Chracter Development and Finishing School

The idea for the Soul Blade Trilogy has been attacking my mind like nothing I've ever had before. It just hopped into my mind one sunny day two years ago, completely developed and just begging to be put onto paper. However, despite my biggest wishes, I could never start the story because of constant interruptions and the like. School stood as a bid roadblock, never letting me have time to just sit down and type my dreams away. But as of January 22nd 2014, no longer shall I be pinned down and forced to do anything else but writing. School won't be there to tell me that assignments need to be gotten done or that this test needs to be studied for. I'll be free from the system to create my own world and give it to others.

But during the period I've been waiting for the end, I haven't been wasting time. Nope, instead I've been studying the character development of some of our well known and loved (or hated) characters. You'll be surprised at some of the examples I'll give.

 

Loki has provided an amazing mind to study from both the movies and the mythology. I loved studying the feel and emotions that may lie under his harsh and cruel mask, the complex maze of love and hate all twisted and confused within his brain. The desire to just want compassion and yet the pride of not wanting to receive it. I am left amazed by his character and for the movies, I have to praise Tom Hiddleston for making the character even more hard to pick apart.

Halt, who not everyone may be familiar with, stands as a perfect example of a character to be proud of creating. He is gruff, a little scary and has legend behind him, yet he loves and cares for those around him in a grunting and annoyed kind of way. He is the perfect mentor, with little tolerance for idiotic nonsense and a wonderful sense of when to give a push. Halt provides great example and his own little ways of being amusing while maintaining a serious façade. I'll even say he contains a bit of harsh-charm about him that every author wants to create.

Next up, yes I admit it's kind of funny, but Jack Frost provides his own little bit of unique character traits. Really, when dissecting a character like this you can have an emotional angst fest with your imagination. I mean if you think about him deeper then the movie takes you, you can find a whirlwind of complex emotions to sort through with glee. Creating the misery he must have felt at being alone, the fun he must have to have as an eternal boy and the ultimate wish to please out of the boy who dances across the screen, you can be left amazed. Even Pitch Black makes a great image for an exciting mind to pick apart with the eagerness that only a writer can understand.

Aliens anyone? Yes. Despite being a little freaked out at times while watching the X-Files, I have to admit that Fox Mulder stands as an awesome candidate for great character development. He's funny and serious, open and closed and just makes the audience want to get up and join him on his adventures. He's a truth-seeker, a man not content with what he sees before him and he believes that there is something more out in the world for him to find. He is dedicated to what he believes and hell and high water can't stop him. Who wouldn't want to create such an exciting character? ME!

So all in all, character development is one of my favorite things to do when writing. But this is only a few examples, I might even make an entire page for this topic! Especially since school won't be holding me back much longer!