Creative writing - Mike Sanders 2014

Writing stock characters
Magnetic characterization
Character, setting, and types of stories

One of the main reasons—and there are many—my first, unpublished novel doesn’t work is that most of the characters in it are stock characters. Populate your narrative with enough of them, and you’re going to end up with melodrama.

DEFINITION

A stock character is a figure drawn from widely acknowledged cultural types for their characteristics and mannerisms.

Consider the following character types: the noble and selfless warrior; the rich, pretty young woman who feels trapped by her sheltered life; the evil, scheming rich guy; the poor girl in love with the warrior who’s too blind to see it. Throw these characters together, and you can see all the probable possibilities of what’s going to transpire. That’s the problem with stock characters: there’s no wondering about who they are or what they’ll do. Readers already know. Although it’s usually best to avoid them, there are ways you can make stock characters work.

One maxim is that if you use a stock character, make him or her as minor a character as possible. Consider the warrior mentioned in the preceding paragraph. What if he is made to be something of a fish out of water? That is, other warriors who are more prominent in the narrative seem hypocritical when compared to him. This makes him a subtle foil and catalyst for the work’s more major players. He’s not the reader’s focus of attention—and he shouldn’t be—but he has an impact on events simply by virtue of his presence. As this example illustrates, you need to know why a stock character is in your work and limit them to scenes in which you can clearly name the way they help the overall purpose.

Another valuable—and fun—way to use stock characters is to turn their qualities inside out. This is a great way to be creative and do something new with an old, familiar, and boring type. Why not make the warrior very selfish and something of a coward? Make the poor young woman scheme and rebel instead of casting her as an economically challenged damsel in distress? Maybe instead of the warrior rescuing her, she has to wipe out his enemies for him. Every little difference from the classic type makes your stock character less typical and more of an individual—which also makes them more believable.

WRITING PROMPT

In your journal, make a list of stock characters in a content area that interests you. Then try to reverse their characteristics and put an asterisk next to the combinations that interest you. This exercise might prove helpful when the time arrives to get to work on a particular creative writing project.

Remember that great characterization is the opposite of what makes up a stock character. Inverting stereotypical characters and drawing on real people and areas of experience you know gives you figures that seem to leap off the page. They’ll feel real to your readers if you succeed in conveying how real they are to you.

The least you need to know

·  Direct dialogue is a powerful tool, but use it sparingly.

·  Indirect dialogue helps summarize action, but too much of it becomes an exercise in excessive showing.

·  Authorial interpretation is important in weighing your intentions versus what others might have to say about your work.

·  Avoid stock characters unless you can make them minor figures or invert their qualities for more interest.