Post by account_disabled on Jan 6, 2024 12:42:14 GMT 8
Character sheets are a job that every writer should do. Boring, sometimes, because we have to sit there making up mini-stories about all the characters in our novel. The mental effort is certainly not insignificant. In my opinion, the protagonist sheet is something that goes beyond, because I think we should insert many other elements to complete it, to make our protagonist unique, distinct and lasting. What elements? Character Aspirations Social role Ability Weaknesses and fears Family ties Let us remember that the protagonist is the character who is before the eyes of all readers, that other characters also depend on him - and he depends on them.
The question of the name: what to call the Special Data protagonist? I'm very fussy about names. Extremely fussy. I understand that our language - but certainly others too - reserves nice surprises about names and especially surnames, but it is equally true that we have a vast choice of names and surnames. Now, just to give an example, if we have to write a noir novel and our protagonist is a murderer from a mafia clan, can we perhaps call him Cremenzio Stampachiacchiere , just because that name and that surname really exist? Let's be serious. In a film with Totò and Peppino he would be fine, perhaps as an office employee, certainly not as a mafia killer. We might as well call the protagonist of our romance novel Zosima Zizzadoro , right? These exist too. Abbondanzio Lacavalla could be the protagonist of our mystery, a private investigator dealing with a political crime.
The Italian language is full of these gems, which are fine in reality, but certainly not in a novel. A story does not represent reality, it is a meta-reality, it is a reconstructed reality, modeled by the writer, which certainly follows the real reality we live in, but deviates from it to make everything more harmonious, more musical, more poetic too. The perfection of the protagonist This is what I mean by perfect protagonist: a concept that also extends to the rest of the characters, but which applies more to the main one. We don't create laughable protagonists who can make the reader smile in contexts unrelated to humor. One of the writer's skills lies precisely in the reasoned use of imagination . Here's a verb to keep in mind: reason . Think deeply about how to build the protagonist.
The question of the name: what to call the Special Data protagonist? I'm very fussy about names. Extremely fussy. I understand that our language - but certainly others too - reserves nice surprises about names and especially surnames, but it is equally true that we have a vast choice of names and surnames. Now, just to give an example, if we have to write a noir novel and our protagonist is a murderer from a mafia clan, can we perhaps call him Cremenzio Stampachiacchiere , just because that name and that surname really exist? Let's be serious. In a film with Totò and Peppino he would be fine, perhaps as an office employee, certainly not as a mafia killer. We might as well call the protagonist of our romance novel Zosima Zizzadoro , right? These exist too. Abbondanzio Lacavalla could be the protagonist of our mystery, a private investigator dealing with a political crime.
The Italian language is full of these gems, which are fine in reality, but certainly not in a novel. A story does not represent reality, it is a meta-reality, it is a reconstructed reality, modeled by the writer, which certainly follows the real reality we live in, but deviates from it to make everything more harmonious, more musical, more poetic too. The perfection of the protagonist This is what I mean by perfect protagonist: a concept that also extends to the rest of the characters, but which applies more to the main one. We don't create laughable protagonists who can make the reader smile in contexts unrelated to humor. One of the writer's skills lies precisely in the reasoned use of imagination . Here's a verb to keep in mind: reason . Think deeply about how to build the protagonist.