lead to that point can alter a viewer’s perception of the character.
| FGO Camelot | Light Novel Version (FGO) |
|---|---|
The visual novel (game) gives the grave situation a bit of a lighter atmosphere as the casts are still able to converse even under the imminent threat falling down on the sky. The threat isn’t plastered on the screen for us viewers while the conversation goes on. On the other hand, the film adaptation gives us an ominous tip of the spear falling down from the heavens as the cast tries their best to survive.
While I do appreciate both mediums of storytelling, I couldn’t help but favor the film version as it gives us a summary on who Arash is as a hero. The light novel version gives us more depth in building his character as the story progresses. The point I’m trying to get across is that iconic moments done right, even if it’s just a few paragraphs, seconds, or minutes, are enough to define the character as a whole. The act of self sacrifice isn’t enough to make a hero iconic as it’s become an overused plot device.
It’s the weight behind this act, the costs, and how the hero reacts to the situation that makes their character pop out. Though it’s not really apparent to the story above but how Arash was able to defeat the attack because of his very being as a hero born from resolving conflict. His legend says he fired an arrow that created a border between nations and the act tore his body apart because his body couldn’t take it.
The challenge with writing the scene is trying to get your audience as close to the scene in your head is playing out. It also follows that there’s not background sad music being played while the scene is unfolding. Whereas the film has the advantage of leading the viewer to view the scene as is, with music and convenient flashbacks to maximize storytelling.
Contrast
Kaine from Nier game series has become an iconic figure due to her sailor’s mouth that greatly contrasts her form. A lot of Kaine’s moments being a tragic hero is mostly highlighted from her backstory mentioned within the game. A village outcast, possessed by a shade, and having no pleasing personality. It’s not the outright self sacrifice that she does that made her popular but how much the creators gave her opportunity to express her individuality throughout the game. These are done through moments of banter with another character, sarcasm, and how despite her negative aspects showcased throughout the game, her companions talked about her on a positive light. That speaks volumes of character development in between moments where action isn’t happening in the game.
| Kaine Cursing | Kaine's Sacrifice |
|---|---|
Here we see two moments where Kaine reveals her duality. When her dialogue is stretched vs how her demeanor changes when she only has a few words to say. This small change in pacing highlights her character so well.
Showing the Right Conditions
Effective storytelling is more of showing that blandly describing how the scene unfolds. One of the things that makes me say a story is good at hooking attention is the lack of need to spoon feed the audience with a backstory. The context can be understood even with little information about how the events have led up to the present. I recommend just watching the minutes of replay before proceeding to the next paragraph to emphasize this point.
It doesn’t matter how Inuyashiki became a robot, why a meteor is heading towards earth and who the hell these people are within the story. It doesn’t matter. You are thrust into the scene unfolding before your eyes and you are givens short but concise bits of information about the character being presented on screen. Again, self-sacrifice is just a plot device to show personality but in itself is not enough to compel the viewer to care.
Even if we didn’t know much about these characters but have only been given a scene to go on, that clip is enough to summarize who the character is with respect to how they are viewed by the people around them and how they conduct themselves in any situation.
To make the character pop out as an individual in the story, there has to be a situation that thrusts them into a challenge with consequences beyond what they can afford, their attitudes towards the challenge, their motivations, and how other characters react around them. It’s difficult to sympathize with someone that can just revive after being killed, the whole self-sacrifice plot device no longer works because there are no real consequences imposed on the character.
Instead of shying away from the challenging of finding my faults, I took the comment to heart and reexamine my drafts. I consumed more content and took some notes on what works and not. In my journey to become a better writer I understood clearly that my work was crap and the editor was cruelly on point. This is the taste of the real world and I’m glad I got disillusioned early on.
The takeaway I learned about creating believable characters are giving them traits that are relatable and this includes average motivations, and reacting to situations in a manner that aren’t too extreme. This is why writing psychopathic characters or selfless heroes that go to the extremes are a challenge to work with. It’s just hard to imagine life from their perspective and even more so when you try to frame then in their supposed best light.
If you made it this far reading, thank you for your time. This is a creative footer by 