Creating deeper characters. I'm Guilherme Orbe and we're going to add some layers to your characters to make them even more interesting. Deeper characters will add to the plot.
It will bring more spice. And remembering that you don't need to have deep characters for your story to be good, and not all characters need to be deep. Also because if you have many characters full of layers, you may not have time to explore everything, and you may end up leaving loose ends.
I classify 3 types of depths, we can say so. We have the shallow characters, that is, without layers, without much development. Characters with simple motivations, straightforward goals.
We also have the most realistic characters, which are the characters I've taught you how to create here in other videos. They are those who have qualities and defects, goals, a growth in the plot, a development throughout history. Characters who have a more human nature actually look like real people.
As I've talked about this in other videos and I'll leave it on the cards and in the description, I 'm going to explore other elements when referring to deeper characters. So it's going to be a step beyond good character building and development. And these deeper characters, which would be the third type in my definition, may have more complex motivations, have perhaps not so clear goals, a more atypical personality, they may also not make it clear which side they are on, have more elaborate psychological issues, psychological problems or a different way of thinking, or being a broken person, full of pain, unresolved issues, trauma.
It may or may not have a heavier dramatic load. Not all stories need or fit characters like this. But when they are well introduced, they tend to be very interesting.
And that's not to say that shallow characters are necessarily bad. They can be very charismatic, great secondary characters, add a lot to the plot. They can be very interesting.
But how to build deeper characters? There are several possibilities and I will address the ones that I believe to be the main ones at the time of this construction. First we have the Complex Motivations What would these motivations be?
Basically they take actions that may be questionable, or that at first seem strange. It doesn't reveal what you really think, or where you want to go. His actions are not simple and direct, it ends up being necessary to reflect to understand why he may have taken a certain action.
Sometimes because the script hasn't revealed all the information for it yet, or because it's actually a more complex situation. And that's dangerous to do. If you want to create a protagonist who has these more complex motivations, know that a lot of people may not like your actions because they don't agree with them.
Because this complexity can generate different interpretations and people may not identify with it and move away from the character or consider him the villain. This happened to Eren from Shingeki no Kyojin. Maybe there are some anime spoilers here, but I won't go into details.
I warn you not to have a problem. And even if you haven't watched it, I believe you'll understand where I'm going. Eren is the protagonist of the story, and at one point he makes more questionable decisions, so to speak, and there is a division among the audience about whether he is right in his attitude or not.
And in a little while we're going to talk about the coherence of actions. But it was indeed a difficult decision and changed the entire course of history. Within the context of the plot you can reflect on whether the attitude was right or not, what he could do differently within the possibilities, if it is in fact a decision that people would make under these circumstances.
Within the entire construction of the anime, everything he went through, all the hate he fed, the lies, the fear and contempt of other countries, all the injustices that were done to people who are not the real culprits of the things that happened before . A people suffered a heavy rejection without knowing the reasons until much of history. He lost his mother terribly.
People wanted to exterminate their people in a horrible way, and it would be horrible anyway . Among other details. Within that context he has the opportunity to fight back.
He could settle peacefully, or do what he did. Agreeing or not with their attitudes, it is not something simple. I would react differently, other people would certainly react differently to him and me.
Each would react to this situation differently. Do you understand how complex it is? And his motivations aren't clear until very close to the end.
I read the manga and I'm on the team of those who weren't too happy with the ending, but I won't talk about it here. I disagree with Eren's actions, but I understand what led him to make these decisions. And here comes the part I said that you need to be careful if you want to create protagonists with these more complex motivations.
He's going to make questionable decisions at many points, and many readers might think it was a bad decision that went down a bad path. Because each one will have a different perception of this situation that involves a greater reflection to understand the real motivation. And that goes for villains too.
He can make decisions for a variety of reasons, he can reveal at the end that it was all for a good cause, or something like that. You need to understand that these more complex motivations will open up arguments and if it doesn't seem coherent it can be a problem. And here we arrive at one of the fundamental points of this creation of complex characters.
Coherent actions in its construction In its development, it needs to have the indications that it would be able to take certain attitudes. It wouldn't make sense for a character who comes from a close-knit family, a peaceful personality, more charitable, to make a decision to decimate all people like a certain character. In my opinion it makes sense for Eren to make that decision, but it wouldn't make sense for Armin to make that decision.
It wouldn't be consistent with his personality type and his whole plot construction. And here's an observation. When there are complex events with decisions that give rise to a lot of reflection, the other characters' reaction to this event will also help to layer them.
In the case of Shingeki no Kyojin, the complex character is Eren, and as a result of his attitudes, the other characters gain layers showing that they agree or not with these attitudes and thus will argue and show a little more about who they really are. And that's a good thing that happens in these kinds of stories. That's why I reinforce that you don't need to create many complex characters.
The main thing is to pose complex situations and let the characters express their reflections. A decision, an attitude will lead to another and will increasingly expand the arguments about the reasons for a certain attitude. Then build into your plot situations where these complex actions are necessary.
Strengths and Flaws But that's not all that can make a character deep. Even without taking complex actions, it can be profound. It's a way of doing that and giving them more elaborate qualities and defects.
Within your construction you can give them reasons to be the way they are, it can be with trauma, because of injustices they suffered, or for positive reasons such as a loving upbringing they received from a family member and because of that even with everything no matter what happens, he may want to do good because one day his grandmother taught him what love really is. It could be someone's sacrifice, a painful loss. This will layer and justify your attitudes, your lines.
And for that you need to develop that character, to delve into your interior. You need to make him feel deep emotions to reveal what you really feel. More dramatic things need to happen, your character needs to be put to the test.
Need to have layers These layers are the things that are beyond your attitudes. They justify their reactions. They often take actions on impulse because of everything they have experienced in life, or even because of their ideals, worldview.
And all this needs to be developed at some point in the plot so that their attitudes are coherent . It doesn't have to be a long and detailed development, but it needs to show, give hints of who he really is. And this can be done through situations, emotions that he passes along the plot.
In another video here on the channel I already commented that good characters are those that in their development go through different situations and feel different emotions. He's happy, then something happens that makes him sad, then he can get excited , and so on. These emotions are fundamental for a good development and if you want to do this in deeper characters you can make him feel these emotions and give references of why he is sad about something that could be considered good, just an example.
Something in his life makes him afraid when someone offers him a car. It could be because he lost his family in a car accident, maybe his fault, or he thinks so. And you wouldn't have to say that in all the letters.
He could, at first, refuse and not explain why, and only later does he reveal the real reason. There are endless possibilities for you to delve into your characters. And the main thing is to give them layers, complex motivations, personality traits that are consequences of something in their history.
Here on the channel there is a playlist about character creation. I'll leave it on the cards in case you want more information on the subject. And follow our interactive story here on the channel.
Chapters every Monday at 1pm. In the community tab. At the end of each chapter the decision of which way to go is decided by vote.
The project is already underway, but there is time for you to follow up and help decide the next steps. Comment what you think of the video and subscribe to the channel to stay on top of the next videos about writing tips. To the next!
