Sanderson 2013.3 - Writing Great Characters скачать в хорошем качестве

Sanderson 2013.3 - Writing Great Characters

Brandon Sanderson’s 2013 Semester at BYU: Creative Writing, Lecture 3 This video is a mirror of the materials posted by user writeaboutdragons. I’ve provided some notes with timestamps below, and occasional color correction. Enjoy! *Notes* 0:12 / What makes a great character Most important aspects of a story is the character Thinking of character as a role instead of a person is problematic Make them have passions and motivations beyond the main plot Biggest attractors: proactive, competent, and sympathetic Great characters have some kind of flaw / limitation 11:32 / Humanizing character Give them quirks Consider questions about the character to come up with backstory Be forthcoming with small details, and skip the big details 22:28 / Problems for new writers MC tends to be the most bland 24:09 / Superman vs the Everyman Superman: wish fulfillment for the reader Everyman: relatable by the reader 33:14 / Flaws Character flaws: the character’s fault, they may need to overcome; these build the growth arc Physical limitations: not the character’s fault, but internal to them, they may need to overcome Handicaps: external forces on the character, they may not need to overcome Adding flaws creates conflict 46:04 / Plot is about a sense of progression Overcoming flaws can give incremental sense of progression If you over do the flaws, the character might turn off readers 49:50 / Proactive characters Often stories begin with the plot hitting the character, who then reacts; reactivity is not as good as proactivity You can show character proactive towards a hobby before the plot begins Try-fail cycle: even if character is failing, have them try things and be active Villain problem when the villain is more proactive than the main character, and therefore more interesting 56:00 / Stories are artificial It is all contrived, your job is just to sell it well Deus Ex Wrench / Idiot plotting: Author artificially adds problems to lengthen story; don’t do this. - Convince reader that flaws are real so problems make sense 1:02:44 / Sanderson’s second law of magic Limitations are more interesting than powers Limitations and flaws are different; systems should have both - These things will create the points of conflict, which is where good storytelling takes place 1:08:33 / Sanderson’s third law of magic Everything is interconnected: how does your magic change the world? Out-think your readers by a few levels. How does your magic change government, military, ecology, religion, etc?