Creating a Protagonist With Depth: Part Five

Failure

Just like nobody enjoys a perfect character, no one likes a character that always makes the right choices and succeeds
If your character always succeeds, where’s the tension, the worry that they might fail? Without that, readers get bored.
A story needs fear that the character will fail/die/be beaten in order to keep readers flipping pages.
Even if they think they know where the story is going, they want to find out how they’ll get there

How do you make them fail?

Look back at their list of faults and flaws. Which of those can you use to put them in a situation where making the right choice will be difficult?
In “What We Saw At Night” Allie doesn’t tell the police what she saw because she’s afraid of getting in trouble for being somewhere she shouldn’t.
Why was she out at night? Because she has a severe sun allergy and has started taking risks because she thinks she won’t live very long.

How do you avoid nonsense failure?

Does it make sense in real life?
If some guy told you he was sneaking into your room to watch you sleep at night, you’d freak out. Bella, though, was totally cool with it, which has garnered criticism.
Would two parents ever actually split up twin girls and never let them see each other for their own selfish reasons like they did in The Parent Trap? I highly doubt it.
When helping characters make decisions, make sure there’s a good reason for what they choose. Lean on that backstory you crafted.
Do their fears influence them?
Have past hurts caused them to mistrust others when they shouldn’t?

What character failures have left an impression with you?

Where Does Your Book End…Literally

Many writers start a project with an end goal in mind. Even those of us who are pantsers (write by the seat of our pants) tend to know generally where our story or book will end. Those who outline and thoroughly plot know exactly where their story will end.

I’m talking in terms of the end goal of the plot. Will the MC meet their goal or fail so spectacularly that readers will be hard-pressed to forget? This is important. VERY important. Having a weak ending or no ending at all is a major turn-off for readers, but that’s also another discussion all together. What I’m talking about today is where your book ends physically.

How many of you decide or even just consider the physical location where your plot will come to fruition?

You may be asking if it really matters. It does. A lot.

Let’s Consider Neo and the Matrix…

The final fight scene in the matrix blew people away when it originally hit theaters in 1999. The special effects have been copied over and over by now, but the bullets halted mid-flight and Neo’s ability to move like the Agents wasn’t the only thing that made this final scene so memorable.

Setting had a huge role to play as well.

The end goal of the plot in Matrix was that Neo realize he is “The One” and figure out how to defend the freed humans against the machines. Fabulous plot, but what would that final realization have been like if Neo had reached it outside the Matrix?

Not nearly as impactful.

Neo being pretty much dead and losing hope while faced with his enemy, inside their fabricated world — of which he has little control of at this point — while his mentor is being tortured in that same building, and no chance of escape…well, that’s a pretty bad place to be, right? The exact kind of place he where you either need to dig deep or give up. Being outside of the Matrix, relatively safe and surrounded by people who are trying to help him…what would have pushed him to find his true strength? Neo realizing he was the one person meant to save the humans wouldn’t have had anywhere near the same effect if it had come over his morning bowl of mush as he worried about Morpheus having been captured.

Where your final scene happens should be connected to your character in some way.

Is it a place from their past, something symbolic of what they’re trying to overcome?

Such as a childhood home or the location of a traumatic experience, or perhaps a place they once loved and they return to at the end of their quest to put their life back together? The location should be relevant to your character’s history and journey.

Has it been previously referenced?

Ending up somewhere that readers are familiar with, even in passing, will mean more to them than a brand new, never before seen venue. Foreshadowing is a great tool in setting up the final location where the book will take place. A brand new location risks seeming irrelevant to the reader, and may not be the most logical place either.

Does the location make sense for what’s going to happen?

If the final scene is a verbal confrontation (Ex: standing up to a tormentor), think about what type of space will make this more intense. Wide open areas provide room to escape or avoid while small spaces may pin the character into the situation until it’s resolved. Public locations vs. private ones can have a great impact as well. A public location means there will be witnesses. Will there be action involved? Will they be on the move or stuck in one area? What obstacles will the location provide?

Is there meaning behind the setting?

Whatever setting you choose, there should be a reason for that choice. Think about your character arc. Where did this character begin emotionally, mentally, physically, and in reference to the overall plot? Where do they end up? Does your final setting reflect the changes your character has made during the journey that is their character arc. A character arc should come full circle. Setting should as well. That doesn’t mean your final scene should be in the same location as the beginning scene, however, the final setting should be chosen just as carefully as the initial setting was chosen. It needs to reflect what the character has overcome and what their future may hold.

What final scenes of books or movies have stuck with you, thanks in part to the setting?

Creating A Protagonist With Depth: Part Four

If you haven’t read the first three part in the series, you can find Part One HERE, Part Two HERE, and Part Three HERE.

Now let’s discuss how to fill out your character with some backstory, faults, contradictions, and conflict.

Backstory

Now that we have the basics of your character and who they are at the beginning and end, it’s time to fill in the middle.

We do that with backstory. Why is your character the way they are?

Remember those personality flaws, fears, and annoying habits you created earlier? Now it’s time to find out where they came from.

The reason behind the flaw is what makes it interesting.

Ex: Lena from “Beautiful Creatures” is afraid of falling in love because of the curse on her family that tells her she’ll turn evil and hurt the people she cares about.
That’s more interesting than just being too shy to ask a guy out.

Like an iceberg, most of the backstory you come up with will never appear on the pages, but it will make your character who they are.

Faults

Nobody likes perfect characters. They’re boring.

Every character needs a few faults.

Make a list of 5 faults your character has – let’s go deeper than not being able to make a free throw.

Personality flaws: unreliable, eccentric, immoral, volatile.

Fears: common or complex – Indiana Jones’ fear of snakes got him in trouble a few times.

Weaknesses: unemotional, domineering, perfectionist.

Contradictions

Faults aren’t enough. Your character needs to be contradictory at times.

Why? No real person behaves the way they should all the time.

We do things we know are wrong, go against our own beliefs, and do the opposite of what we intended to do.

This can go the other way too. Does your bad guy had a soft spot?

No one is all good or all evil. Your characters need to have a mix of both.

Conflict

Every good character needs plenty of conflict, not just from situations they find themselves in, but internal conflict as well.

Go back to your list of fears…

Which of these fears will your character face and try to conquer in your story?

While trying to overcome the main conflict in the story, your character must also overcome internal conflicts that are holding them back.

If they don’t, their character arc won’t be completed.

Full, rounded out characters can make or break a story. Giving your character a life outside the story will help them come alive on the pages for your readers.

Making Pizza and Pleasing Readers

Usually, I don’t read reviews of my own books. It’s better for my sanity, even though I usually have pretty good reviews. It’s hard not to read a review when a reviewer sends you a direct email to tell you they didn’t like the second book nearly as much as the first and includes a link to their two star review that contains their opinions on the quality of your characters and story. I told her I was sorry she didn’t enjoy the book, but thanked her for taking the time to review and left it at that.

Compared to the 70 5-star reviews on this particular book, this one shouldn’t bug me, but it was kind of bumming me out. Not necessarily because it was a bad review, but because I felt like I had let this reader down. Honestly, it was really getting me down until I started making homemade mini pizzas one night for dinner.

Sounds totally random, right?

Let me explain.

Not only were we making mini pizzas because I thought it sounded like fun, but because it’s the only way everyone can actually get what they want on their pizza. I love Hawaiian pizza. My kids think pineapple on pizza is the weirdest thing ever. The kids and my hubby like sausage. I don’t. My daughter has something against pepperoni. My son refuses to eat olives. Solution: Mini Pizzas topped by whoever’s going to eat it.

What does this have to do with writing?

I know you can’t please every reader. I’ve heard it a million times. I’ve said it to other people at least half as many times. I know this is true.

But I didn’t really know it, know it until I was making pizzas that night and trying to get my kids to put all their toppings on without making a huge mess (failed on the mess part). I looked at our lovely pizzas…

…and that’s kind of when it hit me. You can’t please everyone and that really is okay. Heck, I can even get four people to agree on pizza toppings! What chance do I have of getting every reader who picks up one of my books to think it’s awesome? Clearly, not going to happen because everyone has different tastes and interests when it comes to books.

This particular reader wanted something different than what I provided. I wrote the best book I could, and a lot of people have really enjoyed it. She didn’t. All I can do is shrug and move on. If I tried to write every book so every person who read it would be perfectly pleased with it, I would lose my mind. I feel like my head might explode just trying to contemplate such an impossible feat.

I’m proud of how this book turned out. I wrote it in a way that I felt was true to the story and characters. Had I written it any other way, I would have disappointed myself, and that would have hurt more than a few not-so-great reviews. Yes, it’s disappointing that this reader didn’t enjoy the story. I hope she finds another series she falls in loves with. We didn’t click on this one. I can’t do anything about that. What I can do is keep writing the kind of books that I feel proud of when I put them out in the world for readers to eat up. That’s really all I can do, and I’m okay with that.

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The Plus Side of Insomnia

I had some book goals for the beginning of 2015…and then my husband and I decided to sell our house, so everything book related happily got put on hold in the face of the excitement of moving.

We’re all pretty pumped about moving next month. Fingers crossed everything goes smoothly!

So, back to insomnia.

Moving is stressful. Well, trying to sell your house and keep it clean with two kids and a dog who is constantly eating crap he should and having…shall we call it intestinal troubles?…that’s stressful. My hubby and I had a tough time keeping up with that in addition to all the other craziness of inspections, offers, surveying, and on and on.

You’d think all that would make you fall asleep as soon as you hit the pillow, but not so much. When I get stressed, I don’t sleep well.

What do I do while I’m lying there staring into the darkness?

PLOT

Sounds ominous, right? I’m not talking revenge or mayhem. I’m talking BOOKS.

With all the hoopla of the last few months…

I haven’t done much writing, or marketing, or anything actually book related. The last week or so, with all the insomnia I’ve been having, I have at least had the chance to work out the kinks I had been stumped with on The Ghost Host.

What’s been bugging me about The Ghost Host?

Trying to capture the decision making skills of a troubled 18-year-old girl on her own for the first time.

She thinks she has things under control. Her friends are with her. A guy she really likes has promised to protect her. She and the ghost who’s stalking her seem to be on decent terms for the moment, and the FBI is actually looking like a good move.

Echo doesn’t actually have anything under control, and I was too the point in the story where things needed to start unraveling but I wasn’t sure how to do that. How exactly does a girl in that situation react when her first boyfriend, first time on her own, first kind of job, and first time trying to handle the ghosts on her own?

I finally figured it out.

She makes a lot of mistakes.

So, now that I’m finally making progress on The Ghost Host again, I can hopefully finish the last quarter of the book a start making plans for a summer release.

So, keep checking back to see what trouble Echo and the ghosts manage to get themselves into.

Unreliable Narrators Are Not My Favorite

The unreliable narrator has shown up in some pretty popular books, like Gone Girl, A Clockwork Orange, Lolita, and Fight Club, just to name a few.

What is an unreliable narrator?

It’s basically a narrator whose credibility has been seriously compromised.

This can be obvious to the reader, as it is with Alex in A Clockwork Orange, or not so obvious, like it was with Gone Girl.

Why don’t I like unreliable narrators?

Because it’s hardly ever done well. Gone Girl is one of the exceptions, and I’m a little hazy of Fight Club at the moment because it’s been a while, but I seem to remember thinking that one was done pretty well too.

What makes the difference between an unreliable narrator being done well or feeling like a cheap trick?

It all comes down to the ending.

I remember watching a movie with my hubby some years back called Hide and Seek. My husband and I both agreed that this one of the worst attempts at an unreliable narrator that we’d come across. What left us feeling that way? Basically, by the end of the movie, we were both left feeling like we had been blatantly lied to through the whole movie. The MC acted in ways completely contradictory to the truth that would eventually be revealed, and so did his daughter.

The daughter was the biggest disappointment, because it made no sense at all that she would respond to the dad’s questions and act the way she did when she knew the truth the whole time. There wasn’t any logical reason for the way the characters behaved, EXCEPT that the writers were lying to the audience.

How is this different that a good unreliable narrator?

An unreliable narrator believes in his or her reality, or is completely committed to the deception they’re trying to perpetrate. Every word that comes out of their mouth, every action the take, and look and gesture should all be in line with their warped viewpoint or deception.

At the end of the book/movie, you should be able to look back and not point out any instances where things don’t line up.

The Sixth Sense is a good example of this. If you’ve ever watched the “making of” for that movie, you’ll see how the painstakingly went through that entire film to make sure Bruce Willis never talks or touches anyone other than the boy. They create situations where there “seems” to be interaction, such as when he’s sitting in the living room with the boys mom, or goes to meet his wife at the restaurant, BUT you see at the end that none of those scenes were what they seemed.

When writing an unreliable narrator, this is what it takes.

Unreliable narrators are tough to write well. There has to be a well thought out plan. Interactions, thoughts, and dialog has to be scrutinized. It’s a lot of work, but if you can pull it off, you’ll have something people will remember for a long time!

Creating a Protagonist with Depth: Part Three

If you haven’t read the first two part in the series, you can find Part One HERE and Part Two HERE.

Now, on to today’s discussion!

Character Arc

What is a character arc?

It’s your character’s journey from who they are at the beginning of the book to who they become by the end.

(Hint: these should be different!)

This is basically the main question your character arc needs to fulfill throughout the course of a story. Developing a strong character arc will help you create a character with depth.

There are 3 stages to a character arc.

STAGE ONE

The Catalyst

You need something that will force your character onto the path that will change them from who they are to who you want them to become.

This can be a physical and internal stumbling blocks.

The catalyst is a problem – something your character needs to overcome.

For example…

Tris finding out she’s Divergent.

Katniss volunteering for the Hunger Games to save Rue.

The journey to overcome this problem is what will test them and force them to grow personally and emotionally.

STAGE TWO

During the second stage, your character attempts to resolve the problem from the first stage.
Of course, things can’t go to easily for your character.
In order to make sure your character keeps growing, they need to continue to face new obstacles.
Translation: Things keep getting worse.

Why?
As your character faces new problems, they learn new skills, become more capable, more like the person they need to be.

STAGE THREE

This is the resolution stage, where your story reaches its climax and your character discovers who they are becoming.
This is NOT always the resolution of your characters’ completed arc
If your are writing a series, this may be the first realization for the character of who they want to be or will become.

Your full character arc may stretch over a series of books, but within each book you should have the three stages of the character arc, with the character reaching an important realization at the end of each book.

Making sure your character changes and grows throughout your story will help create a more believable and relatable character.

Creating a Protagonist with Depth:Part 2

If you haven’t read Part One of this series, you can find it HERE.

Now…on with the show!

In PART TWO of this series, we’ll be talking about Stereotypes and Archetypes. If you’re not sure what one or both of these are, have no fear, they’ll be explained, and we’ll also talk about whether they should or shouldn’t be used and how to tell the difference.

Stereotypes

What are Stereotypes and why should you be careful when using them?

Stereotypes

A character that is so ordinary or unoriginal that they seem like an oversimplified version of a person, class, gender, etc.

Basically, this means the character is one dimensional. What readers see is what they get. There’s nothing deeper to their thoughts, personalities, or motivations. Simply put, these are not the most interesting characters. Certainly not what you want to model your Main Character after!

Why should you avoid this?

Stereotypes are rarely accurate. Not only can they be offensive, they make for poor characters because readers can guess exactly what they will think, do, say, or respond. That’s boring.

There are times when Stereotypes are used effectively in fiction. These are usually your secondary or tertiary characters who aren’t integral to the plot and provide “filler” in a scene or situation. They don’t add to the story, particularly, or move the plot along, and usually have very little page time.

Even when writing these types of characters, be careful to avoid writing a character that draws too heavily on ideas that may be found offensive or off putting. Stereoptypical character should be used very sparingly, even when writing secondary or tertiary characters.

Archetypes

What are archetypes and should you use them?

Archetypes

A typical character, action, or situation that seems to represent a universal pattern of human nature

Are they bad?

Archetypes can be used effectively when done right. For example, the “Hero,” “Innocent Youth,” or “Mentor” characters appear in many works of fiction.

Fantasy and Science Fiction often use archetypal characters, and you also see them quite frequently in comic book storylines as well. Popular examples would included Darth Vader and Anakin/Luke Skywalker from “Star Wars,” The Giver and Jonas from “The Giver,” and Sauron, Gandalf, and Frodo from “The Lord of the Rings.”

The challenge is creating an archetype without falling into stereotype. Even if your character is following an archetypal pattern, they still need to be complex and unpredictable at times.

In comic some comic books, the hero and villain are intentionally portrayed as stereotypical archetypes. Such as, the villain is ALL evil while the hero is ALL good. In such stark good vs. evil storylines, this works very well. Many other comics prefer to use more complex heroes and villains, which is what fiction/prose writers want to accomplish as well. No villain is completely evil and no hero is undeniably pure. There has to be more to the story, deeper reasons, secrets, hidden desires, and more layers than your readers can see in one glance to make sure you’re writing a well rounded and interesting archetype.

Next up is Character Arcs…what they are, how to use them, and what they will help you accomplish. In the mean time, I’d love to hear your examples of stereotypical and archetypal characters from books or comics you’ve read!

A Ten Year Journey

I think two of the most common questions I get when I do public events are 1) How long does it take to write a book? …and… 2) How did you get you first book published?

Question #1 always makes me chuckle a bit because the answer varies depending on the book. Question #2 is kind of a long story.

So, I thought I’d share the answer two both questions today in regards to my very first book, Escaping Fate.

How long did it take me to write it? Well…I started writing Escaping Fate when I was fifteen, back when I knew next to nothing about writing and thought I was really good at it. I wasn’t. Anyway, a lecture in Mrs. Hume’s history class about Aztecs performing human sacrifices really got me interested and I started researching. Back then, that involved digging out an encyclopedia and scouring the library for resources since my parents weren’t big fans of the internet at the time.

The first version was super short. It fit inside a chunky 6×4 inch paper notebook. Yeah. It was short. Eventually, I started transferring it to my first laptop, which was a brick and weighed a ton, and I started adding to the story. Actually, I removed an entire character and rewrote the story with only the MC, Arrabella, and her grandfather. That took a while. A long while. REWRITE #1.

Some time later, I met my future hubby and found out he was into writing too. Don’ tell him I told you that, though. He likes to keep his writing on the DL even though it’s really good. And I’m not just saying that because he’s my husband. Seriously, it’s good stuff, and if he ever actually lets anyone outside me and his brothers read it, you’ll agree.

Anyway…my hubby and I chatted about writing and when I mentioned nixing poor Tanner from the book, he talked me into putting him back in. After all, every story needs a little romance, right? REWRITE #2.

Years later, after getting married and having two kids and doing some college here and there, I pulled Escaping Fate back out, reread it, decided it was still missing something, or several somethings, and went back to work ironing things out, changing POV and tense, adding in more story elements to keep things interesting, and who knows what else. REWRITE #3.

By the time I was ready to submit it to agents and publishers, I was 25-ish. Yep, it took me ten years to finish this sucker. And guess what happened? Zip. That’s right, not a single agent or publisher was interested in it. I had no publishing credits, no social media presence, nothing at all that would convince an agent or publisher to take me on.

I didn’t give up, though. I decided to publish it on my own. At the time, I had no clue how to market, but I learned how to format for print and ebooks, painting a picture of an Aztec god for the cover art, and put together a pretty good book. Escaping Fate is a book that will always be close to my heart because of the journey it was to share it with readers. Even though it’s not a big seller for me, it got my toe in the door, forced me to learn a lot about writing, publishing, and marketing, and put me on the road to some pretty cool things.

Escaping Fate was published in 2010. Since then I’ve published 15 other books, including a sequel to Escaping Fate that I never planned to write (Soul Stone), have made the USA Today Bestseller list as part of a wildly popular box set, got a pretty good review from Kirkus, and have more than one book in a top 100 category on Amazon. Even if Escaping Fate is never one of my more popular books, it was the first step. Sometimes, that’s all it takes to get yourself moving in the right direction.

Connect with me online:

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Twitter: @DelSheree

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It’s Done…Walk Away

DeathtoStock_Medium6 I have to start this post off by saying, it was inspired by a post my lovely writing buddy, SeriouslyGina, recently posted on her blog. She was talking about the awfulness of querying agents and trying to write that perfect query letter that simply no one can refuse, despite the fact that it is like a rainbow unicorn made of sparkle dust and dark chocolate.

Hint: It doesn’t exist.

Querying is my least favorite part of writing. Maybe that’s why I gave up on trying to find and agent or pitch to publishers and went almost entirely indie. Actually, there are a whole bunch of other reasons for that!

In all honesty, though, thinking about what a torment querying is reminded me of some advice I got from one of my painting instructors in college that has really helped me in my writing and other areas of life. It was simple and kind of a silly thing to stick with me for almost fifteen years, now that I think of it, but oh well.

I had been working on a single painting, a master study of a JW Waterhouse painting, for the majority of the semester, and it just never seemed quite “done.” My painting professor, the incredible William Hatch, finally walked up behind me one day and said, “It’s done. Put your paintbrush down and start something new.” I didn’t think it was done. In fact, I have a print of it hanging in my house and every time I walk by it I think, “Ugh, I should have fixed that part.” But, there’s no sense trying to paint on top of a print and I don’t have the original painting anymore, and I’m not quite that much of a crazy person.

I think Professor Hatch might have just been sick of looking at that painting when he told me to put down my paintbrush, but even if he really did think it was as good as it was going to get, his comment actually stuck with me and I’ve applied it to more than just painting.

I often reach a point in a project, writing or otherwise, when I just have to put it down and say, “It’s done.” When I’m writing, that’s usually after way too many edits when my eyes are crossing and I’m beginning to hate my own book because I’m so tired of looking at it. Before I actually get to that point, I tell myself, IT’S DONE…WALK AWAY. I don’t go back to it. I move on to a new project and don’t look back whether I have that nagging feeling that it could use a little more tweaking or not. It’s just done.

I heard a piece of advice once, and I can’t remember who it was from but I’m pretty sure it was one of those huge 19th century writers we all aspire to be. The advice was to never read your published book. You’ll always find little errors or things you could have tweaked, sections that could have been stronger, blah, blah, blah. It will never be perfect. No book will ever be, nor has ever been perfect. NOT A SINGLE ONE.

Instead of chasing your starburst and sunshine with sprinkles on top masterpiece, write the best book you can write, find great beta readers, even better editors, friends who’ll support you no matter what, and pour your heart and soul into your story.

Your book will never be perfect, but the message you share and the way it impacts your readers will make up the difference.

Connect with me online:

Facebook: AuthorDelShereeGladden

Twitter: @DelSheree

Pintrest: DelSheree

Google+: DelSheree Gladden

If you haven’t read the first three part in the series, you can find Part One HERE, Part Two HERE, Part Three HERE and Part Four HERE.

Now let’s discuss how to make your characters fail in a way that makes them better.

Many writers start a project with an end goal in mind. Even those of us who are pantsers (write by the seat of our pants) tend to know generally where our story or book will end. Those who outline and thoroughly plot know exactly where their story will end.

Let’s Consider Neo and the Matrix…

Where your final scene happens should be connected to your character in some way.

Is it a place from their past, something symbolic of what they’re trying to overcome?

Has it been previously referenced?

Does the location make sense for what’s going to happen?

Is there meaning behind the setting?

What final scenes of books or movies have stuck with you, thanks in part to the setting?

If you haven’t read the first three part in the series, you can find Part One HERE, Part Two HERE, and Part Three HERE.

Now let’s discuss how to fill out your character with some backstory, faults, contradictions, and conflict.

Full, rounded out characters can make or break a story. Giving your character a life outside the story will help them come alive on the pages for your readers.

I had some book goals for the beginning of 2015…and then my husband and I decided to sell our house, so everything book related happily got put on hold in the face of the excitement of moving.

So, back to insomnia.

PLOT

What’s been bugging me about The Ghost Host?

I finally figured it out.

She makes a lot of mistakes.

So, keep checking back to see what trouble Echo and the ghosts manage to get themselves into.

The unreliable narrator has shown up in some pretty popular books, like Gone Girl, A Clockwork Orange, Lolita, and Fight Club, just to name a few.

What is an unreliable narrator?

Why don’t I like unreliable narrators?

What makes the difference between an unreliable narrator being done well or feeling like a cheap trick?

How is this different that a good unreliable narrator?

When writing an unreliable narrator, this is what it takes.

If you haven’t read the first two part in the series, you can find Part One HERE and Part Two HERE.

Now, on to today’s discussion!

Character Arc

(Hint: these should be different!)

There are 3 stages to a character arc.

STAGE ONE

STAGE TWO

STAGE THREE

Making sure your character changes and grows throughout your story will help create a more believable and relatable character.

If you haven’t read Part One of this series, you can find it HERE.

Now…on with the show!

Stereotypes

What are Stereotypes and why should you be careful when using them?

Stereotypes

Why should you avoid this?

Archetypes

What are archetypes and should you use them?

Next up is Character Arcs…what they are, how to use them, and what they will help you accomplish. In the mean time, I’d love to hear your examples of stereotypical and archetypal characters from books or comics you’ve read!

Hint: It doesn’t exist.

Your book will never be perfect, but the message you share and the way it impacts your readers will make up the difference.