Fictional Characters, friends or foes.

Since we already have a group designed to help us to create fictional characters, it might also be a good idea to have another group designed to analyze characters already created. We know that character is not essential to fiction in the same way that plot is. Without plot fiction is impossible but it is possible for fiction to get by without what most of us would recognize as character. Nevertheless, fictional characters can stay in our minds for a very long time and in fact they are responsible for our empathy towards the story. We get to extremes of hating or loving them and all feelings in between. Whichever the greatest interest of the author is –character or plot- the blending of the two in a seamless unit is the greatest achievement for the writer of fiction.

A character is relevant to us and to our experience if he/she is like ourselves or like someone we know. Is relevant if similar to a lot of people in the real world. But some characters in the greatest literary masterpieces, although not common at all, are relevant in our lives. If we insist that our characters should be like the people we know, we would be imposing great limitation on our creative power.

Most of us believe that our characters should be lifelike. There are simple (flat) and complex (round) characters. We might perceive fictional characters acting more consistently than humans do. But we might be mistaken because of lack of knowledge of the true complexity in humans. Since fictional characters are not true humans, they can’t enjoy the amount of freedom that humans are allowed. Unlike the real human being, the fictional character is part of an artistic whole and must always serve the needs of that whole. Once they become truly free the unity of the work disappears.

Why not taking into consideration a character of our own choosing and adding into he/she our own views on how should’ve acted, or what should’ve done? Why our likes or dislikes towards that particular character. And try to bring up a different one every week? The analyses would be great for our writer’s minds, don’t you think?