How To Create Compelling Characters: Heroes And Villains

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2 As a freelance writer, one of your main concerns is character development. You re going to have weak characters, and you re going to have strong characters. That s especially true with any fiction writing that you re doing, whether it s romance writing and relationship writing, or something entirely different. Another thing that s great about understanding weak versus strong characters, is that you can use it for research, and you can use it for understanding the characteristics of strength and weakness, even in nonfiction materials. It can be scientific research, it can be popular science kind of information that s available. It can even be the analysis that s being done on a story that someone else has written. It might be proof reading that you re doing as well, or editing that you re doing for someone else as well. The awareness and understanding of weakness versus strength and characters, really comes into play again and again and again. It s great to understand because you can also utilize the weak and strong characteristics to develop the scenarios that a weak or a strong character would behave in a certain way. You can set up expectations for the reader, if you are writing with weakness and strength and mind. And of course there is a continuum, but I and this training, will take some extreme stances. I ll in effect create these bookends for you, so that you can look at the weakest of the weak, and the strongest of the strong and figure out exactly where your characters would land. Very typically the lead characters in your stories are going to be strong characters. Even if they re negatively strong, they are nevertheless weak or strong; in this case strong if it s a lead character. And then very often people like wing men, people like best friends, people that are maybe store owners or shop keepers, folks of that nature that might be on the periphery of the story, you can again position them in a weak or strong sense, based on their characteristics. Use those characteristics and reference to the context, to the background, and you will create much, much better stories. And again, this does apply as well to nonfiction writing. For example if you are describing a CEO or president or a founder of a company, you can isolate the characteristics that make that particular person very appealing to readers. And you can enhance and augment any character by diving into their strengths and weaknesses. You can make someone appear to be, or actually you can reveal that they are 2

3 weaker than they might seem on the surface. So again, you have a bag of tools in effect through these lenses that I m going to provide you right now in this training. So that s the background. And now let s dive into these weak vs strong characters and the definitions as it were. Weak characters stop once they achieve something. So they get to an end point, and then they stop. That is weak. Strong characters understand that the initial achievement is exactly that. It s the first of many. It is just the beginning of the journey. Strong characters demonstrate this, they use words that reflect this, and it s easy for the reader to tell that a true strong character just keeps going upward and onward. They do not stop. Weak characters, surprisingly just have a single goal. In some cases they have multiple goals. But that s actually weak when you consider that strong characters have a process for achieving the goal, and a greater vision of the future. Very often a more abundant and more lovely, more beautiful future. Again weak characters simply have goals and they re very, very explicit. There is not much depth. Strong characters have a process, a way of doing, a way of being, a way of acting. It is this way of doing things with strength through a process that determines strength versus weakness. Very often weak characters think they are good at everything, Jack of all trades. And at first, some characters might indeed look very strong because they can spin many plates and still balance them. They can do many things or so it seems. However, strong characters understand their circles of competence. Those things that they are very strong at, they stay within the circle, they demonstrate (they don t need to tell), they demonstrate their strength, and they are willing to admit and talk about and define those things that they are not good at; that are outside their circle of competence. In a sense, this is focus and determination that is quite obvious. That is strength. Again weak characters appear and definitely talk about how they are good at everything. Which often comes out, across or over as bragging and ego. Weak characters see feedback and coaching as an attack, as someone who is criticizing them, as an individual, as a person. Strong characters however, know they have these weaknesses and weak spots 3

4 and seek out thoughtful criticism and thoughtful feedback. Think about romance, a strong man does not need to be strong at everything. A strong male character, for example is more than willing to admit mistakes in areas of incompetence. This provides contrast, and allows the weaknesses to make the strengths look and even be that much stronger. Again, weak characters don t like feedback. They see it as criticism. Strong characters embrace that, and improve upon their situation and upon their lives and those around them. Weak characters value isolated, single points of performance; one action one outcome. And think about in football, for example (American football), the receiver who catches the ball on a difficult throw, as if that person is a hero, that a weak character will value over everything else; the single heroic action. While that can be an action of strength, the character is actually weak in comparison to the strong characters who value consistency. Can I catch the ball in the same situation nine times out of 10? So, the difference there again is process an ongoing activity and habits. This is a great way to set up romantic situations, where one character seems to be wonderful, seems to be a hero, and yet can only do it by luck or by chance; can only do it a single time, cannot repeat it, is not consistent. Whereas the strong character is there, day in day out, and can always perform in very, very strong ways or nearly always perform in strong ways. Weak characters give up at the first sign of trouble. They re cowards in effect. And they assume that they re failures and they utilize failure talk, failure words. They complain about themselves almost. Stronger characters on the other hand see failure as part of the path to growth and mastery. Mastery of their environment their world, the situation, and most importantly mastery of themselves which is ongoing nonstop. It goes on and on into the future. Weak characters don t have any idea what improves the odds of achieving the best possible outcomes, whereas strong characters do. Strong characters understand the inputs that lead to the best outputs for themselves and for those around them, especially their romantic partners, especially their family, people that are close to them in one respect or another, or people that are part of their tribe so to speak. Strong characters have that and they are in full display very often in terms of that understanding of what they provide. Weak characters show up to practice merely to have fun. So they practice for the sake of having 4

5 a good time. Strong characters however, realize that what happens and how it s done in practice is also what will happen in the games. So we can replace obviously, practice and games, with real life. When weak characters are in a situation and they re just messing around and we see that again and again they don t take things serious when they get into a serious situation, they fall apart. The strong characters of course come through. They actually make it through thick and thin. It works fantastic as a mechanism for providing a story or providing a journey; the hero s journey from beginning to end. It s great in fiction and nonfiction and very, very good for romance writing. Weak characters also focus on identifying their weaknesses and improving on their weaknesses. They try to bring their failures up to mediocre or to average. The difference is that strong characters focus on their strengths and on finding people who are strong where they are weak; very, very important. So they recognize their circles of competence, the areas that they re strong, and they continuously work to master those areas and get better and better in this limited number of areas. Where they are weak they admit that they are weak, and they look for outsiders who are strong. And again this works really well with partners and romantic situations, how the man has to give in to the woman and the woman has to give in to the man or the partners have to give up something for each other, to show how strong they are. In other words releasing and giving up at the right time as a show of strength. Weak characters think that knowledge alone is power. Whereas strong characters pass on wisdom and advice and they show through their actions that they understand how to utilize the knowledge, not just holding it or with withholding it, instead they use the knowledge to achieve results and they pass those results on to others based on their fruits of their labor, and also their wisdom and advice on how and why those particular actions based on the knowledge work as well as they do. Now, weak characters also focus on being right, and sometimes focus on perfection. That s a weakness. Whereas strong characters are going to be focusing on getting the absolute best outcome. Sometimes to their detriment, sometimes even when it impacts of them negatively. They want the strongest best greatest outcome for themselves and those around them, but they re willing to sacrifice the results and outcomes for themselves if it s for the greater good. Weak characters of course, they just care about 5

6 being right and explaining even why they re right and justifying that, and their outcomes very often are not nearly as good as strong characters. Weak characters also focus on first level thinking. That s surface level, explicit, obvious type of thinking. Stronger characters focus on second level thinking. In other words, what happens after the first action happens? What happens if/then? And they go through that again and again, where the strong character really is shown to be seeking, understanding by continuously asking questions at a greater and greater depth for the sake of understanding, for the sake of competence, for the sake of mastery, and also for the sake of outcomes that benefit others as well. Weak characters think that good outcomes are the result of their brilliance. Strong characters understand when outcomes are the result of luck and when they re not. There s a certain type of probabilistic thinking that is in the mind of the strong character, where there are certain outcomes. There is a range of outcomes in fact, and the strong characters understand that there is a continuum and it s not black and white. This obviously relates to first level and second level thinking as well. Weak characters also focus on the short term, especially in relation to the other characters in the story and the people in the lives of that particular character, whether it s the story because it s fiction or in the real world. We can identify the short term thinkers. This is often why we could talk about a founder or CEO and he s running his company or running her company and the quarterly results are everything. The strong characters, of course, focus on the long term. They re willing to make sacrifices in the short term, knowing that the long term the fruits of their labor and the process they re following and working with others, will result in much greater outcomes for themselves and for all over time. And this also relates to getting results in the here and now, versus process and mastery and building upon success over time for themselves and with others. Weak characters also focus on tearing other people down, so that they can rise above which does work. It will elevate them. However, it s at the expense of others. Strong characters on the other hand focus on making everyone better. The entire ocean, the entire sort of grouping or the tribe, those around them; everyone improves. All boats are lifted in the rising tide or the rising ocean. That s what the strong 6

7 character is looking to do to improve the environment, improve the process, so that the ocean can rise and those around that character are recognized that that is leadership. Not just management of getting the job done or achieving the task, but improving the environment, improving the situation, improving the lives of all of those who are involved. Weak characters feel as though, and act as though making decisions should and must in some cases be done in committees so that no one person is responsible if or when things go wrong. Whereas strong characters make decisions as individuals and accept responsibility. And they do that whether it s something that is going to be positive or negative. They step up to the plate. They stand up for themselves, and very importantly for those as well. If things go well, very often they do not take credit and instead rely upon others to give them credit, if that. It s not something that they care about very often. And also they are doing, in effect the right thing. Weak characters blame others. Strong characters accept responsibility. Weak characters show up and have inconsistent habits. So they show up inconsistently and also have inconsistent habits. Obviously, strong characters are showing up every day through thick and thin, no matter the situation they re there, they are reliable. Weak characters go faster and they are often showy and they talk and act in the manner of getting things done in a rush, speed always is in the mind of a weak characters. Whereas strong characters do recognize that speed can be an asset. But strong characters are more marathon oriented. Strong characters can go further and do go further with greater strength for a longer period of time. And we can think about this in terms of romance as well. It s not any kind of quick hit or quick romance. Instead, it s activity that builds and builds over time and that is how things, such as marriages can make sense, much more effectively in a story with a strong character. And it s easy to recognize these characters transforming over time as well. So, strong characters are ready willing and able to transform, to go further over time, not just to cross the finish line. Weak characters go with the first idea that comes into their head. Strong characters realize that the first idea is rarely the best idea. It s one of many ideas and as much as possible, they re going to consider 7

8 the range of ideas and the range of possibilities and outcomes associated with the idea. Where it makes sense, they will reach out to other people for guidance and advice, but they don t necessarily take the bottom line guidance and advice of other people. They ultimately independently look at all ideas that are on the table, so to speak, and they choose what is best for everyone, and of course they choose when they can what is best for them simultaneously. But they do not just jump to conclusions nor do they go with the very first idea that s in their mind. Weak characters think in ways that cannot be invalidated. In other words, they don t think in ways that are so open ended and so ambiguous that they cannot be wrong. They don t put any lines in the sand. Instead they make it so that they can always weasel out, they always have a back door, there s always an escape. Their back is never against the wall in the literal sense or in the virtual sense. So, weak characters are able to remain weak and in effect, the live to die another day; again and again and again. They never stand up for themselves in the appropriate ways; they never stand up for others in the appropriate way. They don t stand firm, they don t stand their ground. Strong characters obviously do stand up for the right reasons. They stand up for principles, they re willing to, to use a sports analogy, they re willing to go to bat for themselves and other people. They will do what s right, when it s right, and how it s right. And again, they ll do this in some cases where it even works against them individually, but they re doing it for the greater good of family, of their romantic partner, of their tribe, of their club, of their group that they are in. Also, weak characters tend to think in absolutes. I ve said before that they tend to think in black and white and they do it in a very negative way. They put people into buckets. They are quick to judge in terms of putting other people into those buckets. And of course it s very difficult for weak characters to move someone from one bucket to another bucket. They have to reach in and sort of pull that person out and put them in the other bucket. And it s very, very us versus them and it is very friendly and joyous and loving and very unfriendly and very aggressive on the other hand. So this is often, not always, but often a sign of weakness because they will often put the person in the wrong place at the wrong time and not think through the longer term. They will not think through all the ways that the other person or other people could be strong in the right circumstances. Gray areas are not allowed. There is just a lack of flexibility. 8

9 Strong characters think in terms of probabilities and gray areas and continuums. When they do this they are also able to express and explain to others how they are thinking through the problem, how they are viewing the situation, how they perceive another person or other people, and they can characterize the other person peoples in such a way that they are expressing the strengths and weaknesses of each individual or the groups. And therefore judgment can be made in the appropriate context, with the appropriate background. This doesn t mean that they re trying to slip out of anything. This doesn t mean that they re trying to weasel out of decisions or that they can t do this very rapidly. So speed can be utilized. Intelligent and vicious action can be taken by strong characters. But in general, if we have to say what is weak and what is strong, weak characters are thinking black and white they are thinking absolutes. They re quick to judge they are judgmental without any of the reasoning behind it, and strong characters of course are the opposite. They think of probabilities and percentages and chances and they also give people second and third chances very often under the right circumstances. Not willy nilly, not by accident, not randomly, but they do it instead based on the situation (the context) or new information that comes their way. There are obviously many other characteristics of weak and strong characters. However, what we ve gone through here today gives you a wide range of different characteristics and different signals if you want to think of it that way. Signals that will augment and improve a weak character, an evil character, the bad character, the outside character and so on. And we ve also identified those characteristics that work to augment, boost, bolster, improve upon, describe the strong characters. Now, remember this is quite important and you ve stuck with me which is brilliant. You can utilize weak and strong characteristics that we ve gone through here together, to set up very strong, evil, bad characters. And you can also use this material (the characteristics of weak characters) for the lead characters, and show how they evolve over the course of a story from being weak to being strong. And now you have the language, the words, and really the framework that allows you to do that. If you re doing nonfiction type of work, and maybe you re describing characters in a particular way or you re describing someone in the real world, what you can do is look for the time in their lives (earlier 9

10 of course) when they were weak and why they were weak. You can show some signs of strength and some signs of weakness and sort of zero in on the weaknesses, and then show how they evolved, show how they transformed from an earlier stage in their life, or a weaker stage in their life. At the same time weakened earlier (and you can combine those together) and you can show how they transform into a very strong real world character. So this does work indeed. Whether we are talking about fiction or nonfiction but as a freelance writer you now have these filtering mechanisms. You have these tools. You can easily apply language that explains and expresses how weak characters operate. And you can do the same thing with strong characters. Just apply the language that emphasizes the weak characteristics and the strong characteristics. And this will take you very, very far in your freelance career and beyond. OK, well that wraps up the weak vs. strong character. Thanks for sticking with me. Go ahead and use this workshop material to create great material as a freelancer. Take care. 10