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Sunday, June 26, 2011

Petting the Dog


Topic: A quick tip for rounding out a character


Good writers will flesh out lush, elaborate worlds with round MCs and supporting characters, each with their own back stories and motivations. But then, out of the shadows, comes this thing. This 2-dimensional face of evil (with horns!), thwarting your beloved protagonist at every step, at all costs, for no other reason than that this dude (or gal) is a real piece of work.

Unless he's a demigod living in the fiery depths of Mordor, this antagonist will need humanizing and fast. I know! *Scrabbling in the screenwriter's toolbox...* Why not have him pet the dog? You know, that adorably sweet, loveable, fuzzy-eared next door neighbor dog with the gimp leg? And for no other reason than that Antagypoo likes dogs. He really does.

And if not the dog, maybe save a baby, or decline squishing the grasshopper at his picnic, or stand up for the stuttering boy in class, or . . . you get the point.

This is not a quick fix. But it will help with antagonists and rough-around-the-edges protagonists alike, especially near the beginning of a book, when we haven't learned enough about the characters to really care about them.

Can you think of famous book or movie characters who "pet the dog?" How about when Harry Potter saves the boa from captivity in The Sorcerer's Stone? A pseudo "pet the dog" moment.

More on "petting the dog."
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4 comments:

  1. kara6/26/2011 02:38:00 PM

    This is a great blog post--I hate it when I read about antagonists are so so evil with no real reason to be. That's why I love those blogs out there the address psychology--sometimes that can be useful--give them a disorder that further explains their behavior. Having an antagonist who does something unexpected, like petting a dog, makes them way mroe interesting--and interesting is what keeps us reading.

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  2. Unknown6/26/2011 03:30:00 PM

    Thanks, Kara! Love: "Interesting is what keeps us reading." This is so true, and it's so important to thoroughly integrate our interesting moments, as otherwise they might seem gratuitous or annoyingly coincidental.

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  3. Alleged Author7/06/2011 08:28:00 AM

    Hmmm...a character who "pets the dog." One character I immediately thought of was The Walking Dude from THE STAND. He loses his baby (because the chick jumps out the window), and at that point seems human. Great question. :)

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  4. Unknown7/06/2011 09:46:00 AM

    @Alleged_Author Do you know I haven't seen The Stand?? From the description, it sounds like you nailed a petting the dog moment. :)

    p.s. Thinking about your blogfest question. Will post soon. It's something I've been wondering too -- Is YA being read by YA or adult writers primarily? http://anallegedauthor.blogspot.com/2011/07/my-question.html

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