VEJ June 2013

Today’s secret ingredient is: Empathetic Characters. You have your normal characters just as the hero and the villain, as well as your stereotypes of antihero or trickster, but what happens most of the times is that these characters lack anything worth remembering. How do we create such memorable characters?

Let’s examine characters that are memorable and have worldwide recognition. Not just the distinguished looks or signature sayings, these two characters stood the test of time and came from two completely different worlds. This wouldn’t go without saying, but the more comical note is how we are able to remember more about fictional characters than we can about the real day-to-day people we encounter all the time.

Our examples are Frodo Baggins and Luke Skywalker – two very different characters, but both more memorable than our own relatives. Frodo Baggins is a hobbit, who lives in the Shire and has the duty to destroy the Ring of Sauron at Mount Doom. Luke Skywalker was a farmer on Tatooine that becomes a Jedi who helps the Rebellion win their war against the Galactic Alliance. Right there, in just one sentence I was able to summarize the character’s name, their origin and their role in their world. Sure there is a lot to be explained, but if you create characters with less than intriguing features and backstories, you may have to send them back to the drawing board. There is a lot to be said about what a character does and it’s not just to be a character in a story.

Think of your character as a living and breathing thing – the worlds they come from and the laws that are in effect there. Your character has a family. They have a childhood. They have friends and may have a job outside of their quest or mission. They have feelings. They have things they want and things they desire. Likewise, there are certain things they need and there are certain things that motivate them to be at their very best.

So how do you break these all down? What parts become more important to focus on? Well, it’s a case-by-case answer and it will change with each character and each story. The important thing is you need to know your characters inside and out.

Compose a list of not only their likes and dislikes, but also what they like to wear, what kind of music they listen to when they are bored or perhaps 167