What is a story without characters? Unthinkable, not doable, impossible! Just imagine a home without people…
Think of the characters who make your house a home…
Characters are figures in stories, written for a very specific purpose. Without each character doing his particular bit, the story cannot continue. Weather you are a warrior, peacemaker, mother or child, do your bit so that the story can move into fruition.
“So bad characters can’t help that they’re bad?”
Well, all characters have some sort of history. It’s like their own personal story that started when they were born, and will carry on until they die. When we explore characters more deeply, we often find that they behave in a way that reflects their life-story.
“So baddies cannot help that they’re bad?”
That is why stories are important: we can begin to understand why certain characters behave in certain ways, and we can see what the consequences of that behaviour is. If the character chooses to behave differently, he will be treated differently. So baddies act from within a bad place in their life story, but they always have a choice to change their behaviour into something good. And that is where conflict, suspense and aha! moments are made! Where stories can get happy endings.
