MC help needed

[Lanodantheon]

I may be just over thinking this, but I think I have a problem with my WIP's Main Character, MC.

I'm no good with creating/remembering names so I'll just call him MC for the time being.

To put into perspective, the Story itself is about a Young Man (My MC), who is around 17 by the way who finds out he is a Magic User of all things(There's of course more to it than that) but the twist is that he is Genre Savvy as TV Tropes calls it. Harry Dresden is Genre Savvy, he makes mention of other works of fantasy throughout his adventures as a Wizard, but he's already like that after he has become a Wizard.
My story shows my MC was Genre Savvy before he became a Magic User. I am not trying to clone HD or HP, my MC is his own man with more to him than I have mentioned here.

My angle is this: Most Main Characters who find out they are Wizards or whatever are swept off their feet by the magic stuff. HP for example is just in awe of everything around him.
My MC on the other hand is a kid with a sweet tooth in a candy store.


My 2 problems in particular are thus:


1. Every time I try to design my Main Character, he seems to become more and more like me. To be more specific, the character I want is a Bookworm who has read a lot of Fantasy before he became a magic user. A way to word it would be, "If I became a Wizard, I would..." But, I don't want an MC who is an embellished Author surrogate/clone of myself because that in my opinion is unbelievably lame.
See Anita Blake for reference on this matter in my opinion (For those AB fans reading this, you may ignore this sentence ).


2. It seems like my MC is either too badass, powerful, ...infallible for his own good. I want him to be fallible. I want him to have the Sherlock Holmes moment at one point and be wrong (getting beat up for it as a result). But, if I beat him up too much, he ceases to be believable or likable since no one likes an MC who just gets beat up all the time and is always wrong.
On the other end of the spectrum, I don't want him to be too powerful and become "The Most Powerful Wizard in a thousand years who speaks a hundred supernatural languages in a short amount of time with little effort from a prophesy set in time centuries before..."(Complete with own Harem) because that sounds awfully like a certain 15 year Starfleet Captain a lot of us know and hate.

But, I also want his schtick to be that because he's something of a Pragmatist that he's a Generalist of sorts. The other thing is that part of his arc is that although he's geek of Sci-Fi/Fantasy, he wasn't a good student before the magic came. The magic and the consequences of it light a fire under my MC's butt. Edward Elric is kinda like this for his State Alchemy exam, hitting the books and turning into a learning machine. Ed was trying to get his brother's body back and my MC has a similarly strong motivation. But, I don't want MC to be a master of everything in a short time.


I am not setting out to write a wish fulfillment book that seeks to give my High School/College Career meaning and make me look like a genius. I have a story to tell and I determined this to be the best character for the job, but the character design parts of my brain are not cooperating.

I have tried to remedy these problems by distancing the main character from myself (Different interests, aptitudes, age, etc.) and to "Beat the crap out of him" so to speak. But, it hasn't been working on paper.
He keeps becoming more and more like me and I can't nail down a power level and learning arc.

So, I need help. How can I remedy these 2 issues without scrapping my MC and starting all over again?

[blgarver]

Maybe you should stop trying to fight it and rebuild the character in your shadow.  It sounds like You are trying to come out and show yourself on paper, so do it.  Doesn't have to be 100% you.  Your MC can have traits similar to yourself and still be his own person.

And who says we don't like characters that get the crap kicked out of them all the time.  Harry Dresden?  John McClane?

And characters that screw up all the time?  Tim Allen, anyone?

It sounds to me like you're clinging to an original concept so concretely that you're stifling your MC from growing into his own person.

Let loose the reigns.  Let the guy go an see what happens.

That's just my opinion.  Good luck.

BLG

[ballplayer72]

had the same problem with mine.  Very similar setup.  I got around it by giving my character a believable handicap, and making him a bit rash and prone to foot in mouth.

[Starbeam]

When I first start a story, my MC is almost always based on some part of my personality, and then evolves from there to become their own person.  I find that better for me than to try to completely take myself out of the character, because then I'm not really in touch with how they talk, act, react, etc.  Plus the way the evolve is pretty much inevitably different than myself, just because the situations are going to be different than anything I've encountered.

[thausgt]

When I first start a story, my MC is almost always based on some part of my personality, and then evolves from there to become their own person.  I find that better for me than to try to completely take myself out of the character, because then I'm not really in touch with how they talk, act, react, etc.  Plus the way the evolve is pretty much inevitably different than myself, just because the situations are going to be different than anything I've encountered.

Here's a thought, borrowed from a venerable RPGs "Character Quizzes" chapter:

Take a Devil's Advocate stand. Describe what you (the player [or writer]) hate about the character. What are the good reasons for other characters to dislike/hate the character? What little, minor bad habit does your character have that would annoy anyone after a while?
(A big ol' tip of the hat to anyone who correctly identifies the game.)

There's nothing wrong with using your own personality as a template for a character. It's part of the reason why it's a time-honored tradition among us ink-slingers to base characters on our friends/family/neighbors/etc., precisely because it's that much easier to get into the heads of such a character.

If you absolutely, positively must have some way to differentiate between "you" and "the character", try picking a relatively simple preference. I might write about a character who absolutely loves to catch and cook fresh fish (I can't stand seafood of any type except clam chowder), as an example. That can be the seed from which you build a whole different back story (my character's family often went fishing, my character learned to prepare and cook fish really well, etc.) A more interesting challenge might be to have your character take the opposite side of a political discussion than you. If nothing else, it could give you some interesting insight into how the opposition works...

Good luck!

[belial.1980]

My 2 problems in particular are thus:


1. Every time I try to design my Main Character, he seems to become more and more like me. To be more specific, the character I want is a Bookworm who has read a lot of Fantasy before he became a magic user. A way to word it would be, "If I became a Wizard, I would..." But, I don't want an MC who is an embellished Author surrogate/clone of myself because that in my opinion is unbelievably lame.
See Anita Blake for reference on this matter in my opinion (For those AB fans reading this, you may ignore this sentence ).


2. It seems like my MC is either too badass, powerful, ...infallible for his own good. I want him to be fallible. I want him to have the Sherlock Holmes moment at one point and be wrong (getting beat up for it as a result).

A seventeen year old, geeky kid coming into magic power? Sounds a lot like my protagonist, lol. Honestly, there's something elemental about coming of age, the call to heroism, etc. Since our characters are similar, I'll offer what I've tried with my character:

For #1- It's already been said, but this is fun: Think about things you like and give MC the opposite tastes. If you're politically conservative make MC a communist; likewise if you're views are more liberal make him a right winger with a shrine to Ronald Reagan. Bonus points if you make him obnoxiously vocal about his political stance. Do you eat meat? Make him a vegetarian. Do you like heavy metal? Make him a huge fan of Jessica Simpson's music. Do you drink Coca Cola? Make him a diehard Pepsi drinker and have him give a vivid description as he savors the beverage--since he's genre savvy, have him dog Harry Dresden's well-known preference for Coke. You don't have to make him completely different from you in every aspect, but these kinds of things can serve as a crowbar to pry him away from your personality.

For #2- I suggest thinking of a critical moment in the climax of the story where the character will be called upon to use his abilities to save the day. Everything builds up to this. Beforehand, maybe he's just as likely to fall on his face as he is to succeed. Acheiving this critical success should outshine anything he's accomplished in the past. Think of that moment when Luke Skywalker switches off the targetting scope and takes aim to destroy the Death Star. Everything should be on the line and the readers shoud ::want:: MC to pull it off.

As for infallibility problems--hey, he's a kid coming into power rather suddenly. Make him abuse it! Show the readers that he's a young man still emotionally developing. Hit up a relative or friend that might've gotten into trouble or done reckless things at that age (or if you're like me, you can use personal experience  ) and get some inspiration from the trouble they've gotten into. 

That's my $.02 in the jar. Hope it helps. Good luck!


 

[Quantus]

for #1:   
I had a similar problem with a book I was trying to write at the end of high school.  What helped me was to introduce a few supporting characters.  My MC was part me, but not all me.  But between the MC, the Mentor, and the Buddy/Sidekick, I was somewhere in the middle of all of them, but they provided contrast to each other enough that it helped me keep the drift down.  In keeping their own differences straight, it keep mine out of it.  It also gave me extra outlets, if my MC wouldnt say something but I wanted it to be said, there was a good chance the Mentor or the Sidekick would.  And it also helped me get some good rounded supporting characters.  And they dont necessarily have to stick around for the whole of the story or be really key parts, but if you find your character waxing a bit too altruistic for what you want him to be, have an altruist there to contrast him with. 


for #2:   
One way to do it would be to have his fantasy fiction knowledge become at times preconceptions that then get him into trouble.  Let him try to throw a fireball during a getaway and not realize that it would suck the heat out of the engine and kill it.  He can still get away, but it would take some quick thinking.  Use his inexperience.  This may depend on how much accurate education (be it book or mentor) he gets.  But even with lots of study, he is still going to be unpracticed and unrefined.  The thing about the kid in the candy store mentality is that it usually comes with the a deficiency in recognizing drawbacks and consequences.

I dont know what relative power level you want him on in your world, but he could also have moments where he tries to do it the direct/brute force way and it fails so he is forced into sudden cleverness to make up for it.  Like he tries to telekinesis some badguy out of his way, doesn't have the clout, so instead he releases the parking break on a nearby delivery truck which rolls down and smashes the dude. 


Good luck.  Hope this was helpful

[Lanodantheon]

This advice has been very helpful and has influenced several decisions about my MC.

Sibling/family dynamics and interests can greatly define him into a unique character.
Having his genre saviness being dubious and/or dead wrong would add great flavor to the character and the setting. I don't want a "Stock" Fantasy setting so what better way to go against expectations than to have a Character who expects them himself?

John McClane and HD are great examples of what I want, they are the perfect balance. What I am trying to avoid is a character that takes that too far. Getting beat up is great, but a character who gets beat up too much appears inept.

I consider the idea of any character let alone a real person with a shrine to Ronald Reagan to be a difficult (But entertaining) thought to bare. I'm writing that down somewhere.

The idea of people abusing magic and not recognizing consequences is exactly what I'm looking for.

That's all the response to this advice I have. Thanks guys/gals.

-Lano

[Starbeam]

I consider the idea of any character let alone a real person with a shrine to Ronald Reagan to be a difficult (But entertaining) thought to bare. I'm writing that down somewhere.

There's a character on Chuck that almost fits that.  Not quite a shrine, but a picture, that he sometimes talks to.  The character is Casey, played by Adam Baldwin.  One of the best parts of the show.

[Quantus]

And when his boss the short dour general lady saw it she said "Wake up Cassey the 80's are over"  Classic 

[belial.1980]

This advice has been very helpful and has influenced several decisions about my MC.

I consider the idea of any character let alone a real person with a shrine to Ronald Reagan to be a difficult (But entertaining) thought to bare.

...Unless he's attempting to contact him through a seance. LOL, didn't mean that to be taken exactly literally, but now that I think about it, it would be pretty entertaining. Along those lines, what if he summoned the spirit of J. Edgar Hoover and his ghost appeared in full drag? Sorry, just vomiting random thoughts. Best ignore this post 

[The Corvidian]

If you are worried about him becoming to powerful, give him a crutch. Perhaps he has to have a favored toy, book, or something on his person when he casts a spell. Maybe he has a "place of power" where he casts his spells; this place may have some favorite posters on the wall, collectibles on the shelves, or even a favored book in a place of veneration. Give him bad eyes, allergies, give him OCD, or perhaps he has a hard time focusing.

With the allergy thing, have it where he has to use incense, and when he inhales it in, he starts sneezing and screws up the spell/ritual.