Always Better With Sides


Now that we have the MC and the bad guys, take some time to figure out who else is in your story, if you haven't already. One of my favorite things to do when thinking about new characters is to look at the common tropes in movies, shows, and other books. Then I take those tropes and smash them. 

For example, instead of the guy with brute strength and not a lot of brain cells, maybe he's a pro ballet dancer, smart as a whip, and shy. Instead of the damsel in distress, maybe the character is nonbinary, or decides to escape and live in the forest as a hermit oracle, or maybe she's actually manipulating and tricking everyone into thinking she's helpless, only to take over the kingdom. Or maybe the so-called chosen one is not as intelligent and able as everyone expects him to be.

The point here is to take what's been overdone, maybe keep an aspect of it, and mess with things, make it yours. Take what appeals to you about a trope, personality type, or character idea, and switch things up. One of my friends took the damsel in distress trope and made it about the kidnapped prince, and enjoyed the shenanigans that ensued after that.

Gather a few characters to join your MC in whatever story you choose to tell, and give each one something different. (Unless, of course, you're writing about a character who's all alone.) Also, it's totally okay to come back to this after working on your plot and getting a better idea of what's happening. Sometimes characters show up on their own as you write, and sometimes it takes a while (and a decent amount of work on other topics) before you get a handle on your cast of characters.

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