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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?
24 comments:
One of my MCs is afraid of water. She almost drowned as a child. I have a scene in my wip where she falls into a river. So I guess - I am. But I also want to incorporate it more.
I always exploit fears but it's not usually the phobia kind of fears. More emotional fears that the character doesn't even realize they are dealing with! Creepy pix!
Emotional fears--that's interesting. Do you think you could expand on that?
And I thought it was a great picture. Flickr has some pretty fantastic photos. :)
Great post! Fear is a very important part of character development, for the good guys and the bad guys. Even if your villain has no soul (like mine) he/she still has something that they dread. My antagonist is afraid of losing power, for example, but he's also a bit of a germaphobe. And he's afraid of failure.
I like knowing my antagonist's fears, cause then I can torture them a bit :) mwahahaha!
A power-hungry villian with a touch of germaphobia--I like it!
That being said, I've found that the more you know about your antagonist (and the more you love your antagonist), the better. In my opinion, you should know just as much about your villain as you do your main characters--including, of course, their fears. :)
I love this post! And it's true - we're all afraid of something, whether it be spiders, or failure! Giving a character a fear would definitely root them in humanity. :)
Thanks, Vicki! One of the best things we can do to help develop our characters is give them fears and weaknesses--without them they just don't feel as true.
Great post, Ava. I once read that in the early days of his success Lee Child advised newbie writers the following: " Forget writing what you know. Write what you fear." Every character acts out of their fears. You're in good company :)
I'd never heard that Lee Child quote before, but I like it! Thanks for sharing it!
Since you're referring to Harry Potter, how about Voldemort and his fear of dying?
That's a great one! I hadn't thought of that while writing the post, but you're absolutely right--his quest for immortality was a power thing, but it was certainly connected to his fear of death.
I love this post. Everyone has fears of some sort and to make our readers identify with our characters, fear should be incorporated.
That's exactly right. Thanks, Jane!
I hadn't really thought deeply about fear until I read Divergent. Fear was such a revolving theme in that book that it really made me take a harder look at my characters, although I do think I can do better to exploit their fears :)
You know, Divergent really brought character fears to the front of my mind, as (IMO) Veronica Roth handled them really well. As for exploiting them, it really does open up a whole host of possibilites with the right brainstorming. :)
Wow, I was just talking to a friend about how fear is missing in a lot of stories. I gave the protagonist of one of my stories the fear of losing her father, and she reunited with him. Now I found an excuse to separate them again, forcing her to grow up and learn to walk without him. I might even have him suffer grievous wounds and purposely shroud his status of health for a few chapters, just to torture my protagonist and my readers. Inner sadist has arrived ^_^
The inner sadist is very important for writers, so I would say that it's definitely a good thing that you've found yours. Enjoy exploiting your characters' fears! ^_^
Fear can also make obstacles for character and his main goal in life. My character wants to discover an identity for himself, but his fear of the government makes it difficult.
I really depends on the character/person your writing.
Great point, John. It definitely depends on the character, but fear can be used in many ways to strengthen both plot and character development.
I was going to mention this myself, before I realised someone already had, who just so happens to share my name ;)
Voldemort's fear of death was pretty much the main plot point for the entire storyline. One thing about prophecies not many people realise is that you don't have to believe them, and by ignoring them they won't eventuate (mostly). When Voldemort chose to believe the prophecy, he feared he would lose his power, and in the Order of the Phoenix he specifically says "There is Nothing Worse Than Death!", which only cements and highlights his fear of it. If he had ignored the prophecy, he would have never gone to the Potters, and he would never have met his downfall.
Simple as that.
Yes! This is a great explanation. It totally slipped my mind while I was writing the post, but I absolutely agree!
Thank you! I'm a major Potterhead, and I write HP Fanfiction, so I put a lot of thought into then reasonings behind how each character acts. I still think Moldyshorts lost his node by running into the wrong wall at Kings Cross haha
I like that theory. lol
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