Creative Writing: How to Write a Better Main Character | Matthew Dewey | Skillshare
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Creative Writing: How to Write a Better Main Character

teacher avatar Matthew Dewey, Writer, Artist

Watch this class and thousands more

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Taught by industry leaders & working professionals
Topics include illustration, design, photography, and more

Watch this class and thousands more

Get unlimited access to every class
Taught by industry leaders & working professionals
Topics include illustration, design, photography, and more

Lessons in This Class

    • 1.

      Introduction to Creative Writing: How to Write a Better Main Character

      2:35

    • 2.

      Names | Writing a Better Main Character

      6:51

    • 3.

      Appearance | Writing a Better Main Character

      7:27

    • 4.

      Backstory | Writing a Better Main Character

      7:28

    • 5.

      Personality | Writing a Better Main Character

      7:28

    • 6.

      Purpose | Writing a Better Main Character

      7:49

    • 7.

      Conclusion | Writing a Better Main Character

      2:40

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About This Class

WELCOME TO YOUR MAIN CHARACTER WRITING COURSE!

Welcome to the course where I show you how to write an in-depth, enjoyable main character that will keep your readers interested. Don't make the same mistakes that so many novice authors make and create main characters that can challenge those of successful authors!

My name is Matthew Dewey and I am a writer. It is hard to say when my passion for writing began, but if I can recall it all started back in primary school. A small, pale child with not much to say, but plenty to write, or in most cases scribble, across a page. From there writing became a hobby, moving on to become a part-time job writing articles on various subjects from technology to programming. Suddenly, the spark was ignited and I wrote my first novel. From there I was hooked onto something that was akin to a calling.

Enough monologue, it is time to tell you what this course is worth to you.  In my rising through the writing world I found that information was handed freely, but not with enough dedication and forethought. The advice lacking and the examples poor. I decided to push through and after several years developed my own toolkit that is simple and multipurpose. The first and most important lesson I learned was how not to make the main character. From there I experimented and found the positives.

I will show you how to write:

  • Personality

  • Backstory

  • Descriptions

  • Names

  • and PURPOSE

Welcome to the How to Make A Better Main Character Course! I will show you everything you need to know to keep your main character interesting and worthy of the role of the protagonist!

 

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Matthew Dewey

Writer, Artist

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Level: All Levels

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Transcripts

1. Introduction to Creative Writing: How to Write a Better Main Character: level is not easy. Each chapter welcomes new difficulties. You cannot see. Perhaps this story goes away that you have no control over and perhaps the dialogue you rot falls flat. A waste of all. Perhaps you're out the chapter that bores you to tears, something that is common enough in the writing community. But what is special is the dedication to prove by learning from advice and courses such as this as a writer, you know, dark desire, pride in your work, great in a scene that you can read through and smile mentally, patching yourself on the back for your creativity and use of a camp. My name is Matthew and I have been writing for several years. I would give you a number, but it's hard to pin down when I realized how so interested in the writing world recalling now I can still see myself as a child writing stories in my brahmi school years, nothing more complex. They describe being a house as red, but that was the beginning. In a way. I started writing professionally around three years ago at the publication of my first novel before Horseman Today of released several novels and rot every chance I get to finish the next adventure. Writing is a passion I'm sure you and I share, or you wouldn't be watching this course. Welcome to this course, by the way, on writing a bitter main character. The main character, protagonist or central character is vital to any fiction off personality, Dialogue and life story can be what sits your main character above the usual bland and boring protagonist that most novels seem to fall victim to. I'm here to provide relevant of us on creating your main character and find faults that you can't quite pin down. I know that sounds like a lot to ask for, but I think every erotic and agree that their first draft propels the nickname that ugly dropped. And more often than not, it is fitting the main character as well. Was that interest out of the way? Let's create a main character that is dead and personality. I'll see you in the first listen theme 2. Names | Writing a Better Main Character: way. Welcome to the first listen of the course and allow me to start it off by addressing the first problem that all authors encounter when starting a novel, naming the main character to the lucky few who could block a name out of the A and be happy with it. Continue to watch this. Listen, because there's still more to be said on the subject. Believe me when I say there's more through a name than just sounding good. First, let me cut through some Miss that plague the rotting will myth one. Your name doesn't have to roll over the time it is a mass effect and may carry some weight in poetry. But in writing, not every character should have a name and surname, beginning with the same letter. Save that for Marvel Comics and dig a little deeper. You might even find the name that you decided upon jarring at first, but it fits too well to pass up on without consideration. Miss, too, the names don't you to have meaning. Indeed, I fell victim to the Smith and spent many hours named my characters. Trying to find something had a deeper meaning in itself. True, this add some sort of depth to characters, but I think of the day you'll find another name that you wish you chose. Meaning can be an interesting feature, but it shouldn't be hiring a list of things to go through. Now let me get straight into simple ad vast for naming your characters first, Take a look at the people today around you. Their parents decided on their names based on the heritage, religion or popularity in that era. While the name a Leonora, for example, was popular in Victorian England this century, the name is a little more Ray. This fact does not necessarily make the name Eleonora a bad choice, because if you want your character to stand out alien or is a great name to give them my apologies, if I've seen any alien or is that they actually lack the name quite a lot, if you don't want the character to stand out in such a way, I would take a look at Tom Periods, religions and so on. Creating a list of names that have some factual backing to them is invaluable, and it will feel a lot more 15 when you finally find that name that jumps out at you last. Names or surnames are little more restrictive that usually they are unimportant unless your story depends on it. If Heritage plays a big part in your novel, I can understand you wanting to spend a decent amount of time deciding on a surname or last name and perhaps even a family tree. However, if you want to have an average person rising to greatness as the main character, use a common name fitting the theme. If you want to create some mystery or wonder and the last name, you could do something more Ray or do away with the last name altogether. Having a character of a singular name can hint at perhaps ahead and passed, evoking curiosity in the reader. And even if it is just a little, it will add some depth to your novel. When it comes to finding names on the Internet, I can help you out. I recommend one weeps that I use quite often meaning Khalfan off half a names dot com what you can see on the screen now I'm not affiliated with a whip sot. It is just my go to search engine with names and Scougall comes in second to it. This whips out, has meanings that has backgrounds that has heritages, has religions that has nationalities that I can use to my advantage when trying to find a name that's suitable for the genre and think at this point in the listen. Most of you have a great start now and finding the right name. But I know there's plenty of you who are still wondering about another name emitted that naming method simply being making a name up. How do you make a mean that sounds for Team for the theme but not too ridiculous that it could take away from the turn of the novel. That is a question that has crossed many fantasy in South a writer's months. No doubt my advice when it comes to creating your characters from your imagination, isn't singular. There are many methods you can use one taken name, replace a vow with another, and Walla Daniel becomes Junell. I know way too simple, but it works. Perhaps you want to take it a step further and develop a name on a different language, something that's more alien, in which case use method to imagine hearing that language in your head and make a name from it. Sounds, of course, I'm referring to languages that don't exist. If you have a name that is based on a language that does exist, it is simple enough just to find more common names that are suited for it. Science fiction writers often create names that have several short segments of sounds, such as Jar Jar Binks from stalls or using something much simpler. Like Zaugg, these alien languages are much more fun to create names with than any other, so you have a lot of freedom and deciding what will fit. I do know that some comedian Graeter's will make use of this and make jokes out of the names, something with an English meaning inside it. But it's spelt entirely differently just to make it seem alien your fund that a similar method applies when working with fantasy Turkey and himself created a language for his, Els pieced some elvish words together and got Legolas out of the end. I'm away that creating a new name out of Thony is incredibly difficult, so you needn't go as far as developing an entire language or culture to base it on. The third method is to take inspiration from languages and cultures present in this world. If you create a fictional society whose language or culture is similar to one that is prison today, you can use the foreign language to piece a made up name for your novel. Just be sure. One thing. Don't accidentally name the character something that actually exists some might read. It has a strange name, but others were read it as pumpkin soup or something else. So be warned that with that said, Let's listen has come to in it. If you're starting a novel soon or having difficulty naming a character in the middle of it , I hope these techniques save you some time and help you create a more in depth character to boot. I'll see you in the next listen 3. Appearance | Writing a Better Main Character: way. Welcome to the sick and listen off the making a bit of main character and one that isn't so bland. Course. My name is Matthew, and this listen will be discussing descriptions for your character. Perhaps this listen will add nothing to your knowledge of writing, but I think there are some things that we can be approving upon when it comes to every piece of writing. So for those doubt for this, listen, I wanted you to stay and watch a little bit longer and see what you can take from it to all the avid readers watching you no doubt can recall some of the most descriptive books you have read books that could go on for paragraphs describing a jacket pocket. But the editor wouldn't allow such a thing. When it comes to any descriptions in a novel, little comes down to a metal taste and how much time you have. Of course, from my experience, there are three tops of descriptions that you can use heavy, medium and large descriptions, and I will be going through all three in this. Listen, use these three to guardian you're writing because no doubt you'll have a preference maybe descriptions take advantage of the narrative ploy in 1/3 person novel, The's Descriptions used the writer's words when describing what something looks like. Smells like, feels like sounds like tastes look, of course, heavy descriptions run on for more than three sentences in almost and to completely unnecessary detail. Being this way, you can understand why most first person novels don't make use of a V descriptions, as very few people think in such detail. When in the moment, however, you can take advantage of long descriptions and add some humor, or perhaps a bit of your own personality to third person or narrative writing at its best is written with the personality off the rata. In doing so, the rotting has a unique spirit, and you'll be surprised how great feedback it's. Let's describe the main character in the scene now and forgive me if this sounds terrible. I'm not. I'm not completely adept at using heavy descriptions, but I spend some decent time on this little passage so we can use it as something to work off. But Murphy's gray as gleamed beneath the thick eyebrows, bearing down heavily on the shot straight in his torn denim and slightly muddier Valls. McMurphy, first on the Farmers pig juggling contest, kicked off his hacking boots and resignation after a long day as he felt back into receipt . The heavy way to cause the legs off the cheap plastic chair toe wobble immensely, and everyone in the room wondered when the bright green store would shatter beneath him. Now, believe it or not, that paragraph is three sentences. These are the kind of heavy descriptions I'm talking about. Personality is being put into. The humor is being put into them. It's being written this way, purposefully not to be going on dramatically in a complicated sentence. But to add some sort of heart to the novel, which is why it is popular with many writers. Medium descriptions are more common. You'll find these descriptions and some of your favorite books being released today. No doubt medium descriptions can be written in both first and third person novels. Commonly, you can run on for 2 to 3 basic sentences. If you want to shorten a heavy description to medium out, cut out any unnecessary information relating the reader filled in themselves. Here's that same scene now described in a medium description MK Murthy Saad as he sat down , holding onto the straps of these Dana Moviles. The day was done and with that kicked off his dirty shoes. However, while he strained subsided, the green cheers strained begun with his large weight now set upon it. As you can see from this description is shorter Summit, some information that has been removed and some comedic effect lust. In that way, however, it is less words. So if you're managing word count, it is a great way to short in any of your heavy descriptions. And in doing so, it most likely won't detract from your novel. So don't feel bad about using 1,000,000 descriptions. If you want to focus more on heavy descriptions in your novel now finally, my personal favorite a lot descriptions. These descriptions can range from half to two simple lines. These descriptions are sprinkled throughout a novel highlighting a singular feature of something in a sentence which references it in such a detail. As the story progresses, the reader fills in more unnecessary details with the imagination. But you, as the writer, can help them along with these light descriptions by filling in the necessary details. Here is the same passage on small in a lot description. McMurphy satis Denham covered kissed er in the plastic chair, his large chest sinking slow with slow, satisfied side as your notice. In this passage, I really make use of the descriptions that pertain to the action of McMurphy. He is sitting down so refer to the clothing covering his rear as he sits in the next line, he is signed, so reference seesaws when describing his chest. As you can tell, I prefer the larger descriptions. I find myself more comfortable in writing them. However, I have enjoyed various books, each of their own style, from a lot too heavy. If you're interested in some great heavy description in literature, out, look at the Pulitzer Prize when a Confederacy of Dances. John Kennedy Toole makes great use of it and brings a lot of humor to the table. And there you have the three largest describing methods, and I'm sure you no doubt have positioned you're writing into one of the three boxes before I continue. I would advise that you shouldn't be swayed by my personal preference. Every Roger has their own style, and each one is brilliant in its own way. Finally, I'm gonna touch upon appearances. The reason I touched lightly on the subject is because I know that a majority of rot is watching. This have already got a picture in the amount of what they main character looks like. So I won't tell you how they hair should be styled or the color of a sucks that is purely up to you. However, I would like you the writer, to consider the quirks that said your character. Apart from any other scars missing fingers, tattoos, broken teeth, special jewelry are just a few examples that come to mind later in the course will be talking about the main characters background, and I would like to take advantage of this. Listen to tell you that, given your character, a physical quirk such as the ones I have mentioned before can be a decided benefit to the main characters past, and perhaps it can reinforce their overall purpose in the novel. I will leave you with that thought as it may interest you writers who find yourself seeing the celebrity you modeled the character on rather than the character themselves. I hope you enjoyed this. Listen and I'll see in the next one 4. Backstory | Writing a Better Main Character: that way, we'll come back to the course where we write better main characters for our novels. In this, listen will be going over the back story tops for your main character. First, let me go on a small monologue and tell you that it is ultimately unnecessary if your character comes from a common background and I won't affect the story at all. If you were to give back Story and Mace back story in this case can be lift at a minimum, used as a tool to add depth and reason by in personality more than they used as important feature throughout the book. For these unnecessary backstories, you could be decidedly vague on details as your reader is more interested in the story they are reading. It would be best to keep such backstories to a minimum as they have nothing to add to the main block so you can skip the whole phase off boring your reader with a chapter that has no consequences over the novel. If you were to try and create a long and complicated back story, make it powerful a lasting peace can resonate with you reader. Otherwise, it'll fall flat and be a skip chapter of any reader decides to re read your book. However, if backstory is going to affect the Ark of the novel or have a huge impact on the character or the readers perspective off the character in the present, please continue. First, let me list off a few of the most popular back story tops, and we can tackle them one by one. Let's look at revenge stories, faith stories and a soft call back in back stories. Revenge stories on the most common and more action oriented fiction, which makes sense considering the number of action films and media that have a revenge element to them. Writing a ravine story into your fiction novel can be made easier if you cut the back story and start off with what led your character to go down the path. But let's suppose you so you read a into the middle of the action, which is the most common. But let's suppose you decide to throw your Rina into the middle of the action, which is the most common revenge story. You would then have to create a Siri's off call back. So perhaps an entire chapter dedicated to back story to explain how the whole revenge story began. Why is the main character sir, consumed with getting revenge? However, if you want to be more subtle, you can give your main character a reference to call back on and tell his story, and they're simultaneously adding dips to them. Of course, this depends on the feeling you want to denoting your love. More powerful stories have chapters rather than the occasional dialogue referencing to a back story. Revenge stories are based on revenge, so you have to give proper dedication to way it'll began. Otherwise, the rest of the plant will fall flat in the readers are fate. Stories are used in fantasy and a great example to call back on. For most readers, out there is Lord of the Rings for photo. The central character or the most central character ushered saying in the Siri's it was his fate to march from his home with an evil artifact and till volcano in the most evil lance. Suddenly, throughout the novel, the characters will stop for a moment and realized it was fate that brought them to that moment to their destiny. Of course, you needn't be so subtle. If you wish fate stories leave plenty of room for experimentation. And if you wanted, you could go on a long arc of a chapter detail in your character's back story and how the fate brought them to where they are. This would be legends. You often see this phrase written in novels or state and movies, it is for told or the religions say, meaning that everything that is happening has been predicted by some sort of ancient force like fate. Now fate based backstories may sound more restrictive, but it can be what separates your story from any simple adventure. I'll be talking about the main characters purpose later in the course, but fake back stories, one of the easiest methods to add purpose to a main character. It's a simple way of saying the main character has to do this just because it's fate, just because, so, consider it. If you having trouble getting the main character to have a purpose, to have heart into the story by giving them a destiny and stray. Seeing that point, you'll create a more clear purpose than most are able to create. When the character themselves give themselves a purpose, if that makes sense. I know I speak as if the characters, you and our at our real people. But I think most of us can agree that the closer these characters are to human, the more real they become. Especially to us. We know them better than the reader Warner. The reader will have a different perspective than us. We try our best to convey this perspective of us, but in the end it will be up to them to see what they want to see. Finally, the last kind of back story and I like to call those soft callbacks to the past are simple on far easier way of detail in the main character's back story settle comments and how they were as a child or how they were treated. Perhaps recalling an interaction between the main character and another character can cement two personalities at once. Self callbacks give you more space to fill and prattles where necessary, and can be a handy tool throughout your first draft. However, when any team your novel, you need to refine these soft callbacks, you can't just throw something in and expected to stick, you need to have reason and believability behind it. And there you have some common backstory techniques. I find that back story is often overlooked in most novels, leaving some characters to be a lot more two dimensional for their role in the novel. If you don't ever read it, relate to the main character. More than the best way to do that is to give the main character back story that is relatable. Give qualities to your main character that the reader can understand and empathize with. And if you're just going to throw a character down on a piece of paper without personality and back story or any relatability, you'll find that your readers more disconnected from the main character. And this can hurt the novel quite a lot. But again, you may be lucky, and you would have created a side character that they can relate to more. Everything kind of falls into place, but it is based to make sure that your main character is something that your readers can enjoy. Here's or she is or it is the main character. After all, with that being said, this listen comes Tune in Bye for now, and I see you in the next one 5. Personality | Writing a Better Main Character: hello and welcome back to main character improvement course. This list will be spent understanding the main character's personality, which will help when writing character interactions, which are vital throughout a novel. First, let us understand that most personality traits in a character are defined by their age and passed characters your young, same mid twenties or younger are still developing most of the personality and as such, a liable to change through the experiences that they have in the novel. These characters are affected by each interaction, and eventually they will break character and become a lot wasa personality breaking is often very powerful in literature. Reading a novel becomes a lot more interesting as you watch a villain turn. Good boy Hero turned bad. These changes in a character can be Agimat monks to power Gold that you're writing are changing your younger characters in small yet noticeable ways. We can have the reader relating to the more we've all had experiences in our lives that have changed our personality and who we are. So having them inside a novel, it's a great way to relate to the reader. For older characters, this is less common and much more difficult to write. It does happen, however, that needed me. They lack personality. It simply means they have undergone this change before. And they're becoming more set in their ways, perhaps not good to evil. Dramatic changes, but definitely they passed has left a mark on them. In the previous listen. I discussed the importance of back story, such as emotional trauma, which can lead to defensive behaviour in later years. Something as simple as that. Why it's so much personality to a character, but it mean to be so dramatic as emotional trauma. If you're feeling more large hearted, you can create some funny interactions. So I've created a small passage now for us to look at Gerald spent at the site of the RC Dairy product, he explained, he was served a bad scoop of ice cream when he was younger. The kids knew Gerald to be a bit of man, but how anyone can hate something so sweet was beyond them. Not only does this passage reinforce a personality trait Gerald being bitter, for example, but it makes use off back story as well. The cherry on top of this Sunday not being the Children's amazement at such behavior, but it instead being the hint at another personality trait. It doesn't take much for jail to lose trust in something. Well, perhaps someone something a simple as that is adding so much dips to a character. And that's just one interaction. Imagine having several that reinforced the same thing. Not only are you creating a character that you are much more comfortable with, but you're creating a character that the reader is getting used to reinforcing something like this once or twice later in the story will do something quite special. When the reader comes across an interaction with the personality of the character and months, they'll be expecting a certain response. This kind of consistent see with personality is necessary in any novel, so don't be afraid to build your character brick pop break with interactions such as this one. However, some of you may be thinking that such consistency is a bad thing, that perhaps creating a predictable character can be incredibly harmful towards the story. If you're such a viewer, I'm gonna half agree with you. Predictability in a novel can be its downfall, especially if the reader can predict the ending. It won't be as memorable if the reader knows what's going to happen. That is where you start tasting your characters and they will to change or concede in the principles like real people. The main characters should surprise the reader from time to time, do something unexpected, but not without reason. It is only by withholding such reasons toe later that your reader will feel more curious and unsure. Take a look at this piece, for example, if my explanation isn't clear enough, General took a spoon off the ice cream and ate it happily. The Children who watched from afar were confounded as to why I was eating, asking to spot the last incident. None of the hours noticed Gerald's blushing cheeks as he passed his compliments to the elderly woman behind our screen bar. Consider passages like this when working a few main character. It is all well and good to decide their principles and attitude from the start. But if you want to improve upon this list, create a 2nd 1 of weakness is or what it would take him to break their principles and include this interaction or more in your novel. In doing so, you are more than creating a personality that is bold, but one that is relatable as well. If you've heard the phrase everybody has a press, the same thing will plow to any other principle. The character. There is a trait with every character, but what will it take for them to break such a trade? What will it take for him to give in and act differently? That is what is gonna make a characterless, predictable and have the reader more gripped by a situation. Another example. Being the classic standoff situation, where a main characters conflict it between two decisions and so is the reader because they've grown used to the main character, and they're having trouble predicting what the character would do. The reason the reader has such trouble predicting it, it's because they've been interactions in the past that make the reader and short will the heros sacrifice themselves for the greater good. Oh, will they run away? Are cowards? We're not sure, and we have only a few interactions to go on. But we do know that there isn't one predictable path. It is up to us to read on with curious minds to see what will happen next, and that is very important in any novel now, believe me, writing a realistic personality can be difficult. I understand that. But your purpose as Arata is to break your character and then bring them back, if not instantly, later in the novel, I'll talk about conflict a lot in books, but the truth is that conflict is what is most necessary in any form of progression. Testing your characters personalities per tackling to treat it on will decide how strong their willies with that trait. And if you're lucky, it will surprise the reader. This is how you will get your character to move on through. The book is how you get your character to develop, become different or more realistic. Conflict is several steps and a novel that leads you to the top, and you and I have to go through each conflict before you can reach the interview novel. If you have no conflict, then a smooth ride creates predictable story of that being said that computes this. Listen and I'll see you in the next one way 6. Purpose | Writing a Better Main Character: way. Welcome back to the course, and in this listen will be discussing the purpose of your main character. Now. I saved this listen for loss as it is one of the most important lessons. Often the novels I've read, they're being characters who had no value to the novel whatsoever. Most of the time, these characters, I mean to be killed off later for Shark Bailey or just sweeping like a savior and push the story in the right direction. These are bad habits to have been a novel to save your novel or to add motions to your novel that you want. But doing so in such a sudden and jarring way can create a very poor, conceived novel, which is why it is better to create characters with purpose in mind. So that way you can see things running a bit, move smoothly and at the same time still running in a way that is unpredictable and yet enjoyable. However, this mainly applies to side characters, and yet I still fund that many novels. They have many purposeless main characters as well, which is leaves them bland and boring and, quite frankly, getting in the way of the plot. The main characters purpose should be made clear as soon as possible in order to carry interest throughout the novel with ease from the beginning of the novel, it is recommended that you know where your main character will be at the end. Well, this character be sipping champagne in Victory will be broken by a crippling defeat. Or will they even be a laugh? Once you have decided the ending, you could move on to their purpose. If they fail, what do they feel that? So I'm gonna give now a few examples and how to get a purpose it for humane character. It is, in fact, quite simple and easy to do. You can do it in a moment, but if you don't do it at the beginning, you'll struggle throughout your novel to get that's in the right direction. So let's start off worth this idea. The protagonist will have to run a successful bakery by the end of the story. That is the integral the purpose. But let's suppose we change the beginning to something that isn't so predictable. That's a at the beginning that the protagonist is unemployed. So how do we get the protagonist from the beginning to end and achieve their purpose. Now, with the purpose of Mount, the obvious things are actually quite clear. The protagonist one needs a bakery and two needs to run it incredibly well to be successful by the end of the novel by answering three simple questions. A plot has Bean essentially created for novel, where the rial trickle. Ours is in writing the protagonist with the desire to fulfill such an inning. Why does the protagonists have this purpose? Perhaps it was a dream. Ever since they were young child. Perhaps a relative passed away and left them there. Bakery or even. Perhaps they started it on a one, and it became a realized passion throughout the novel. And that could be an interesting story in itself, someone growing to love something they never thought they would. Many reasons can give someone a purpose, and they fall. The main character is more interesting and have all retained focus of the reader as well. You can then crack your knuckles and taste this character's purpose with conflict. For example, baking bills, lack of skills and bad taste all the way. Overcoming these obstacles revitalizes and strengthens the purpose in the character. Now that is the most simple way to create a clear purpose and keep it allows. Throughout the novel, however, let's add some challenge to the mix, and suppose you want to keep the purpose hidden from the Rena as long as possible. This may sound ludicrous at first, but it is actually quite common in novels. Something is clear and bold is running a bakery, and a novel isn't particularly interesting. And suppose you wanna create intrigue and mystery. That's where you leave purpose out. Doing so would be a difficult story top, but it might hold your main character little higher in the readers regard. Keeping purpose hidden means you need to Tom the reader to stay interested in the book and the main character, not just with curiosity, but it was hungry interest to find out more about this character and what they're all about , and you cannot leave them hungry for long. However, the challenge is making sure that your reader doesn't get starved of the character if they're hungry form or they need to get more. So how do you bring them along through the novel and only reveal the purpose later. Well, that is actually quite simple, and I have quite a popular example that I'm sure most of you can be familiar with now. As I said, you need a character that retains interest, create surprise and shows ingenuity. Such creativity comes in many forms, but the most simple on I'll be discussing now eBooks allow for more space and mystery, but I'm gonna be referring to a character in a film. The example. Our drawer from is Captain Jack Sparrow from the first parts of the Caribbean. Throughout the film, the character that is sparer claims the viewer's interest from his first scene towards his last seen charming them along the way with these words, and not just the other characters in the movie. The reason This is because you're not quite sure what he's about. Where the other characters have been quite well established and the emotions quite clear, Jack Sparrow is quite difficult to read, and as such, he captures the interest of the viewer. They want to know more bottom and what he is planning, and they're constantly surprised and amused by the things he does, because what he does is ingenious, creative or charming, as I stated before. Personally, the characters a favorite of mine not because of charm of present day purpose, but because having a past sir vague impact of adventure really shines through the character , leaving the viewer hungry for more. If you were to put that plot and character into rotting, it leaves a lot of gaps that need to be fielding. But these gaps can simply refilled enough hints and clues and perhaps fake stories along the way to continue the interest towards then personally as well. I hold purpose in high regard. When it comes to writing a novel, the main character needs to stand out, and their intentions need to be clear in my head. I'm sure that if the character Captain Jack Sparrow had to no purpose or even something to hint at, the story would fall on the shoulders of lower characters. Leave. You want to wonder what was going through the mad writers heads to create something so bland? I hope you take this advice to heart is a writer. The main character is important. That much is clear, which is why you need to do your best to make sure that the main character is worthy off being in the police that he or she or it is in, give them purpose and qualities that make them deserving of the majority of attention. Otherwise they will fall flat, and there will be no more than a figurehead rather than the core of your novel. And that is something that you don't want, especially if you want to avoid something that is bland and boring. With that are lost. Listen, comes to an end, and I will see you in the conclusion off this course. 7. Conclusion | Writing a Better Main Character: No way, and that's the course. Comes tuning tool writers and interested viewers. I say thank you for watching. I plan on creating more courses such as this one, to tackle issues that hit right is the most and create a bit of a character. And this course, creating a bitter main character stuck out to me, especially in the early stages of my writing. Korea. I don't want to fall victim to the same problem is most writers Arthuis, and create something that was bland and boring. And trust me, this hits every rotten, even was successful ones have bean victim to that of having a bad being character. And finding the ways to avoid such a bad character was an important learning curve for me is Arata. I pulled my heart and soul into writing my first novel, but I still found that there were problems there that I couldn't quite soul with just heart and soul. And it was only through extra learning through articles and advice, columns and courses such as this that was able to learn the information that I needed during something like that is no easy task, which is why I spent so much time on the research. Putting this advice into practice in my novel was a saving grace and is what helped me finish my editing and has published my novel. Feeling part about your first novel is a special experience, and I wish the same pull. My views are they are starting to write a novel and they want to make sure they give it their best shot. And I'm telling you now that if I didn't put in the extra effort to do research and watching the course such as this one, I wouldn't have been proud of my first novel and I probably wouldn't continue my writing, which would have just being a very sad experience indeed. And I'm very happy it got me to where I am now. This course is the extra learning wrapped up with the birth for beginning writers, happy or even more experienced ones to have hit the same dead ends. Now, before you go back to your tapping, creating in general writing, I would like you to check out my profile and give me a father. I will be releasing courses such as this one more regularly and you're watching and enjoying them means a lot as well as it really supports me. And was that Good day? Did not. And happy rotting.