Creative Writing Tips -

Have You Established Your Main Character At The Start?

 by:

Nick Vernon

In the beginning of your story you have to grab your readers' interest

and sustain it till the end. Our hook is our character. Readers keep on

reading to find out more about the character. To see what he'll do in the

story; how he'll solve his problems. What his goals are and whether he'll

achieve them.

And because our character is the reason readers become hooked on our

stories, establishing him at the start is a must in a short story. And it

is essential to establish him at the start because we don't have the

capacity in our limited word length to introduce him at our leisure.

The bond between readers and character has to be developed almost

immediately.

You might have a few characters though. How do you decide who your main

character will be? A main character is one that drives the story.

Think of it this way. If we were to take him away, there will be no

story because it's his story we are telling. The story will unfold by what

is happening or what has happened to him.

When you establish who your main character will be, the next thing to

do is to find which of your characters is in the best position to tell the

story. Will your main character tell his story or will you give that role

to another character?

This is what we call Viewpoint and what we'll see in more detail in

proceeding chapters.

Your main character isn't necessarily the one who is telling the story;

he might not even appear in our story 'physically' but will be there

through the thoughts of others. So the viewpoint character might be a

secondary character.

Whoever is telling the story is the viewpoint character.

The viewpoint character gives the coloring of the story. Whatever this

characters says, we will believe. It may or may not be true, according to

the main character, but because he isn't there 'physically' to voice his

opinions, we will have to take the viewpoint character's word for it.

In a novel you can play around with viewpoint. You can have several

viewpoint characters. In a short story it works best with one.

So your main character, whether he'll be telling his own story or

someone else will be doing it for him, has to be established at the start

of your story.

Having said that, let's see the reasons why the main character may not

be telling his own story...

Perhaps our main character is one that readers won't sympathize or

empathize with.

Or the main character will not view highly with our readers

Or the viewpoint character knows all the facts and can tell the

story better

Etc.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Let me give you an example of a secondary character telling the story

of a main character.

Let's say your secondary character is a psychiatrist and the main

character is the patient. Depending on what's going to go on in the story,

we'll have to choose who's in a better position to tell it. In this case,

I will choose the psychiatrist.

I've done this because the patient is confused, being the one with the

problems. The psychiatrist knows all the facts and his opinions will make

things clearer to readers.

So, as the secondary character (the psychiatrist) unravels the story,

we'll become involved in the main character because it's the main

character's story that is been told.

This may get a little confusing to the beginner writer. As they write

they will have to keep in mind that the secondary character, although he's

telling the story, is NOT our main character.

The secondary character is there to do perform a task. He's only the

voice. It's the main character we'll become involved with.

A secondary character doesn't play such an important role as a main

character does. Therefore, information about secondary characters should

be kept to a minimum. It's not his story - it's the main character's story

and the spotlight must, most times, be kept on the main character.

Take the above example for instance. It's no relevance to the story how

the psychiatrist started his career or where he received his diploma -

what's important, is what he has to say about the main character, his

patient.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Introduce your main character straight away, as close to the beginning

of the story that's possible. Enable your readers to form a bond and that

will keep them hooked.

Is your main character established at the start of your story?