Completing the Puzzle: CHARACTERS

Here's the expansion of the problem with characters.

As I've discussed already with some of you, you're developing all sorts of "cool" characters without a story to put them in yet. (And many of you are unwilling to "kill" any of the cast to do so.) This causes trouble when you can't always fit all the characters into the story later on.

The thing is, it's a common practice to add more characters when you don't know what to do next. It's an easy way to keep the plot moving, but it's not always effective and can end up bogging things down later.

So, think of it this way: If your story is the puzzle, then the characters are your puzzle pieces. The trouble is, not all of the pieces are going to fit. It's your job as the writer to weed out the mismatched pieces.

There isn't a set formula for deciding. Technically speaking, you can write a story about anything so you could always work in a character that doesn't seem to fit. The best advice on this I can give is to examine each character and decide if they're really going to help move your plot forward. Characters that snag the plot and drag it into the murky vagueness or completely hinder you from writing about the intended plot are not aiding your storytelling.

Here is one example of the process I go through when cutting a cast down. We have 5 characters created for this story, but as we only have 50 pages to tell it in, 5 characters seems like too much.

1. Bob---Wants to go to Emerald City
2. Mark---Knows the way to Emerald City
3. Mia---a fighter:Dreams of becoming the world's best rubber band shooter at the Ruby City tournament
4. Kevin--a fighter:wants to get his hair cut in Emerald City
5. Kate---a fighter:wants to buy a new hat from Emerald City

All 5 characters are FREAKING AWESOME! but, not all 5 characters are really helping the story. The question is, how to weed out the bad ones.

Let's start by choosing a main character. As the story we're writing is about how Bob wants to visit Emerald City, then the logical choice is to start with Bob.

1. Bob--Main character

All right! We're doing good! We've established not only some of what the story is about, but we also know that the story we're telling will revolve around Bob! Now, technically, we may not need another character. Maybe this is a solo story about Bob. On the chance that it is not, let's look at our character list again:

2. Mark---Knows the way to Emerald City
3. Mia---a fighter:Dreams of becoming the world's best rubber band shooter at the Ruby City tournament
4. Kevin--a fighter:wants to get his hair cut in Emerald City
5. Kate---a fighter:wants to buy a new hat from Emerald City

Of these 4 characters, Mark is most needed for Bob's story. As a character, he's Bob's voice of reason and the person who gets him out of trouble. Also, Mark knows the way to Emerald City. Without Mark, Bob will not be able to achieve his GOAL. So our cast is now:

1. Bob--Main Character who wants to go to Emerald City.
2. Mark--His good friend who knows the way to Emerald City.

If this was a buddy comedy, we could stop here, however, the cast could use a bit more balance and a trio would be best for this adventure. Bob and Mark may still need a bit of help to achieve their GOAL as neither one of them are fighters. What if they get attacked on the way there? We can pick ONE MORE CHARACTER to help them reach their GOAL. Thankfully, we have 3 to choose from who all happen to be fighters.

3. Mia---a fighter:Dreams of becoming the world's best rubber band shooter at the Ruby City tournament
4. Kevin--a fighter:wants to get his hair cut in Emerald City
5. Kate---a fighter:wants to buy a new hat from Emerald City

Right away, we can cut out Mia. She might be FREAKING AWESOME! as a character, but her goals aren't helping. We aren't going to Ruby City and she's not really friends with Mark nor Bob. She has the least amount of reason to come along. So now we've got:

4. Kevin--a fighter:wants to get his hair cut in Emerald City
5. Kate---a fighter:wants to buy a new hat from Emerald City

Both of them have goals similar to Bob and Mark. Both could work. However, we don't need both. So who can offer SOMETHING WE DON'T ALREADY HAVE to the cast?

5. Kate---a fighter: wants to buy a new hat from Emerald City

In this case I'm choosing Kate over Kevin because BASED ON THE CHARACTER INFO WE HAVE, Kate would add another dynamic to the cast. Both she and Kevin have business in the Emerald City and can fight but Kate is different from the rest of the cast because she is a girl.


As a general rule, I always ask myself: WHAT IS THIS CHARACTER FOR? If the character serves no purpose, as with panels that serve no purpose, they can be cut from your script.