- character consistency workshop in fanfiction - When I was in 4th grade, I finished reading a book series called Keeper of the Lost Cities by Shannon Messenger. When I realized that I had been left on a cliffhanger, I threw my kindle onto my bed and ran out of the room. I grabbed a pencil and tore open a notebook, and wrote at the top of the page, 'Keeper of the Lost Cities, book 8.' My mom came up to me and asked me why I was so upset. I told her about the horrible cliffhanger, and how I wanted to yell at Shannon Messenger for being so cruel. Then I told her how I was going to write the 8th book for her, since it wasn't out yet. Then I got really upset, because, how could I write something as good as Shannon Messenger? I wanted the real story. "You know, that's actually a real thing," my mom told me. "What is?" I asked. "Fanfiction," she replied. "Where you write a story from another author's world." And that was the first time I ever heard about it. About a year later, I found a website specifically for writing fanfiction. My friend had been spamming me links to fanfictions she'd written, so one day I actually read one of them and decided to sign up. There were so many fanfictions out there, I was in shock. And a lot of them were for Keeper of the Lost Cities. The more I read them, the more I wanted to write them. So I decided to start writing. As you may have guessed, I wrote a lot of Keeper of the Lost Cities fanfiction. But sometimes I got annoyed with the characters and tended to speed things up. The main character, Sophie Foster, is, I'm sorry to say, oblivious to a lot of things, like who likes her and whatnot. In the first fanfiction I wrote, titled 'After book 8,' (Clever name, I know) was written because I was so tired of Sophie's oblivion. I jumped right into the story and made her immediately recognize what was going on and who liked her. That was a mistake. I went too fast because I was annoyed with the characters. Here's the first thing I'm going to say about keeping your characters original to the original story: slow down and trust your characters. Trust that they will be able to change, no matter how long it takes, even if it takes a million chapters. I know that seems odd, but going too fast can lose the original character. It's like animating, for those of you who are animators out there. If you're trying to animate someone walking from one side of the screen to another, you're not going to just show one frame of them standing on one side of the screen and then another on the other side. You have to show the movement, each of the steps that they take, or else it's going to be confusing. Did she fly? Did she teleport? What happened? The more frames you have, the more detailed and realistic your animation will be. The same applies with writing fanfiction. The first frame is already provided by the original author, so you have to animate the rest with as many frames as you can, but not too many, to make it to your end goal. In another fanfiction I wrote about Keeper of the Lost Cities, I completely changed the motives of some of the characters without any buildup. This is something a lot of people do, like changing up the relationships and such. But sometimes it's difficult to tell what's going on and who is who if the motives or opinions change. Try changing the names of your characters to random names. Does the story still make sense? Can you tell that these are the characters from the original story? Think of animating again. If you animated a frog jumping around, and named it Sophie, would it still be Sophie Foster's character, just because it has her name? No, not at all. ( notes & credits )
( instructions first ) ... There are some tips to keeping your character true to its original story that can help you fully embrace your character and feel confident in the choices you make for them, as well as make sure that when you change their personalities, you’re not going too slow or too fast. Try creating a character sheet with your character’s personalities, weaknesses, and tendencies. [example given below] This can help when you’re stuck in a situation you’ve put them in, because you can keep a track record of all their habits so you can have an idea of where their next move would be in the real book/movie. Extra Tip: Try creating one for each chapter, so you can watch your character grow. Re-read/watch the book/movie! This helps a LOT in remembering small details about your character or their interactions that you may have forgotten, and re-reading can help you remember who your character actually is. Re-reading/watching the book or movie is a great way to refresh your mind with not only the correct and sharp information, but also new inspiration for new fanfictions. Create a plot summary for your character. If you’re finding that at the beginning of the book, your character is nice and open minded, and a few chapters in they’re mean and closed off, or something along those lines, you may be having difficulty with your speed. Try making a plot summary to keep track of the changes in your character, and mark them by chapters so you can see if your character is moving too quickly/too slow. Change the names of your characters throughout the book and see if a friend who’s also read/watched the specific fandom you’re writing in can identify who the character is. If you really think you’ve got your character down well, try changing the names of the characters each chapter, so your friend can try and find the character development. If it’s moving too fast or too slow, they may not be able to recognize them. Set yourself goals for what you want your characters to be at the end of your fanfiction. This is similar to the plot summary tip, but instead of plotting it out as you go, set goals for yourself in the long run, and have an idea of where your character is going to be, and fill in the rest as you go. Coordinate every goal with a chapter. This will help you even out your time while writing so you don’t go too fast/too slow. Ask a friend to help! It’s always great to ask a friend for critique, and see if they think that your characters are true to the original story. Make sure to ask a friend who has read/watched the book or movie. If you want me to critique or check to make sure your characters are true to their original story, just ask, and if I’ve read/watched the specific fandom, I’ll give you some advice! -- character sheet -- Sophie Foster - character sheet (books 1-8.5) Series continuing or ended? : Continuing Pronouns - she.her Sexuality - straight Species - elf Strengths: cares about her friends, strong power, really clever with ideas Weaknesses: tries to do things by herself, doesn't think things through, leaves some of her friends out sometimes, keeps secrets from the people she cares about General view on life (free, not hateful, hateful): not hateful Tendencies - Tends to go off on her own without telling anyone or thinking things through. Improving or staying the same? : Improving slowly Generally turns to one out of a few select friends for important things. Improving or staying the same? : Improving quickly Tends to keep secrets and things bothering her to herself, keeps her thoughts and emotions blocked. Improving or staying the same? : Improving little Situations - *optional but highly recommended* (Choose 3+ common things) One of her friends gets hurt : Emotions: anger, vengeance, sadness Awareness of others (beside the friend): little to none Next step: something crazy to try and save them, generally involves almost dying and not thinking things through/ revenge on the Neverseen or whoever hurt her friend Outcome: often gets hurt and another friend gets badly hurt as well, but something small is accomplished, parental figures are mad The Neverseen sends her a message : Emotions: determination, overconfidence (or sometimes underconfidence) Awareness of others: some to little, mostly only the people who she is dragging into things Next step: follows the note, and the more severe or related to her the note is the more likely she is to go alone without telling anyone, but there is growth in her communication Outcome: if she goes alone and doesn't think things through, bad outcome. If she involves the black swan and thinks things through, okay to good outcome, some sacrifices made. Romantic struggles : Emotions: fear, overprotection, oblivion Awareness of others: tunnelvisions to only the people she has opened her mind to like Next step: absolutely fricking nothing Outcome: waits for others to come to her, plays out however the other character(s) choose to act
