I have found that when that secret will actually hurt another character, that secret has a greater impact. And, to clarify, by "hurt" I mean that it stands in the way of their goal, or changes their goal entirely. A good example of this is in RWBY, when two characters, Weiss and Blake, are arguing about an organization known as the White Fang. Weiss, whose family has been fighting the White Fang for years, believes their ways are wrong, whilst Blake believes that they've been pushed to their extremist ways by her family and others like them. When Blake reveals that she grew up as a part of the White Fang, it changes how Weiss sees her family, and eventually comes to realize that every side has a story. It's significant because of how many ripples it sends through other characters. To quote the Little Prince, "it's the time you have wasted on your rose that makes your rose so important." When more time is dedicated to establishing some goal or opinion, and it is wrecked by a character's secret, it becomes heavier with a more significant meaning.
Im not very experienced, but I would say: 1. Have foreshadowing: the plot twist or secret must have hints for the reader to speculate befote it's revealed. A twist out of nowhere feels out of place. 2. Consequence: the twist must have an impact on the story and characters, or else it feels useless.
Look up Plot Twists by the closer look Edit- *Nevermind it was overly sarcastic productions plot twist* still check out that video though it is on the movie knives out
I like the "marriage" analogy, its true. this is why the supporting cast is usually fan favorites, at least i feel., the supporting cast doesn't have the huge commitment the main protagonist has and so is free to develop as needed. But If the main protagonist development is too divisive it shifts the whole plot and at times the supporting casts too. My main protagonist is driven to rescue a loved one despite his cowardly yet kind persona so it's hard pushing the plot forward. Doesn't help that the supporting cast is filled with fearless characters with their own self-interest. It's too easy to outshine the main protagonist arc.
I think good chemistry is when a character adds to something to the other that he is lacking, and that doesn't need to be obvious. For example, let's see, Tangled. Eugene lacked love and respect from others as a civil. He's lonely, and tries to get respect as a thief, cause as a regular person no one really cared for him, and there was this cool story of a thief, so he does that. What Rapunzel gives him is respect. She's the first one to learn his real name and she says she likes that person better. As for Rapunzel, she lacked freedom. Her mother was abusive and manipulative. Eugene, though, is transparent, unlike the mother. He is clear that all he cares is for the crown, but he still doesn't make her hostage. He unwillingly takes her there, and at a time, he starts to respect her dream of seeing the lanterns and becomes supportive, something her mother never was. Each of them fill a hole in the other. For me, that's good chemistry.
they both need to be active in some way or another, every time when there is only one active character who tries to show his/her love and other one is just "ok" or "no, I don't like him/her" or "no, I don't deserve him/her" or something else, it's becomes boring really fast NO stupid characters who can't read atmosphere and signs! NO! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! also wholesome physical contact is always nice
There's no exact way you should write characters dealing with a death, but it's important to individualize their grief. Like don't have them all respond the same way; think hard about how each character would genuinely feel and how that might come out. Avoid things like "it's all my fault" being the *only* thing a character feels about someone dying; you need something secondary and meaningful to the character. People do weird and powerful things when they're grieving, and nobody should miss out on such an interesting opportunity to add emotion and realism to their characters & story. EDIT: oh lord I commented on a 3 year old comment without even realizing, I'm leaving it tho
Aka almost every shonen and isekai protagonists. With a heavy emphasis on isekai protags. I'd go as far as to say most of them don't even have a personality. They're just sacks of logic, careful planning, and the author's wish fulfilment.
Something that really helps with keeping my characters interesting is to play games and always wonder what he/she would do in that situation. I also like to role a dice to determine what traits they have when I'm first making characters to make them more unpredictable and fun. :)
Before I have my character do something, I always ask myself, how crazy would it they did something that's complete opposite action? Is it in the realm of possibility for their character, would it unveil a side to them that was introduced early on but never actually explored? By exploring all possibilities, while staying true to their character, it helps me make them feel real.
All your videos have been so helpful and I’m so grateful. You don’t understand how important your videos have been for me, and the community of aspiring comic creators. I hope you take this suggestion as it might benefit everyone. You should create a book/ebook about making comics. A book would be perfect for people who don’t have time to watch the videos, while learning at their pace. I’ve never seen a more useful resources than your videos and I do believe by creating a product you’ll be helping more people out and you can make some extra cash on the side. If you ever do make a book I’ll definitely buy it.
For channels that give a lot of free information like you both, all you need to do is essentially take the information from your videos and turn it into a book format (essentially transcribing), and then people usually add bonus content and voila you have a sellable product. If you ever decide of course.
For the story I have in mind, I want my main character to start off in his "broken" state. He's a character of few words, so when he actually says something you know there is powerful emotion behind it. He rarely ever lets his emotions be seen by anyone. And even if he hates an order, he will carry it out, all the while fuming on the inside. But the center of the first part of the story is that he needs to learn to care for and comfort people again. And I want him to develop into a character that will defy orders and break the rules every now and then. And also become more sociable and forthcoming with his thoughts. I guess I wanna ask, is it ok that I'm going to take a slow route with this? Also, I say "broken" state, because he wasn't originally like this. I'm still figuring it out, but something made him become silent and robotic. Oh! Maybe I'll have him originally be a sort of soldier whose mistake( probably a combination of those things I want him to develop again) led to great and horrible consequences.
While this may not be the genre you are interested in, Violet Evergarden is a perfect example on how to convey and do this. She basically starts as a "doll" and must learn to experience and understand human emotions. She used to be a military weapon too! Along the way, she learns to make connections with others. It's rather beautiful. So, your idea is definitely doable! Sounds like a great start. :)
@@rylanieviro3617 oh my gosh I love Violet Evergarden! Deep down that's probably where part of my inspiration came from. I just love Violets character development and the little hints we get about every character through out the episodes that you sometimes miss unless you rewatch it
@@pandapan5797 so, you know that thing artists do where they have an idea but move onto another concept before it's finished? That's what happened. But whenever I revisit this, it'll become a short comic on webtoons. I can let you know when that happens if you want?
I'd like to see a video where you discuss how to better convey your core message/theme throughout the plot. Like how a certain story could be read differently on a meta narrative.
I just love how passionate you sound when your talking about writting, makes me wanna finnish everything i ever attemp to write, or star a new story all over. Thank you for you videos and for sharing your knowledge.
This is a pretty interesting analysis. I do wish main protagonists were more interesting. I don't like it when it's clear when they're just a audience surrogate or blank slate. At the same time, I'm growing more tolerance for so called "boring" main characters. People say that "goody two-shoes" are boring, but I think they can be quite admirable and compelling depending on the story that they're in. I think my big takeaway is that characters shouldn't literally be blank slates unless there's a specific intention to it. Sometimes the creator literally doesn't care about the main character and the supporting cast is the true entertainment/draw to the story. Which is frustrating, but certainly one way to go about it. Sometimes the main character being indecisive is a specific character flaw; just as we the audience are discovering our place in the world, so is the protagonist.
agreed!! i also feel like main characters tend to be extremely average and boxed in with their personalities? while side characters and especially villains get to be new and interesting and are not held down by social conventions
I have two main characters. One is introduced first, and the second one comes later. The second one moves the plot. Both have their own personalities. Would the order they're introduced in confuse readers?
I think that one good way to make a vibrant character is to first establish their vices and virtures, and which one influences their designs more. I found a character formula that can help: Strength + Weakness * (Stength [>/=/
This isn't really about characters, but how do you start a webcomic? I don't mean planning and character design, I mean, how do we write that first conflict that starts everything? I have a story in mind, one where the two main characters are brought to this "other universe/world." But I can't find a way in which they get there? Sorry my question is confusing
tommy turtle ask yourself questions. So the characters are in this world, were they originally from the same world? Is this other world someplace others may want to get their hands on? Is this world in danger? Who exactly are these characters? With questions like this you can start to come up with answers that will eventually be the wood you carve into your story. Hopefully this made scene lol.
What you describe is what happened with me and my comic, I think. I started out with a character named "Ravi" as the main protagonist. Then I came to realize that this other character of mine, "Byron," was a bit more colorful than Ravi. I then determined to have Byron be the main protagonist: he is 1st among equals, so to speak--the 3 main protagonists being Byron, Clara and Ravi...
Do you start out with a dream cast of characters tasked with living out the story, or do you have the story decide how many characters (and the types) it needs to be told?
I formed my characters through changing the plot a lot and I even scrapped the whole plot and created a new one with the same cast of characters. It kinda helped me see how my characters would act in any kind of situation, their interest and how passionate they are about it, the characters relationships to each other etc. Sure it can take time and energy but it’s fun and exiting. I even tried to write different genres with my characters. I wrote romance, action, horror, thriller, comedy and slice of life. I would recommend 👌
That is really interesting. I really like this idea, writing with the same cast of characters with different genres and plots really makes for well defined and understood characters. I often find myself always making a new cast of characters when some plot bunny hits or just a random thought and it does get confusing and sometimes the characters feel too impersonal. I think I’ll try this idea out, it sounds really interesting to me and I’d love to see my favorite characters in multiple stories showing off multiple parts of their personality that may not shine through in the original. Thank you so much for the idea!
You’re work is so helpful! I have a question that might not apply to most people, but here goes: Can a comic be written in parts? For example, I have three main characters, and for the first part of the comic, its largely centered on the emotions and perceptions of one of them; then it goes to the other one; and then it goes to the third one to close the book. I plan to also write an add-on book from a fourth perspective. How could I convey a character’s perspective without having every panel be in first person or with thought bubbles everywhere?
Bruce Wayne (Batman), Jonathan Spencer aka The Human Torch (The Fantastic Four), Neo (The Matrix), Han Solo (Star Wars), Rick O'Connell (The Mummy 1999), Korben Dallas (The Fifth Element). I could go on and on with interesting protagonists, you just need to look for them.
Say you have a lot of characters in your comic that play a vital role in the story, or at least parts of the story, and you what to develop them, how do you do this successfully without ridding the main character of their-well, main character status? How to you balance the time spent on side characters and the main character?
Make sure the main character has the most screen time. An easy way to do what you're talking about is to have the protagonist be the new person, of the group. This way the other characters are carrying the load, but the protagonist isn't out of place.
My main character's name is Hana. She is a very kind, but extremely introverted girl who is a witch who wants to learn the power of flowers in order to save her mother from an evil organization. The thing is, she is the least interesting character. The side characters just overshadow her every single time. There is Leroy, who is the comic relief, but don't mistake him for being one-dimensional. He is a strategist, an optimist, and has a very good aim. He is there to give motivation to the group, but he has a flaw: He has a focusing problem. There is Kanna, a very cool girl with an agressive attitude. She is fearless, like a barbarian. She is super interesting and charismatic. She lost her memories, and is very curious, and wants to find out who she was. And the last character is Seiji: her master who is a really complex and mysterious character. Hana didn't even defeat an enemy by herself (At least not in the first 9 episodes, I'm writing episode 10 right now), and constantly needs to be helped. She is useless. Even a secondary character, Kristiano, who started off as a villain but had a redemption arc defeated at least one important enemy. Everything Hana can do others can do better. And I don't want Hana to be a chosen one, but I don't know any other way to make her not boring and actually interesting. Most characters that are boring are Mary/Gary sues, but Hana is the opposite. She has so many flaws and her only virtue is being kind, but her kindness rarely helps. Long story short, all of the side characters are way more interesting than Hana, and Hana's kindness rarely ever helps the group. I appreciate the fact that you're reading this long comment, and would appreciate even more if you gave me a solution to this problem.
The thing that makes characters interesting isn’t their personality, powers or weaknesses, but if they are challenged by the plot and their actions and decisions are important to the plot. They need to be put in a situation where their decisions have weight. IMO there is no such thing as Mary Sues/Gary Sues, only bad plots that don’t challenge the character. You can have character who has no funny traits or charisma, but if you put them in a position where they are challenged, where their actions have consequences, people will be interested in seeing what they do. Like Mob from Mob Psycho 100 has a very unexciting personality and Mary Sue levels of power, but is very interesting to readers because the plot is about his maintaining his unexciting status or his powers destroy everyone. The writer generates conflict around the clash between these two aspects. What you need is not to make Hana have better traits, but to have a passive character turn into an active character. You already have the formula there in the first line. Hana wants to learn the power of flowers to save her mother from an evil organization. This is probably the most interesting of the character motivations you listed. Hana’s goal is to become strong and defeat evil. That’s a winning formula shared by a ton of popular characters, like Goku, Naruto, almost all of shonen comics, Aang and Korra from Avatar: TLA and TLOK. Hana has an ambition to be strong enough to defeat strong enemies, so she should be looking for ways to get strong, looking for clues to find her mother, looking for members of the evil organization to defeat, trying to recruit strong people to help her fight them. She’s going on a rescue mission. There’s a lot of active things she can be doing. Is she trying to change herself to become a person who can defeat the organization? How does this affect her? Does she need to become less kind? Does she fight to preserve her nature? Will the power of flowers be enough to rescue her mother? If there is a time limit on the rescue, what if she’s too late to save her mother? This all depends on what kind of story you want to tell, but they are interesting questions you can make readers curious about. It also might be a good idea to get rid of characters if their role overlaps too much with the role that Hana is supposed to play. You might be unintentionally splitting one role between two characters and making them both weaker as a result. For instance if you have a character that isn’t the Hana making most of the plot-relevant decisions, try giving those decisions to Hana or maybe just make that character the main character instead. Another problem might be if the characters are running on autopilot and easily solving Hana’s problems for her, that makes it less interesting for readers to pay attention to Hana, because she never has to confront her weaknesses. This is one of the reasons that mentor figures are constantly dying or being written out of scenes because they are, more often than not, basically the main character but already strong. It’s hard to challenge the main character when they are around, unless they have a trait which makes it difficult for them to help, (like being old or injured or disgraced or losing their powers or never had powers in the first place). Again, most importantly, Hana has to make plot-driving decisions.
I think he means obtaining references from observing other characters in books,movies,real life e.t.c that has attributes of the character or oc you are trying to create.Hope this helps.
I am that one person who doesn't think that MCs are boring and actually I watch the show almost in 99% if I like MC (and his most closest friends/love interest) and want to see the story about MC. And I'm actually almost always really frustrated if the story way too much shows other characters than MC (even if it's his friends, but especially villians). I was that one person who was kinda disappointed by the amount of times when in the Avatar the Last airbender in EVERY EPISODE they showed what Zuko was doing! Now I understand his character way better, but still... I don't like when authors do this kind of stuff. And I'm super satisfied to watch shows that has like 2-4 characters and shows only them. I like slice of life anime and romance and comedies, they are almost always has this concept. I wish adventure anime also could concentrate on MC more sometimes... I'm really feel bad when they introduce MC and I like him and then they start to introduce like 20 new characters I don't care about 😮💨 I just drop these animes in this case...
Why are the main characters so boring? Not if the main character is the one who's the antagonistic criminal. Ah! Then he's no longer boring! And for damn sure, neither is your comic. 😄
How do you reveal secrets without boring a reader?
I'd like this topic to be explored too. I have a huge plot twist and I dont know when or how to reveal it
I have found that when that secret will actually hurt another character, that secret has a greater impact. And, to clarify, by "hurt" I mean that it stands in the way of their goal, or changes their goal entirely.
A good example of this is in RWBY, when two characters, Weiss and Blake, are arguing about an organization known as the White Fang. Weiss, whose family has been fighting the White Fang for years, believes their ways are wrong, whilst Blake believes that they've been pushed to their extremist ways by her family and others like them. When Blake reveals that she grew up as a part of the White Fang, it changes how Weiss sees her family, and eventually comes to realize that every side has a story. It's significant because of how many ripples it sends through other characters.
To quote the Little Prince, "it's the time you have wasted on your rose that makes your rose so important." When more time is dedicated to establishing some goal or opinion, and it is wrecked by a character's secret, it becomes heavier with a more significant meaning.
Im not very experienced, but I would say:
1. Have foreshadowing: the plot twist or secret must have hints for the reader to speculate befote it's revealed. A twist out of nowhere feels out of place.
2. Consequence: the twist must have an impact on the story and characters, or else it feels useless.
Look up Plot Twists by the closer look
Edit- *Nevermind it was overly sarcastic productions plot twist* still check out that video though it is on the movie knives out
im also trying to figure that out
I like the "marriage" analogy, its true. this is why the supporting cast is usually fan favorites, at least i feel., the supporting cast doesn't have the huge commitment the main protagonist has and so is free to develop as needed. But If the main protagonist development is too divisive it shifts the whole plot and at times the supporting casts too. My main protagonist is driven to rescue a loved one despite his cowardly yet kind persona so it's hard pushing the plot forward. Doesn't help that the supporting cast is filled with fearless characters with their own self-interest. It's too easy to outshine the main protagonist arc.
That's because you don't take any real risks.
How to write a good romantic chemistry/relationship between characters?
Eliska Nghiemova I would try to inspire myself by watching shows and movies about relationships
idk make em eat a fuk fuk fruit and bring it outta no where lol
(do not i repeat do not do this)
I think good chemistry is when a character adds to something to the other that he is lacking, and that doesn't need to be obvious.
For example, let's see, Tangled. Eugene lacked love and respect from others as a civil. He's lonely, and tries to get respect as a thief, cause as a regular person no one really cared for him, and there was this cool story of a thief, so he does that. What Rapunzel gives him is respect. She's the first one to learn his real name and she says she likes that person better.
As for Rapunzel, she lacked freedom. Her mother was abusive and manipulative. Eugene, though, is transparent, unlike the mother. He is clear that all he cares is for the crown, but he still doesn't make her hostage. He unwillingly takes her there, and at a time, he starts to respect her dream of seeing the lanterns and becomes supportive, something her mother never was.
Each of them fill a hole in the other. For me, that's good chemistry.
they both need to be active in some way or another, every time when there is only one active character who tries to show his/her love and other one is just "ok" or "no, I don't like him/her" or "no, I don't deserve him/her" or something else, it's becomes boring really fast
NO stupid characters who can't read atmosphere and signs! NO! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
also wholesome physical contact is always nice
How would you deal with a death in your cast of characters?
Make it meaningful and have true impact otherwise don’t kill them with out any effect to the story
Treat it like real life. It will stick with the characters through out the story and different people will react differently to it
@@SkeTchYHarley yes Absolutely! It has to be meaningful or impacts the story in a big way. The horrible way to do this (see The Last of Us Part 2)
You probably want a character to blame themself.
There's no exact way you should write characters dealing with a death, but it's important to individualize their grief. Like don't have them all respond the same way; think hard about how each character would genuinely feel and how that might come out.
Avoid things like "it's all my fault" being the *only* thing a character feels about someone dying; you need something secondary and meaningful to the character. People do weird and powerful things when they're grieving, and nobody should miss out on such an interesting opportunity to add emotion and realism to their characters & story.
EDIT: oh lord I commented on a 3 year old comment without even realizing, I'm leaving it tho
Aka almost every shonen and isekai protagonists. With a heavy emphasis on isekai protags. I'd go as far as to say most of them don't even have a personality. They're just sacks of logic, careful planning, and the author's wish fulfilment.
i feel like you're just calling out sao by now
Something that really helps with keeping my characters interesting is to play games and always wonder what he/she would do in that situation. I also like to role a dice to determine what traits they have when I'm first making characters to make them more unpredictable and fun. :)
That’s really creative
Niiiiiiiice, very Niiiiiiiice
I might try that.
Before I have my character do something, I always ask myself, how crazy would it they did something that's complete opposite action? Is it in the realm of possibility for their character, would it unveil a side to them that was introduced early on but never actually explored? By exploring all possibilities, while staying true to their character, it helps me make them feel real.
All your videos have been so helpful and I’m so grateful. You don’t understand how important your videos have been for me, and the community of aspiring comic creators. I hope you take this suggestion as it might benefit everyone. You should create a book/ebook about making comics. A book would be perfect for people who don’t have time to watch the videos, while learning at their pace. I’ve never seen a more useful resources than your videos and I do believe by creating a product you’ll be helping more people out and you can make some extra cash on the side. If you ever do make a book I’ll definitely buy it.
For channels that give a lot of free information like you both, all you need to do is essentially take the information from your videos and turn it into a book format (essentially transcribing), and then people usually add bonus content and voila you have a sellable product. If you ever decide of course.
omg I would totally buy that
For the story I have in mind, I want my main character to start off in his "broken" state. He's a character of few words, so when he actually says something you know there is powerful emotion behind it. He rarely ever lets his emotions be seen by anyone. And even if he hates an order, he will carry it out, all the while fuming on the inside. But the center of the first part of the story is that he needs to learn to care for and comfort people again. And I want him to develop into a character that will defy orders and break the rules every now and then. And also become more sociable and forthcoming with his thoughts. I guess I wanna ask, is it ok that I'm going to take a slow route with this?
Also, I say "broken" state, because he wasn't originally like this. I'm still figuring it out, but something made him become silent and robotic. Oh! Maybe I'll have him originally be a sort of soldier whose mistake( probably a combination of those things I want him to develop again) led to great and horrible consequences.
While this may not be the genre you are interested in, Violet Evergarden is a perfect example on how to convey and do this.
She basically starts as a "doll" and must learn to experience and understand human emotions. She used to be a military weapon too! Along the way, she learns to make connections with others. It's rather beautiful. So, your idea is definitely doable! Sounds like a great start. :)
@@rylanieviro3617 oh my gosh I love Violet Evergarden! Deep down that's probably where part of my inspiration came from. I just love Violets character development and the little hints we get about every character through out the episodes that you sometimes miss unless you rewatch it
@@wizardofarts1276 where can we find your story? im very interested!!
@@pandapan5797 so, you know that thing artists do where they have an idea but move onto another concept before it's finished? That's what happened. But whenever I revisit this, it'll become a short comic on webtoons. I can let you know when that happens if you want?
you just PERFECTLY described my character. every little bit of it. nothing left out.
I'd like to see a video where you discuss how to better convey your core message/theme throughout the plot. Like how a certain story could be read differently on a meta narrative.
I just love how passionate you sound when your talking about writting, makes me wanna finnish everything i ever attemp to write, or star a new story all over. Thank you for you videos and for sharing your knowledge.
This is a pretty interesting analysis. I do wish main protagonists were more interesting. I don't like it when it's clear when they're just a audience surrogate or blank slate.
At the same time, I'm growing more tolerance for so called "boring" main characters. People say that "goody two-shoes" are boring, but I think they can be quite admirable and compelling depending on the story that they're in.
I think my big takeaway is that characters shouldn't literally be blank slates unless there's a specific intention to it. Sometimes the creator literally doesn't care about the main character and the supporting cast is the true entertainment/draw to the story. Which is frustrating, but certainly one way to go about it. Sometimes the main character being indecisive is a specific character flaw; just as we the audience are discovering our place in the world, so is the protagonist.
agreed!! i also feel like main characters tend to be extremely average and boxed in with their personalities? while side characters and especially villains get to be new and interesting and are not held down by social conventions
your outros keep getting better by the day bones:3 lol
I have two main characters. One is introduced first, and the second one comes later. The second one moves the plot. Both have their own personalities. Would the order they're introduced in confuse readers?
I think that one good way to make a vibrant character is to first establish their vices and virtures, and which one influences their designs more. I found a character formula that can help: Strength + Weakness * (Stength [>/=/
I was so invested in your comic drawings!
This isn't really about characters, but how do you start a webcomic? I don't mean planning and character design, I mean, how do we write that first conflict that starts everything? I have a story in mind, one where the two main characters are brought to this "other universe/world." But I can't find a way in which they get there? Sorry my question is confusing
tommy turtle ask yourself questions. So the characters are in this world, were they originally from the same world? Is this other world someplace others may want to get their hands on? Is this world in danger? Who exactly are these characters? With questions like this you can start to come up with answers that will eventually be the wood you carve into your story. Hopefully this made scene lol.
tommy turtle outline your plot
@@dahgurr4833 some people aren't outliners
Just hit them with a truck.
@@shameerabdullah9368 HAHAHAHAHA
What you describe is what happened with me and my comic, I think. I started out with a character named "Ravi" as the main protagonist. Then I came to realize that this other character of mine, "Byron," was a bit more colorful than Ravi. I then determined to have Byron be the main protagonist: he is 1st among equals, so to speak--the 3 main protagonists being Byron, Clara and Ravi...
Do you start out with a dream cast of characters tasked with living out the story, or do you have the story decide how many characters (and the types) it needs to be told?
I formed my characters through changing the plot a lot and I even scrapped the whole plot and created a new one with the same cast of characters. It kinda helped me see how my characters would act in any kind of situation, their interest and how passionate they are about it, the characters relationships to each other etc.
Sure it can take time and energy but it’s fun and exiting.
I even tried to write different genres with my characters.
I wrote romance, action, horror, thriller, comedy and slice of life.
I would recommend 👌
That is really interesting. I really like this idea, writing with the same cast of characters with different genres and plots really makes for well defined and understood characters. I often find myself always making a new cast of characters when some plot bunny hits or just a random thought and it does get confusing and sometimes the characters feel too impersonal. I think I’ll try this idea out, it sounds really interesting to me and I’d love to see my favorite characters in multiple stories showing off multiple parts of their personality that may not shine through in the original. Thank you so much for the idea!
You’re work is so helpful! I have a question that might not apply to most people, but here goes:
Can a comic be written in parts? For example, I have three main characters, and for the first part of the comic, its largely centered on the emotions and perceptions of one of them; then it goes to the other one; and then it goes to the third one to close the book. I plan to also write an add-on book from a fourth perspective.
How could I convey a character’s perspective without having every panel be in first person or with thought bubbles everywhere?
A suggestion for the ending:
"Give me a highfive, if you j i v e"
Wonderful video as always!! :)))))))
Bruce Wayne (Batman), Jonathan Spencer aka The Human Torch (The Fantastic Four), Neo (The Matrix), Han Solo (Star Wars), Rick O'Connell (The Mummy 1999), Korben Dallas (The Fifth Element). I could go on and on with interesting protagonists, you just need to look for them.
Say you have a lot of characters in your comic that play a vital role in the story, or at least parts of the story, and you what to develop them, how do you do this successfully without ridding the main character of their-well, main character status? How to you balance the time spent on side characters and the main character?
Make sure the main character has the most screen time.
An easy way to do what you're talking about is to have the protagonist be the new person, of the group.
This way the other characters are carrying the load, but the protagonist isn't out of place.
My main character's name is Hana. She is a very kind, but extremely introverted girl who is a witch who wants to learn the power of flowers in order to save her mother from an evil organization.
The thing is, she is the least interesting character.
The side characters just overshadow her every single time.
There is Leroy, who is the comic relief, but don't mistake him for being one-dimensional. He is a strategist, an optimist, and has a very good aim. He is there to give motivation to the group, but he has a flaw: He has a focusing problem.
There is Kanna, a very cool girl with an agressive attitude. She is fearless, like a barbarian. She is super interesting and charismatic. She lost her memories, and is very curious, and wants to find out who she was.
And the last character is Seiji: her master who is a really complex and mysterious character.
Hana didn't even defeat an enemy by herself (At least not in the first 9 episodes, I'm writing episode 10 right now), and constantly needs to be helped.
She is useless.
Even a secondary character, Kristiano, who started off as a villain but had a redemption arc defeated at least one important enemy.
Everything Hana can do others can do better.
And I don't want Hana to be a chosen one, but I don't know any other way to make her not boring and actually interesting. Most characters that are boring are Mary/Gary sues, but Hana is the opposite. She has so many flaws and her only virtue is being kind, but her kindness rarely helps.
Long story short, all of the side characters are way more interesting than Hana, and Hana's kindness rarely ever helps the group. I appreciate the fact that you're reading this long comment, and would appreciate even more if you gave me a solution to this problem.
The thing that makes characters interesting isn’t their personality, powers or weaknesses, but if they are challenged by the plot and their actions and decisions are important to the plot. They need to be put in a situation where their decisions have weight.
IMO there is no such thing as Mary Sues/Gary Sues, only bad plots that don’t challenge the character.
You can have character who has no funny traits or charisma, but if you put them in a position where they are challenged, where their actions have consequences, people will be interested in seeing what they do.
Like Mob from Mob Psycho 100 has a very unexciting personality and Mary Sue levels of power, but is very interesting to readers because the plot is about his maintaining his unexciting status or his powers destroy everyone. The writer generates conflict around the clash between these two aspects.
What you need is not to make Hana have better traits, but to have a passive character turn into an active character.
You already have the formula there in the first line. Hana wants to learn the power of flowers to save her mother from an evil organization. This is probably the most interesting of the character motivations you listed. Hana’s goal is to become strong and defeat evil. That’s a winning formula shared by a ton of popular characters, like Goku, Naruto, almost all of shonen comics, Aang and Korra from Avatar: TLA and TLOK.
Hana has an ambition to be strong enough to defeat strong enemies, so she should be looking for ways to get strong, looking for clues to find her mother, looking for members of the evil organization to defeat, trying to recruit strong people to help her fight them. She’s going on a rescue mission. There’s a lot of active things she can be doing.
Is she trying to change herself to become a person who can defeat the organization? How does this affect her? Does she need to become less kind? Does she fight to preserve her nature? Will the power of flowers be enough to rescue her mother? If there is a time limit on the rescue, what if she’s too late to save her mother?
This all depends on what kind of story you want to tell, but they are interesting questions you can make readers curious about.
It also might be a good idea to get rid of characters if their role overlaps too much with the role that Hana is supposed to play. You might be unintentionally splitting one role between two characters and making them both weaker as a result. For instance if you have a character that isn’t the Hana making most of the plot-relevant decisions, try giving those decisions to Hana or maybe just make that character the main character instead.
Another problem might be if the characters are running on autopilot and easily solving Hana’s problems for her, that makes it less interesting for readers to pay attention to Hana, because she never has to confront her weaknesses.
This is one of the reasons that mentor figures are constantly dying or being written out of scenes because they are, more often than not, basically the main character but already strong. It’s hard to challenge the main character when they are around, unless they have a trait which makes it difficult for them to help, (like being old or injured or disgraced or losing their powers or never had powers in the first place).
Again, most importantly, Hana has to make plot-driving decisions.
How would you plan what’s "at stake" for your main character ?
I have 6 main characters and don’t wanna get rid of them
It works to have a reference for characters personality? How do i make one?
I think he means obtaining references from observing other characters in books,movies,real life e.t.c that has attributes of the character or oc you are trying to create.Hope this helps.
I usually just use MBTI personality types and tweak the personalities a little bit. I also sometimes use the Enneagram.
There is no excuse for a boring character
Yo I just found your channel and it's really helping me alot! What you got to say or your insights in making comics just interests me idk
More screen time, more time to be bland.
My main character is a mute, does anybody got any tips of how to write them in my comics?
Demon Slayer writers need to see this video. I love Demon Slayer, but I find Tanjiro to be a boring character.
What if the plot is more character driven?
If you're a native English speaker you may want to watch this video on 1.5 speed. Very enjoyable.
I am that one person who doesn't think that MCs are boring and actually I watch the show almost in 99% if I like MC (and his most closest friends/love interest) and want to see the story about MC. And I'm actually almost always really frustrated if the story way too much shows other characters than MC (even if it's his friends, but especially villians).
I was that one person who was kinda disappointed by the amount of times when in the Avatar the Last airbender in EVERY EPISODE they showed what Zuko was doing! Now I understand his character way better, but still... I don't like when authors do this kind of stuff. And I'm super satisfied to watch shows that has like 2-4 characters and shows only them. I like slice of life anime and romance and comedies, they are almost always has this concept. I wish adventure anime also could concentrate on MC more sometimes... I'm really feel bad when they introduce MC and I like him and then they start to introduce like 20 new characters I don't care about 😮💨 I just drop these animes in this case...
"The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity." which is why bad guys are more interesting storywise
How to implement side characters into the story and make them interesting?
i kinda like boring protaginists because the rest of the cast usally make up for it
And this is why authors don't need to try.
Telling me the answer in the first 30 seconds? You get a like, my respect, and my viewership for the other 8 minutes
I think it depends on the author
Why are the main characters so boring? Not if the main character is the one who's the antagonistic criminal. Ah! Then he's no longer boring! And for damn sure, neither is your comic. 😄
Mary Sue and Gary Sue are the worse and boring writing main characters you Can think off
**cough cough* *Kazuto Kiriguya* *cough cough**
The main character of my comic is a humanoid cat-squirrel cyborg... Don't know if that counts as boring but ok
Sounds interesting! But the desing dosn't make their personality more or less interesting. It's great if it has a good design and a good personality