SF Characters

-      Need Goals, Motivation, and Conflict

-      Need to Create Empathy in Readers

-      Need to Be Good Lenses for the Setting

GMC-Your Character Core

-      Most People Have Heard about GMC: Goals, Motivation and Conflict

-      Together, These Elements Represent the Foundation of Most Good Characters in SF and All Other Genres

Goal

-      Character Goals Are Critical to Knowing Who They Are

-      Most Protagonists Will Have More than One Goal

-      Goals Can Be Internal and External

-      Goals Can Change: Often Characters Will Discard an Old Goal to Chase a New One, Creating a Character Arc

Motivation

-      Why Does the Character Pursue this Goal?

-      What Drives Them to Go on this Journey?

-      Often Intrinsically Linked to the SF Setting, Setting Generates Motivation in Much SF

-      The Character’s Interaction with the Tech or SF Features is What Generates Motive

Conflict

-      What Opposes the Character? What Blocks Them from Achieving the Goal?

-      Should Be Something Related to the SF Setting: Mars in :The Martian” or Vader/Empire in “Star Wars” Are Good Examples

Emotion and Empathy

-      Its vital to build reader empathy for the character

-      The more problematic or flawed the character, the more vital it becomes to balance that

-      Multiple ways

-      Sympathy: Luke Skywalker and Harry Potter being orphans makes them sympathetic

-      Empathy: Han Solo risking hos life to save Luke in Empire or Bilbo opting to run after the dwarves in “The Hobbit” build empathy: the first by showing heroism in an anti-hero, the latter by showing courage in a supposed coward.

Save the Cat

-      The ‘Save the Cat’ moment Snyder’s books were names after

-      Snyder postulated that its optimal to show a moment where the character does something positive, heroic or admirable

-      This generates reader empathy for the hero – makes us want the hero to win

STC Rule: the more anti-heroic a character, the more critical it is to demonstrate their inherent heroism. Can Be:

-      an act of kindness

-      an act of heroism

-      an act of self-sacrifice

-      an act of generosity

-      etc

-      the key is to use this tool to build reader empathy for the character

Examples:

-      In the original “Superman” film, we see the hero flying around soon after he dons his costume, saving people. There’s even a nod to the concept here where Superman literally saves a kitten from a tree

-      Harry Potter’s STC is brief and less obvious: it’s where he stands up against Malfoy for the first time. It doesn’t need to be as strong because his orphan status already built sympathy

SF: Tech and Humanity

-      Science fiction at its core is about the interplay between humanity and technology

-      The main character is therefore the lens or filter through which we see this

-      Making sure the character is the right lens for a given story can greatly strengthen the tale

Picking the Right Character

-      Picking the character the technology hurts the most is a good lens

-      A character who is a tech element benefits the most can also be a good lens, but the hurt is usually more effective

-      Ideally, the protagonist’s flaw should sync well with the science fiction elements. This allows them to demonstrate growth through interaction with the science fiction elements of the story. In “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress”, we see the protagonist grow enormously in large part because of his interactions with an AI.

-      Leave room for character growth

Make Them Believe

-      Believable characters are vital to good storytelling

-      Watch for too flawed – ruins empathy

-      Watch out for “too perfect” – ruins tension

-      Mark Watney in “The Martian”: almost too weak, but the scenes showing his frustration and brief despair make it work

-      Remove these and the story is much weaker

-      Flip side – Luke’s whining in “Star Wars” makes him a weaker character then he could have been. A little flaw is good. Too much weakens the story

Observe People

-      One of the best ways to build strong characters is to people-watch

-      Base characters on observed behavior and dialogue on observed conversations

-      As writers, we can improve our storytelling by watching the world around us carefully

Don’t Overdo It

-      Like anything else, creating character can become a tool for procrastination

-      Do what character work is necessary and no more

-      How much is necessary varies from one writer to another – find your ‘happy place’

-      Be prepared for it to change as your craft skill grows. More experience tends to equal less pre-writing development of characters and setting

Questions?