Tying Character Types to Plot, Suspense, and Emotion
By Jeanne Cavelos | February 22, 2015 |
Create a protagonist. Add an antagonist. Toss in a sidekick or minion, or if you’re writing a novel, perhaps a whole array of characters. But then what do you do with them? How do you incorporate each character into the story so he has a powerful impact on plot, raises intense suspense, and generates strong emotions?
One very useful tool to help you maximize the impact of each character on the story is to consider each character’s type. The book The Dramatic Writer’s Companion: Tools to Develop Characters, Cause Scenes, and Build Stories by Will Dunne introduces different character types, such as the close powerful ally, the close weak ally, the distant powerful ally, the distant weak ally, the close powerful adversary, the distant powerful adversary, the close weak adversary, and the distant weak adversary. While Dunne identifies other fascinating types, we’ll focus on these in this article.
At first, these categories may seem fairly obvious. But as I thought about them, I realized how much power they could bring to a story if one considers what type of character would best serve the story at a particular point. For example, if your protagonist starts out weak, like Harry Potter, then a close powerful adversary should quickly destroy him, if your story is to be believable. Instead, Harry needs a close weak adversary that he has at least a chance of beating, such as Draco Malfoy, so we feel suspense and concern. If Harry has nearby allies, then they should be close weak allies. If they are strong, they’d just end up saving him over and over, which would minimize suspense and leave Harry with nothing to do, making him a very weak protagonist we don’t care much about. Harry might also have distant powerful allies, such as Sirius Black, who’d like to help him but aren’t available to do so. Such characters can create great suspense as the protagonist struggles to reach the distant ally–can he reach help in time?—or the ally tries to reach him.
That last example reveals the power of changing one or both of the key variables we’re discussing here: distance and level of power. The powerful ally can become weak. The nearby ally can be taken to a distant place or killed. The powerful, distant adversary can approach. The weak adversary can grow stronger. In the Harry Potter books, Voldemort grows closer and more powerful over the series, increasing suspense and raising the stakes of the plot. In the Star Trek (original series) episode “The Deadly Years,” Kirk and his powerful allies Spock and McCoy all undergo premature, rapid aging, making them all grow weaker and weaker as Romulan adversaries approach, making us more and more concerned. You can even think of some objects as characters. The U.S.S. Enterprise is Kirk’s most powerful ally. In fact, it is so powerful, writers found they often had to send the ship halfway across the galaxy so Kirk, left on the planet, could be in jeopardy. In Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, the Enterprise is crippled by Khan, not only reducing Kirk’s chance of success as this powerful ally becomes weak, but preventing Kirk from warping away from trouble, trapping the protagonist and antagonist in close contact. All of these changes can carry great suspense and emotion.
[pullquote]The most powerful moments in a story can occur with changes in the third variable, when an ally becomes an adversary, or an adversary becomes an ally.[/pullquote]
The most powerful moments in a story can occur with changes in the third variable, when an ally becomes an adversary, or an adversary becomes an ally. A very emotional moment in Braveheart occurs when the protagonist, William Wallace, discovers the ally he believed would be the savior of Scotland, Robert the Bruce, has become an adversary and betrayed him and Scotland. In Star Wars Episode VI: The Return of the Jedi, Darth Vader turns from adversary to ally, killing the emperor and sacrificing himself to save Luke Skywalker. The recent film The Imitation Game creates a great, uplifting moment when protagonist Alan Turing’s subordinates, who have all been his adversaries, turn to allies and commit to quitting their jobs if Alan is fired. When done well, such developments create exciting turning points in the plot and pack a strong emotional punch.
So if you find yourself uncertain about how to make the most of a particular character in your story, consider what type he is and whether changes in any of the three variables might help create a stronger plot, greater suspense, and more intense emotion. A dynamic, engaging story involves more than an interesting cast of characters; it involves characters who serve the needs of the story and who change in ways that significantly alter the plot’s possibilities and threats. Such changes make us thrill at Luke Skywalker’s breakthrough in power as he fires the critical shot to destroy the Death Star; they make us despair in A Game of Thrones at Ned Stark’s loss of power when he resigns his post as Hand of the King and again when the king dies. And such changes can lead us to breathlessly turn the pages as your protagonist races to reach those distant allies before the increasing threat overtakes her.
What are ways that you create characters that have a powerful impact on plot, raise intense suspense, and generate strong emotions?
Jeanne Cavelos is a bestselling author, an award-winning editor, and the director of the Odyssey Writing Workshops Charitable Trust, a nonprofit devoted to helping writers of fantasy, science fiction, and horror improve their work.
Jeanne began her professional life as an astrophysicist working at NASA. After earning her MFA in creative writing, she became a senior editor at Bantam Doubleday Dell, where she won the World Fantasy Award for her work. She has had seven books published; her last novel was Invoking Darkness, the third volume in her bestselling trilogy The Passing of the Techno-Mages. Her writing has twice been nominated for the Bram Stoker Award. Jeanne is currently working on a near-future science thriller, Fatal Spiral.
Since Jeanne loves working with developing writers, she created the Odyssey Writing Workshop in 1996, which quickly became one of the most respected programs in the world for writers of the fantastic. Jeanne is also an English lecturer at Saint Anselm College, where she teaches fiction and nonfiction writing.
Hi! This article made me think about the Greimasian functions of the Story. In which there are identified all the roles in the Story that make it goes on. For example there’s the subject that is compelled by a desire and has to achive the competence needed to take it. So he has allies and enemies that help or contrast him in his journey. You have also the one who generate the desire in the subject. I think that the semiotics studies in narratology like Propp’s or Greimas’ are still very useful for writers, and we need to consider them during the writing process.
M.
Good post. As I read it, I wondered how it would apply to my current YA novel, my first and a contemporary. Surprsingly, I did include a distant powerful ally who helps my protagonist at the end. My protag is a 17 year-old boy the oldest of two boys. His mother gave up her first child for adoption. My protag doesn’t know he has an older sister out there somewhere. An older sister could have saved him from his bad relationship decisions numerous times throughout the novel. When big sister shows up near the end after the mother’s search for her, she’s just in time to offer the piece of advice that saves my hero from his bad decisions.
So I’m happy to see the model fits even a contemporary novel where no swords or light sabers abound. Though my next series will have a bit of that. I’m feeling the allure of fantasy\sci-fi. I see no reason to fight it.
This is such a fascinating article and really opened my eyes to the importance of strength and power regarding heroes and their antagonists. I’m currently mulling over a YA idea, outside of my go-to genre which leans toward lit-fiction, and I’ll be saving this article to revisit, thank you!
Thank you for sharing this Jeanne. I am reminded also of John Truby’s Anatomy of Story, which I am currently studying. I think Dunne’s book will be another great study as I continue to hone my craft. Hey, I checked out Odyssey and I’m amazed by what an excellent resource it is. As a fantasy writer I think I might have just discovered a gold mine…
Hi, Jeanne:
In an earlier post here I talked about how to move characters from type to something more believable and compelling, something more resembling an actual human being. But I agree that characters also serve dramatic roles (which is how I read your types), though I tend to categorize them a bit differently.
I tend to view the roles in terms of the change the protagonist knowingly or unknowingly is heading toward in the course of the story. Which characters facilitate that change? Which characters hold him back? Why? How? This provides the protagonist other characters to interact with as he searches within for the reasons he is failing, and what he needs to alter — in himself, in the world — to turn matters around and succeed.
I do like the notion of weaker or stronger allies/adversaries, and recognizing the need to build a credible and dramatic character arc by using appropriately powerful or powerless friends and enemies is an excellent and useful insight.
I also agree that the betrayer — whether his turn in allegiance most affects the protagonist or the opponent — is an incredibly useful role for intensifying suspense and emotion.
Great post. Thanks for joining us here.
I loved the analogies you used to get the point across, thus really clarifying these new and potentially murky character types for me. Harry was a weak protagonist to begin with and needed a weak adversary to set up an action he could overcome, and along comes Malfoy. Yes, I see exactly what you mean! Likewise, with the other Harry Potter characters and the Star Wars examples. Being very familiar with both of those movie franchises allowed me to visualize the ways in which each character type can be utilized to increase tension, move the plot forward and create a stronger book.
Thank you for a very helpful post.
I’m so glad I read this! Character is something I struggle with in my writing and this is a really useful way to think about how character interacts with the broader arc of story.
A lot of times advice on writing character focuses on making characters relatable/compelling for the reader (which is important, don’t get me wrong!) but I think the broader discussion of how character interacts with and drives the narrative of the story is often overlooked. And you really do need both pieces for great writing.
Hi. It’s great reading all of your reactions. John, I share your love for John Truby’s book. He has some fascinating insights there. Yes, we do try to offer a lot of great free resources for writers over on the Odyssey site (www.odysseyworkshop.org), such as a weekly online discussion salon and monthly podcasts, so feel free to join in. Writers of all types of fiction are welcome.
David, I agree entirely that another useful way to think about characters is to relate them to the protagonist’s character arc. I think one of the most useful types of characters to facilitate and/or externalize the protagonist’s change is the adversarial ally. This is another type mentioned by Dunne, though I don’t believe he connects it to character change. The adversarial ally is absolutely an ally of the protagonist, but he does not always agree with the protagonist’s goals or methods and isn’t shy about telling the protagonist when he’s making a mistake. Examples are Alfred in THE DARK KNIGHT trilogy and Mickey in the ROCKY movies. These characters often articulate or bring out the internal conflict (through argument with the protagonist), so it’s not just going on in the protagonist’s head.
I’m glad people are finding the article helpful.