Storymind Basics 3

The Elements of Character

In the Story Mind, characters represent different facets of the human psyche. Archetypal characters illustrate broad personality traits whereas more Complex characters illustrate combinations of specific human qualities.

When a story seeks to explore overall aspects of human nature, it is best populated with Archetypal characters. A story that delves into specific attributes requires the use of Complex characters.

Just as with the personality of a real individual, a single story is usually comprised of a mixture of both broad, Arthetypal traits and and complex attributes as well.

In fact, Archetypal and Complex characters are all made up from the same essential elements, just as real people all possess the same palette of emotions and componants of reason. It is the way we put the pieces together that determines our personalities as individuals, and the same is true for characters.

The Archetypal arrangement simply groups a whole family of similar traits into a single character, while Complex characters are composed of conglomerations of both similar and dissimilar elements.

Grouping elements together creates the particular chemistry for each character, much as the elements in physics combine to create chemical compounds. And, just as in chemistry, mixing certain elements will produce stable or unstable characters, and some elements may not mix at all, or at least not without a suitable dramatic catalyst.

So what are these elements of character? Since Complex arrangements of elements are almost infinite in their variety, it is easiest to begin with the Archetypes and then break them down into their componants to discover the "Periodic Table of Character Elements."

The Eight Archetypal Characters

For the moment, we shall propose that there are eight Archetypal characters. Later, when we have a better understanding of arhcetypes, we shall expand our list of archetypes to sixty-four! (Note, the number of archetypes is not arbitrary, but reflects very specific qualities of the human mind, as represented by the Story Mind.)

The eight Archetyapl characters are:

Protagonist - Antagonist
Reason - Emotion
Guardian - Contagonist
Sidekick - Skeptic

Protagonist drives the plot forward.
Antagonist tries to stop him.

Reason looks at the practical side
Emotion reacts from the heart.

Guardian tries to keep things on the True Path.
Contagonist tries to lead things astray.

Sidekick is the faithful supporter
Skeptic is the doubting opposer

The archetypes provide a kind of short hand for an author. Rather than having to illustrate each and every element independently, one by one, the author can simply illustrate a whole family of similar elements at a time, thereby saving pages and/or screentime.

When an author identifies a character as an archetype, the audience assumes that however the character fairs reflects on all of the contained elements as a group. So, since each element represents a different path (attitude or approach) that might be taken to resolve the problem, valuable "media real estate" is saved for other issues the author wishes to explore.

For example, in an action movie, an author might use archetypes to save time for chases and pyrotechnics. In a deep thematic novel, and author might employ archetypes to simplify the characters so fine nuances of the moral issues can be explored without distraction.

Any story that does not at least explore these eight essential facets of the Story Mind is leaving out some of the ways human beings evaluate and grapple with problems. Such a story's argument would be incomplete, and to an audience this would feel as if there were holes in the story's structure.

Of course, some stories have fewer characters that eight. In such stories, all of the same underlying elements must be present, but they will not be combined in an archetypal manner. In other words, at least some of the characters will have more than eight elements, meaning that they will contain qualities from at least two different broad personality traits. As long as all the essential elements are accounted for, stories can have as few as one single character.

In contrast, a character might only have a single element and still be functional dramatically. A character with fewer elements than an archetype, even if they are all in the same family, is also called complex, because they must be described for the audience, element by element. So a character with onlyone element would, in fact, be considered Complex.

Archetypes work with an audience because they represent the eight basic human drives we all use when trying to resolve a problem or better our situation. As individuals, we all have a sense of initiative (Protagonist) and a tendency to maintain the status quo (Antagonist). We use our Intellect (Reason) and our feelings (Emotion). We are influenced by our Conscience (Guardian) and by Temptation (Contagonist). We believe in ourselves (Sidekick) but may also be unsure of ourselves (Skeptic).

These eight qualities (Initiative, Reticency, Intellect, Feelings, Conscience, Temptation, Confidence, and Doubt) are the cornerstones of human thought, and the archetypes that represent them are the cornerstones of the Story Mind.

The first four of these archetypes (Protagonist, Antagonist, Reason, and Emotion) are called "Driver Characters" because they set the course and speed for the journey. The second four (Guardian, Contagonist, Sidekick, and Skeptic) are called "Passenger Characters" because they influence the Drivers, much like "back seat drivers."

Although the names and description of most of these archetypes are no doubt familiar to you, an exact definition of their functions in story structure may not be. In fact, if you ask any group of authors to define each of these characters by their role in a story, you are likely to get such a range of different descriptions that some are actually contradictory. In other words, most everyone has a "feel" for these archetypes, but few have an exact understanding of them.

Moreover, even if two authors agree on a definition, they often use a different name for that archetype. For example, the terms "Protagonist," "Main Character," "Central Character," and "Hero," are often used interchangeably, sometimes even by the same author, when in fact, each is a completely different dramatic attribute.

The Main Character represents the audience position in the story, from where they experience the pathos first hand. In our own minds, the Main Character represents our sense of self - essentially, where we are coming from. Every Story Mind must also have a sense of self, otherwise, the audience only comes to the story from the outside looking in, as if it were something outside themselves, and therefore they never empathize with any of the characters in the story.

The Main Character provides the audience a place to stand on the inside. And, just as with our own minds, where we are coming from may change with the situation and/or with with issue in question. So, we may spend varying amounts of time looking through the eyes of any number of characters in our story.

Still, there is always one character that feels like the "Main" character. What is it that makes this character feel speical? As we shall soon see with our archetypes, each of the elements of character represents a different kind of concern - a different area of consideration in a complete map of the mind. One of these issues is the "message issue" of the story, the human quality around which the story's moral revolves. The character who contains that element represents that issue. So when we look through that character's eyes, we are standing at ground zero of the story's argument. It is this outlook which is being questioned in the story, the one that the author is trying to prove is better (or worse) than all the other approaches to the problem. Simply, that is why the Main Character feels so important, even if we actually spend more time looking through the eyes of other characters.

The character through whose perspective is give the most time or attention in the story is the Central Character. Notice I wrote "time or attentian" rather than just "time." The impact of a character is not due solely to screen time in a movie or number of pages in a novel. It is also dependent upon how strongly that character is drawn. It is the combination of the amount of exposure to a character and the intensity with which the author describes the character that deteremine its overall impact on the audience.

This concept is well-known in psychology, and they even have a name for it: Temporal and Spatial Summation. Simply put, it means that your response to the world is partly built on a life-time of experience and partly on those fleeting but intense moments that will live forever in your memory. (In fact, even the neurons of the brain respond to the collective energy of repeated exposure to the same information over and over again and to the sudden exposure to very intense momentary information.)

Just as the functioning of the brain's neurology is represented fractally in the mind's psychology, so too is it represented in the characters (and in fact in all the dramatics) of the Story Mind.

So, the terms "Main Character" and "Central Character" do not mean the same thing at all. Still, the player in a story that stands on the crucial issue is often given the most "play" by an author, and is therefore the Central Character as well as being Main. I just doesn't necessarily have to be that way. One character could be the "message character" and another the one who is most intense.

It should also be noted that you might present all of your characters in an equally intense manner. Who then is Central? As it happens, the term "Central" is not really about a single character, but is the measurement of how impactful on the audience each character is compared to the others. It is not a wasted question to ask of each character in a first draft you have written, "How Central is he (or she)?" The answer can give you a good idea how your audience's attention and empathy will be distributed.

Just being Central does not mean you are Main, and vice versa. In the human mind, and therefore in the Story Mind as well, we sometimes adopt a point of view looking at things from that perspective. We also look internally at our own attributes without necessarily adopting that outlook . The most important character whose point of view we share (the one possessing the trait at the heart of the message) is Main. The most important character whome we observe (the one most strongly drawn by the author) is Central.

When you have a Main Character who is also the Central Character, you have the beginnings of the traditional "Hero," who we will continue to explore in a moment. But first, what of the Protagonist? The Protagonist is the character who drives the plot forward. Note that while the Main Character is dealing with the judgmental aspects of the story's message regarding a particular issue or quality of human nature, the Protagonist is dealing with the practical issues of trying to achieve the story's Goal.

As with Main and Central, the Protagonist represents an aspect of the mind: our initiative. Within each of us is a drive to shake up the status quo, to make things different (for good/benefit or for bad/detriment). It doesn't matter if that drive is benevolently or malevolently applied. It is just the drive itself that the Protagonist represents.

You'll note that in the list of eight archetypes above, they are arranged in pairs, each associated with its most antithetical match. Reason is most directly offset to Emotion, and so on. And, as expected, Protagonist is set against Antagonist.

The Antagonist represents that force within ourselves that seeks hold things back or prevent them from happening WHETHER GOOD OR BAD. Note that in a structural sense, neither Protagonist nor Antagonist (nor the other six archetypes) are absolutely associated with any moral imperative, with right or wrong, kind or mean, positive or negative intent. Protagonist and Antagonist represent only our drive to make something happen and our drive to keep things as they are.

This concept is likely quite different than what you have encountered before, but it is absolutely essential to separating the function of a character in a story's structure from the moral judgement of the author.

When a character is made to appear to be moralistically correct or righteous, it is the author's opinion of the character's action, and is not directly dependent on whether the character is trying to instigate something or to block something.

Where then do the notions of right and wrong bear on the nature of characters? This occurs when we try to fashion a Hero. The stereotypical Hero is the Main Character who is also the Central Character, the Protagonist, AND is on the side of Good. His counterpart, the Villian, is the Influence Character (more about this concept later), who is also a Central Character (the second most impactful), the Antagonist, and is on the side of Evil.

Those other characters who are on the side of "right" are the "Good Guys" and those on the side of "wrong" are the "Bad Guys." And, of course, Good Guys can fall from grace and Bad Guys can be redeemed.

By separately defining Main Character, Central Character, and Protagonist, we have now opened up a whole world of possiblities for creating far less stereotypical characters that the standard Hero and Villian.

For example, suppose we have a character who is Main, Central, and Protagonist, but Bad to the bone. This character will stand at ground zero of the story's moral issue, because he is Main. He will also be the most strongly drawn and memorable character because he is Central. He will be the character who drives the plot forward as Protagonist. But, because he is Bad (moralistically) he will be an "Anti-Hero."

Or, a character might be Main, Central, and Good, but be an Antagonist. A well-known example of this is James Bond. It is the "Villian" of the story that has the agenda, instigates things, and tries to achieve a goal. Bond's function is to stop the Bad Guy, so, by definition, Bond is an Antagonist.

It is hard to disassociate the labels of Good and Bad from Protagonist and Antagonist, but doing so allows one to break out of formula ruts and to investigate a wealth of sound, new character types.

Returning to our list of eight archetypes,

In summary, if you have only been creating Heros and Villians, you
ve been severly limiting your storytelling opportunities.