Quite the Character, Aren't We?

So today I want to talk about characters. This isn't "how to create characters," or a step by step process to creating them, but more of a discussion of how the definition of characters you've already created can evolve over time, and how this is something that should be embraced--as long as it's a step forward and not back.

The characters in Dead Meat have changed quite a bit over time, but the one thing that has stayed constant is their basis in friends of mine in the real world. After our viewing of Dawn of the Dead, these good friends of mine were part of the "wouldn't it be cool if..." conversation, so naturally the immediate reaction for me was to base these characters on all of them. This is a fine idea, and a great place to start, but in order to let these characters grow, you have to, as I said in the last post, use this as a jumping off point for something new to emerge.

I find it fairly easy to spot when you're trying to "write your friends" as opposed to writing characters--this usually entails bad jokes, bad dialogue, and references that no one by you and yours will get--and I am guilty of it myself. After creating the characters, who at this point WERE my friends, I started writing a blog that was a serialized, prose account of the "origin" of these characters and world. Now, there's nothing inherently wrong with this if you want your audience to be limited to those in the know, as mine was, but if you want to expand your audience and turn these caricatures into real CHARACTERS, you have let some of that stuff go.

For an example, I'll use the character of Greg. I pick Greg because at the time, I didn't really know what to do with him as a character. Upon his creation, Greg was just another fictionalized rendering of one of my friends: he was part of the team, had his unique character props of six-shooters and cowboy boots, and he flew a helicopter. Aside from that, his presence in terms of the story, was pretty inconsequential and not really any different from any of the other characters. Even his design was pretty boring, in that he was just a dude in a button-down shirt that he wore open. He basically just looked like a normal, real-life guy.

Then I remembered (and if there's a running theme in my discussions of writing and characters and whatever, it's probably this) that I wasn't writing real life--I was writing a comic book. The very first change that I made was I took him off of the team of guys. The second, and probably the most important change, was I put him in a three-piece suit. For SOME reason, after that change the flood gates opened, and the characteristics of Greg as he now exists in the story came oozing out. I say oozing because as soon as I put that suit on him, he turned into a slimy, nasty dude. He became a womanizer, a murderer, and all-in-all he became a total self-centered BASTARD.

Now, this is NOT AT ALL what my friend Greg is like in real life! He's a great guy, and one of my closest friends. However, once again, I'm not writing real life, I'm writing a comic book, and that means that I can take this mold of a character based on my real life friend, scoop out all of real-life Greg from the inside, and use that mold to create a character who lives as a part of the world I've created, and not as one who was just inserted there.

Also, one last thing: if you're basing characters on friends or whatever, don't be afraid of them getting mad when you turn "their characters" into horrible people or someone that is clearly not "them." Those characters AREN'T really them, and besides, if your friends have the same sense of humor as you they'll probably love it and still just be psyched they're "in" a comic book or movie or other fictional venue.