Day 26 Assignment

[Arial Burnz]

Subject: Arial’s Solved Character Problems

What I learned doing this assignment is…this is a nice way to check in with the characters I’ve created in my mind and be sure they are distinct, unique and engaging.

A. Weak Protagonist or Antagonist

a. Protagonist – Even though she’s going to be a bit of a doormat and naïve, I’m going to show her being frustrated with the way people tend to push her around. She isn’t just going to sit back and take it, like I had before. She’ll grin and bear it, then express her frustrations privately or with her boyfriend and mother. I think appearance-wise, too, I might make her a bit awkward, gangly, skinny.

b. Antagonist 1 – I’m thinking of adding some challenges that Kylantha may create for Aylen regarding their friendship. Pushing the envelope with some of her behavior, which causes Aylen to grit in frustration over what her friend wants or demands of her. Came up with a great idea, which will change the intro for Aylen.

c. Antagonist 2 – Syndra, in my opinion, will indeed be challenging Aylen in so many ways – with learning, physical combat training, using magic, challenging her reasons for wanting revenge, etc. – I don’t think I’ll need to change this.

B. Protagonist Too Good or Antagonist Too Bad

a. Protagonist – This exercise gave me an idea to pump up Aylen’s opening scene by changing where she catches the paper bird. See below in “Weak Character Intros.”

b. Antagonist 1 – I’m going to make Kylantha a bit more likable from the start and have her jealousy be something that is a little more covert. She’ll have a temper tantrum in private versus being so open about her distaste of Aylen.

c. Antagonist 2 – Syndra, in my opinion, is already a very interesting character, so I don’t think I need to work on her.

C. Weak Character Intros

a. Protagonist – Instead of the intro I came up with (holding her palm our for the paper bird and then it being taking away), I was thinking of instead putting her in the slimy part of town buying black-market medicine for her mother. The paper bird will still fly around, but go into this area and Aylen will grab it from the air, cursing. “These aren’t supposed to be down here!” She panics and runs around grabbing as many of them as she can, causing a commotion, which attracts the attention of some unsavory characters. Aylen is on the run, still snatching paper birds as she weaves through the seedy part of Radario. By the time she gets to her destination (work), she is a mess! And her worst fears are realized – those flyers in the wrong part of town attracted the wrong crowd to the job! The owner will be pissed and Aylen will NOT get promoted as originally planned, but instead will get a royal scolding and a punishment – she will have to stay late to inventory the new shipment of fabrics and notions. This will not only make it more interesting, but there will be action right from the opening of the story.

b. Antagonist – In connection with Aylen’s intro, Kylantha is the one who enchanted the papers to fold into origami-type birds, but she sabotaged Aylen’s idea by altering the spell to send the flyers into the bad parts of town. When Aylen confronts her, she’ll defend herself saying, “You’re the one who told me to have the birds seek out anyone in the city who needed a tailor or new clothes. I can’t help it if you didn’t give me the right words to say.” What Aylen doesn’t know, which she’ll find out later, is intention is a big part of using magic. The intention behind the spell is just as important as the words you use to cast it.

D. Characters Not in Action – I will definitely be sure I use action over dialogue when I go through the script to rewrite. This is a great tip!

E. Protagonist Journey Not Strong – I will be sure to watch for this and challenge her every step of the way.

F. All of the Characters Seem the Same – I’ve already started implementing different dialogue styles and speech tags.

G. Lead Characters Not Present – I got this one! Check!