Thursday, April 5, 2012

Changing Character Strengths: WIP

Running late today!  Battling neck pain yet again.  But after food, medicine and me just getting tired if being in pain, I am trying to kick myself in the butt and get a move onto my goals.  This post, of course, will be one check mark on my list :)

Yesterday I posted about how my main character's flaws were changing, so I think it's only fair to look at their strengths and how they've changed.

Kyrriki Ednin -- His strength in earlier editions of this project was his ability to analyze situations, anticipate, and find the best solution to his infinite number of dilemmas. Now, he is strong for his sacrifices and stronger for what he is willing to do for his people--including jeopardizing his own position,wealth, comfort and all the things the other lords and even his people assume he holds dear. He is a hero because for all his faults, all his fears, he will place the well-being of others above himself.  However, these are also traits that Kyrriki is unaware he possesses.

Gellayna Hehriya -- Her strength before was her acceptance and love, but now it is her ability to endure.  She commands her knowledge and education, and finds strength in being able to apply these to situations, create opportunities to better her life and improve that of others.  She might not always like people, but that does not keep her from feeling she has a responsibility to help.  Being able to look past her flaws, her judgments, and not carry grudges helps her to become the heroine of the story.  

Teshen Hehriya -- This character's circumstance has changed more than his character in the prior drafts.  His strength is his ability to inspire others, his cunning, and his willingness to leverage his average appearance to dupe his enemies into misjudging the sharpness of his mind.

So!  How do the strengths sound compared to weaknesses? The aim is for the weaknesses to sometimes overtake the strengths and vice-versa in order to maintain complex characters driving the plot.    However, as some of the circumstances are not their doing, and these things drive them into their situations, it often becomes their reactions to their various predicaments that shape the direction of the plot, as well as the character development.

4 comments:

  1. Interesting post. You can always let them fail from time to time. How else will they understand their strengths?

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  2. Agreed. Thanks :D It's been an interesting thing, completely rewriting a novel...and watching the characters change. Where they have failed, and for a brief time their flaws win out, is changing too. I definitely think it's needed for character growth.

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  3. I hear you. By the time I finish draft number eight, all my one-eyed dwarfs have morphed into penguins with bad attitudes.

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  4. LOL. I seriously pictured that too ...

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