Chronicle Editor
Christopher Mlalazi
Today we are going to look at the development of our characters in creative writing.
Most of us, when we are still starting to write, often mix up the definition of character, and simply think it as the individual in the story – of which it is, but it goes deeper than that, and I will try to explain that later.
For the purpose of explaining the persons, or animals that are acting in our stories, we will begin by using this simple definition, that the character is the person.
And so you have pinpointed who your characters are going to be just by the simple act of identifying them and assigning to them roles, that this one is the protagonist, this one the antagonist, and this one the mother, or father, and so how do we go about to make sure that they stand out as distinct individuals?
When you are first starting to draft the story, the characters (persons), might just appear as names, and with no depth to them.
This is allowed, as you are in the process of sketching, and only using them for now just to push the story line as far as it can go, as that might be the initial priority.
But as faint as they might appear then, you might be having an idea what they look like.
Everything that happens in the story is relatable to each other, and the more you push the story and get to understand it, the more the characters also slowly start to emerge from the fog, and you can now visualise them, what they look like, their habits, how they dress, their moods, and the like.
What we should point out also is that your characters have names, and that is how you are able to remember them as you work your way through the story.
Names might seem like trivial things that you just pick up from the air and assign to the story character, but one soon finds that they are also as important as the story itself, as that name that you would have picked out might soon turn out to be the driving force behind the whole writing process, and also the energy you require to write.
Most often, we writers try as much as we can to pick out names for our story characters that will excite us every time we think about them, and which we hope will also do so to the reader.
But as aforementioned, everything is relatable — the story has mood, and the names of the story characters should blend with that, or, better still, enhance it.
And this is where the power of names from Africa for stories become even more interesting. For example, would you name your main character Doubt, or Prison?
And what about Prince, or Handsome? I hope you get the gist of this.
Or Mandla, if you are using Ndebele names.
The name, for us in African story telling, can be either negative or positive, and for main characters, we always like to ascribe the positive sounding ones, as we feel that they imbue the story with the positive charge that we are looking for.
I don’t think I would ever call one of my main characters that wants to talk about positive morals “Khanka”, because that kind of name does not evoke the same, but just the mention of it makes one think of a sly character who is up to no good.
This is unlike traditional English names like for example, John, or Peter, or something like that, which for us does not look at people straight in the eyes.
So, what I am trying to say here is that we should give ourselves the liberty to take advantage of our African naming systems to further enrich our stories.
There is so much to talk about story characters, and I am already running out of space, and I will extend this conversation into next weeks instalment, but before signing off, let’s quickly look at another meaning of character in story.
At another level, character in not the persons who are acting in your story, but, rather, their mental and moral qualities.
When we say he or she is of strong character, we are describing the quality of the person, and not who they are.
Often we say that character is what you are when under pressure – if a lion were to suddenly spring in front of the person, do they stand and fight or run?
Whatever action they respond with, is their character.
I know this is a bit confusing for starters, but don’t crack your head too much on it as the more experienced you become in fleshing out stories, you will one day figure out this logic.
Meanwhile, be excited by your story idea, stay safe and stay writing!
Online Reporter