Short Stories - The Leap
There will be some questions on it. We’re looking at building a way of analyzing character and knowing how characters are used in stories.
Develop a pattern for character sketches and assignments that look into characters.
We’re looking towards writing essays later where we consider character change and motivations.
Thoughts about character(s) in literature:
Protagonist - the character who’s defining the movement of the story
his/her struggle is the point
his/her change is the reason for the story to progress
EVERY story is about a protagonist being forced to change - this is the struggle - Harry Potter’s life in the books is nothing but struggle - this is the reason that there are books about this character - the struggle is the story
the pro = the positive - the character we support
that character is the one in which we “ride” for the story
the protagonist of any story must have certain qualities for us to be able to “ride” successfully
the more conflict the protagonist has, the better the story, the richer the character - more problems = more excitement
heroic - brave, caring, perseverance, have a talent of ability, demonstrate the gift in a way that makes them special, face impossible odds, etc
they need to have an opposition of some sort, that is clear and obvious and seems more powerful
relatable - we need to be able to care about that character - we have a strong empathy for them - they are in trouble, they are endangered, they are like us and we understand their troubles
protagonists have to change in some way, or be faced with the opportunity to change - CHANGE is crucial to protagonists
Character Arc
Antagonist - in some cases, the opposing energy that the hero must face is literally another person -
this person is called the ANTAGONIST - his/her desires put him/her in competition or opposition
the antagonist could want the same thing, or want the opposite thing
the antagonist may be, according to his/her own logic, doing the right thing
the stronger and more understandable this logic is, the more powerful the “bad guy’s” belief is, the better the resulting story
complexity comes from us being able to understand the bad guy’s feelings, motives, ideas
Bad Guy Qualities
complexity and relatability - we can see his/her POV and it makes sense and it is ALMOST a good idea - this makes the best villains
the power to actually win - and it must be clear - the hero needs to be the little guy in this
there must be some kind of similarity between the hero and the villain - it is very common that they share powers, backgrounds, etc
give the audience something that they themselves might have to face or know about or deal with as a temptation - threats that are obvious to us
must be dealing in universal ideas and themes - love, hate, war, greed, envy, jealousy, etc - because they are actually representing sides of ourselves - villains are warning to us not to do something that we could well do
Identify pro and ant -
Analyse motives - why does he/she do what he/she does?
Mark the change - how did or didn’t the character change?
What universal human themes come up in this character?
Consider the characters as real people and try to get in their heads - why? how? what for?
By looking at simple pieces of how a character is presented, we can come up with that information we need to do the character sketch
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