character Templates/Story Arc Ideas

[roteral]

Im currently drafting a plan for a story I'm gonna start writing and want to have characters whose stories go outside the main plot and have been a hard time with it so I'd thought I'd ask you guys to help me. It has no set genre, so pretty much anything goes

[the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh]

Im currently drafting a plan for a story I'm gonna start writing and want to have characters whose stories go outside the main plot and have been a hard time with it so I'd thought I'd ask you guys to help me. It has no set genre, so pretty much anything goes

Why do you want to have characters whose story arcs go outside the main plot ? What is their purpose in the story as a whole ?  Not sure I can see any way of offering useful advice until I know what the objective is.

[roteral]

The point of it would be to explore their backgrounds to explain who they are, explain their motives and to track the growth of their abilities. Their stories will have relevence in certain points of the plot and at the end. They'll have affects on the main characters and their actions too, which is really the point

[The Deposed King]

The point of it would be to explore their backgrounds to explain who they are, explain their motives and to track the growth of their abilities. Their stories will have relevence in certain points of the plot and at the end. They'll have affects on the main characters and their actions too, which is really the point

Write a series of short stories or novellas for each of these characters.  Then go after the mainline novel.



The Deposed King

[Dresdenus Prime]

Write a series of short stories or novellas for each of these characters.  Then go after the mainline novel.



The Deposed King

I totally agree with this. I'm still only an aspiring author, but I feel like any of my supporting characters need to be interesting enough that a short story or full length novel could be written with them as the main character.

[OZ]

It might not be a bad idea to write a short story explaining each character's background just for your own information. As you write your novel you can include any bits that will move your novel forward. You might find in some cases that it will be an organic fit. Just don't force the background into the story and don't forget and assume that the readers will know the details that you never included. Some background bits might not be needed in the story. Unless it's really important, it's usually ok to leave some to the readers imagination. It's very possible that the Dresden Files will end without us ever knowing the full "origin stories" of many of the major characters although we will probably have a few clues. How did Kincaid become a mercenary and a shooter? What made Michael into the man that became of KotC? Where did Toot Toot get his leadership abilities? It doesn't make these characters less enjoyable because we don't know every detail of their past.

[roteral]

I think I didn't actually say what I wanted help with. What I meant was I wanted help actually making up characters and their abilities

[LizW65]

This:
http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/character-cafe/threads/70798
may be of help. There are PDF versions somewhere that you can download and fill in the blanks (or at least there used to be; I can't seem to find them.)

[roteral]

Thanks this should be really helpful