Sanderson 2013.3 - Writing Great Characters

Brandon Sanderson’s 2013 Semester at BYU: Creative Writing, Lecture 3

This video is a mirror of the materials posted by user writeaboutdragons. I’ve provided some notes with timestamps below, and occasional color correction. Enjoy!

*Notes*

0:12 / What makes a great character
- Most important aspects of a story is the character
- Thinking of character as a role instead of a person is problematic
- Make them have passions and motivations beyond the main plot
- Biggest attractors: proactive, competent, and sympathetic
- Great characters have some kind of flaw / limitation

11:32 / Humanizing character
- Give them quirks
- Consider questions about the character to come up with backstory
- Be forthcoming with small details, and skip the big details

22:28 / Problems for new writers
- MC tends to be the most bland

24:09 / Superman vs the Everyman
- Superman: wish fulfillment for the reader
- Everyman: relatable by the reader

33:14 / Flaws
- Character flaws: the character’s fault, they may need to overcome; these build the growth arc
- Physical limitations: not the character’s fault, but internal to them, they may need to overcome
- Handicaps: external forces on the character, they may not need to overcome
- Adding flaws creates conflict

46:04 / Plot is about a sense of progression
- Overcoming flaws can give incremental sense of progression
- If you over do the flaws, the character might turn off readers

49:50 / Proactive characters
- Often stories begin with the plot hitting the character, who then reacts; reactivity is not as good as proactivity
- You can show character proactive towards a hobby before the plot begins
- Try-fail cycle: even if character is failing, have them try things and be active
- Villain problem when the villain is more proactive than the main character, and therefore more interesting

56:00 / Stories are artificial
- It is all contrived, your job is just to sell it well
- Deus Ex Wrench / Idiot plotting: Author artificially adds problems to lengthen story; don’t do this.
- - Convince reader that flaws are real so problems make sense

1:02:44 / Sanderson’s second law of magic
- Limitations are more interesting than powers
- Limitations and flaws are different; systems should have both
- - These things will create the points of conflict, which is where good storytelling takes place

1:08:33 / Sanderson’s third law of magic
- Everything is interconnected: how does your magic change the world?
- Out-think your readers by a few levels. How does your magic change government, military, ecology, religion, etc?