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| Photo credit: ia7mad on Flickr |
What do I mean?
Fear humanizes
us. It's something we all share as a species and an emotion that our characters
should share as well—even the bravest and baddest of them all. You see, a
character without fear is automatically unbelievable and more difficult to connect
with—not to mention missing out on plenty of plot opportunities a character
with a few fears has.
When looking to
develop your characters, I highly recommend you get to know their fears—five
each is a good place to start. The fears should range from anywhere as deep and
integrated into the plot such as the fear of dying alone, to something as silly
and simple as the fear of butterflies (which is a real fear by the way, linked
to the fear of moths and called lepidopterophobia,
but I digress).
It's not enough
to be aware of our characters fears, however. Once you've developed a list,
it's time to take a look at them and figure out how you can incorporate a
couple of them into your plot.
Is your main
character afraid of rabbits? Make sure she comes across a field full of those
adorable little bouncing fluff balls.
Is your secondary
afraid of bright colors? (again, a real fear believe it or not)—send him on a
trip to Vegas.
Is your
antagonist terrified of losing a loved one? Incorporate it into the plot.
I'm sure many of
you noticed in my last example I used the antagonist, which brings me to my
next point: evil characters have fears, too.
Yes, I know, it
sometimes seems like an oxymoron to think of our antagonists as actually afraid
of something, but the best, deepest antagonists have fears of their own that
often color their actions and—at times—even causes them to make some fatal
mistakes.
When it comes to
fears, your antagonist should be no different from your main character —even
the most nefarious of villains must be afraid of something to be believable.
Their fears could be simple and linked to the plot—fear of losing power, for
example, or fear of failure. I recommend, however, that you try to give your
antagonist a normal, humanizing fear as well.
What if your
antagonist's greatest fear really was losing a loved one? What would happen if
his fear came true—or, perhaps, if it already did?
Discovering and
developing our character's fears is a fantastic way to deepen your host of
characters and make them more believable—not to mention the plot possibilities
it provides you (how many times did Ron Weasley have to face his fear of
spiders, for example? Or Indiana Jones and his phobia of snakes?)
Then once you've
figured out what your cast is afraid of, it's time to start incorporating them
into the plot.
Do you know what
your characters are afraid of? Have you exploited their fears in your WIP?
