Master Characters

 

You want to write a story, book, novel, and an epic. First you have to create a compelling character. Someone who, the reader will relate with, and follow, through all the inns and outs of the plot to the end of the story. My observations of beginning writers including myself tells me that our beginning stabs at character development fall short of becoming dull. The Walter Mitty in us to be the hero of our world can be the unending story of three pages.

Been there, wrote that.

I participated in writing groups looking for ideas and guidance finding nothing. But I will use the writing group in this short play. While writing my first draft, I read every book on writing I found in the library. I found an informative book “45 Master Character written by Victoria Lynn Schmidt.” In its lists, I decided to use the example of “Isis, theFemale Messiah.”

I am writing Esola’s Journey. It is about a young woman of Mars who comes to Earth, unexpectedly. When I first started to write “Esola’s Journey,” Esola’s personality was that of a scared librarian. As I finished the first draft, I learn she was much more. Although science fiction is not everyone cup of tea this novel was written to be realistic. Of-course, you the reader might say that there is nothing on Mars but rock and dust. Oh-really, when seventy percent of American believed that WMD were in Iraq, a mere seven thousand miles away. And you are going to tell me about Mars, 100 million miles away. Beside there are no night time pictures published of Mars, and you should wonder why.

 

I introduced my character to a group of fellow writers. The first member to object was an older man that had been through several wars and was trying to get his memoirs in order. “I don’t understand the name Esola or any of the other names used in your book. Plus, the characters have no last names.” He suggested Judy Johnson. I gave him examples of Spock, Ulysses, and Jesus. “He says my character does not come to Jesus.” He left the room.

 

I continued with my character’s introduction. Esola, I said was around nineteen years of age and graduated with top honors and is now an Assistant Professor in Languages with leadership skills. One of several middle age women objected, she was working on a mysterious work in which she never shared. “I can’t stand women bosses. Would not work for one again.” This was a time years before that latish ex-governor of Alaska. That woman left the room.

 

A teenage boy asked, “What does she look like? Does she have big breasts and wear a ‘G’ string?” I said that Esola considered herself plain and nothing special, similar to seventy percent of the population. I said she had skin problems when she was young, but was over that.

 

Esola doesn’t believe in God. “Oh-my.” Another middle age woman said. “I don’t read any book that doesn’t have a Christian theme to it.” She ended up quitting the group saying she want to start a Christian writers’ group. Good Luck. Another woman rose and left the room saying that writing about religion is sacrilegious and she would no part in it. She left also.

 

Esola lives in matriarchal society. It is hard to write one as myself has lived too long in a Patriarchal one. I said to the remaining group, Esola has a circle of very close imitate girl friends. Yes, she is Bi-sexual. The women circle groups throughout the culture take precedent to all other boyfriends and husbands. In Esola’s group, the girls are not perfect. In a sociality where children are cherished, perfect children are cherished more. Esola’s parents are both deaf and mute, this taints her future. But she is stronger than that and she learns to have a stiff backbone. An older man who writes about archery with a manual typewriter says to all that remain, “Homosexuality is an abomination against God.” He picks up the trappings of his hobby and leaves.

 

Now the bombshell, a few weeks in her unplanned stay on Earth, Esola’s pale alabaster skin turns to cinnamon brown under Earth strong sun. I don’t know why. I thought we were passed that. People here don’t like people with brown skin. The remainder of the group left the room.

 

Is there a lesson here? If I went with the crowd, the protagonist for my book would be a 20-30 something, a man who believes in Jesus or God. Graduated high or a military school and has an English name, he was born on Earth or there abouts. He is a manly man, but a loner. He is white and handsome. This is the stereotype of the most common Scifi Hero.

 

In a writer’s group awhile ago, I gave them a sort of book report on “45 Master Character written by Victoria Lynn Schmidt.” The group thought the information useless and nonsensical. I will try again and hope for fertile ground. Find the book and read about the character archetypes you know and love. Find one or two for your own epic.

 

45 Master Characters

Victoria Lynn Schmidt

 

Character Archetypes

 

Female

Aphrodite

Seductive Muse/Femme Fatale

Samantha Jones-Kim Cattrall, Sex in the City

Ginger-Tina Louise, Gilligan Island

Catherine Tramel-Sharon Stone, Basic Instinict

Lana-Rebecca De Mornay, Risky Business

Cleopatra

Delilah

Salome

Scarlett O’Hare

 

Artemis

Amazon/Gorgon

Buffy Summers-Sarah Michelle Gellar, Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Xena-Lucy Lawless, Warrior Princess

Rose DeWitt Bukater-Kate Winslet, Titanic

Wonder Woman

Joan of Arc

Scout, To Kill a Mockingbird

Idgie, Fried Green Tomatoes

Anne Shirley, Anne of Green Gable

 

Athena

Father’s Daughter/Backstabber

Captain Janeway, Star Trek Voyager

Dana Scully, X-Files

Elizabeth

Lady Macbeth

 

Demeter

Nurturer/Overcontrolling Mother

Carol Brady, Brady Bunch

June Cleaver, Leave it to Beaver

Florence Nightingale

Mother Teresa

Beauty, Beauty and the Beast

 

Hera

Matriarch/Scorned Woman

Roseanne Conner, Roseanne

Joan Crawford, Mommie Dearest

Nurse Ratched, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s   Nest

 

Hestia

Mystic/Betrayer

Marina, The Butcher’s Wife

Dolores Claiborne

Blanche DuBois, A Streetcar Named Desire

 

Isis

Female Messiah/Destroyer

Monica, Touched by an Angel

Bernadetta

Mary of Nazareth

Joan of Arc

Lady of the Lake

Lady Godiva

Esola of Ava

 

Persephone

Maiden/Trouble Teen

Lucy Ricardo

Cher Horowitz, Clueless

Guinevere

Little Red Riding Hood

Dorothy, Wizard of Oz

Juliet

 

Male

Apollo

Businessman/Traitor

Commander Spock

Lieutenant Columbo

The Professor, Gilligan’s Island

Professor Henry Higgins

Sherlock Holmes, Doyle

Ebenezer Scrooge

 

Ares

Protector/Gladiator

Lieutenant Worf

Sunny Crockett, Miami Vice

Rocky Balboa

Han Solo

Little John

Superman

Lancelot

Romeo

 

Hades

Recluse/Warlock

Fox Mulder, X-Files

Rick Blaine, Casablanca

Beast, Beauty and the Beast

Daniel Boone

Hamlet

Dr. Hannibal Lecter

Victor Frankenstein

Quasimodo

Dr. Jekyll-Mr. Hyde

 

Hermes

Fool/Derelict

Gilligan

Potsie, Happy Days

Joel Goodson-Tom Cruise, Risky Business

Buck Russell-John Candy, Uncle Buck

Don Quixote

Peter Pan

Puck

Tom Sawyer

 

Dionysus

Woman’s Man/Seducer

Sam Malone, Cheers

Nick Marshall-Mel Gibson, What Women Want

Johnny Castle-Patrick Swayze, Dirty Dancing

Count Dracula

 

Osiris

Male Messiah/Punisher

Eric Camden

Luke Skywalker

Charles Foster Kane, Citizen Kane

Ulysses

Gandhi

Robin Hood

Jesus

 

Poseidon

Artist/Abuser

Vincent Van Gogh

Othello

Stanley Kowalski, A Streetcar Name Desire

Yuri Zhivago

 

Zeus

King/Dictator

Tony Soprano Sr.

Captain James T. Kirk

Skipper Jonas Grumby

Ricky Ricardo

Patton

King of Sian

King Arthur

Julius Caesar

Captain Ahab