Is Your Story Relate-able?
It is disappointing to see people stop by your stories, but don't really read them. Here is one way to fix that.
Many who shy away from a story do so for a very specific reason - a lack of realism. It is their opinion that the stories and characters in the story are very hard to relate to, and lack a believability. That it is hard to place themselves within the shoes of the characters, or in the world of the characters -- and in many cases, I believe this could be true!
Some might say that they lack imagination, and that is why they have a hard time relating to the stories, but that is not always the case. I think that, even though a story or character lies within a make-believe world, writers sometimes forget to make their characters and worlds relate-able. It is hard to relate to something that isn't believable, and for those whom that is important, it will completely isolate a group of readers who could easily be drawn in if a few concessions were made.
So, today, I intend to relay a few ways to be sure that the characters and worlds in your story are relate-able and "realistic", despite the fact that they are actually completely fantastical.
1. Make sure your characters have flaws, as well as strengths. One mistake that many make when writing a story is making their characters flawless. Since they aren't real, and they have special "powers" or "abilities" that others may not have, flaws seem to simply be overlooked. Flaws, however, are what allow others to relate to your characters, even when they are completely different! Flaws can be absolutely fascinating, and can range from one very large spectrum to another.
For example:
You have created a character who, because of her race, intentions, or perhaps even background, is not "allowed" to fall in love. Perhaps she is intended to be only an advisor, and never to be a wife. She has been brought up and trained for a very specific purpose in which love has absolutely no place.
Now, add to this character the fact that she has a very large heart, and falls in love far too easily. This flaw, in a character who is not allowed to fall in love for whatever reason, is bound to bring tragedy, depth, and chaos naturally to a story. Make a character who isn't allowed to do something, it's nearly inevitable that they will do it! Just to "ruin" everything.
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Now let's consider a male character who is supposed to be the most wise, most strong, most everything in the entire world. Perhaps he is the most powerful sorcerer in the land, and no one can beat him. No one! He's also completely ruthless, and his heart is cold. He rules the land with an iron fist, and his subjects are very obedient. No one dares go against him, or they shall surely die.
This sort of character NEEDS a flaw. Maybe not one that is visible, but something that can be used to "defeat" them in the end. There is no way this man could have gone his entire life and not gained a single flaw.
The examples for flaws could be:
1. He had a child when he was very young in a casual fling and was never told. The child resurfaces, and proves his ancestry by knowing some things of the man that only a lover could have known -- learned from his mother. Including his flaw -- the only thing that can kill him.
2. Why is the man that way? Something had to have MADE him ruthless and cold. What if the cause of the coldness suddenly arrives again - whether it be woman, circumstance, etc? This could have a possibility of breaking the man, because that IS his flaw.
3. Perhaps there is a single spell or weapon that he is weak to. And perhaps one of his flaws is that, even though he is cold to the world, there is one person he confides in, and that person turns on him. Sometimes, a weakness can be trusting a person who is not worthy of being trusted. (How many of us do THAT in our every day lives?)
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The possibilities for creating flaws are endless! Endless, fascinating, and certainly they can give someone something to cling to and relate to.
2. Create a world which gives the reader a mental or physical reaction. Those who don't avoid a story because of the characters, avoid it because of the description. But those who are completely in love with reading, one of the reasons has to be because of the vivid pictures painted by the authors of the genre of the world around them. Make a world that repulses them, or one that fascinates them. One certainly different from the one we live in, but interesting enough that the descriptions are a desired part of the reading. They read the descriptions because they crave to picture this world in their mind, to put themselves in it. Would they hate it or like it? If they would be indifferent, they will be indifferent about reading the descriptions -- make it special. Make it different.
3. Make sure that the characters fit the world they are living in. And if they don't, there needs to be somewhere in the story that relates why they are misplaced in such a manner. If the characters and the world clash, however, it makes it harder for any to open their minds to the 'existance' of the world, even in their own imagination, which will make the story one harder to relate to, harder to buy into, and harder to believe in. It would make little sense to have a world full of trees, vines, and forests -- then throw in whales where there is no ocean. Be sure they match.
4. Create an entire culture, not just a group of characters. Tolkien created the actual languages his characters spoke in. Each different race of character had a complete background and culture unique to that race, which made the journey interesting, and the characters truly unique to one another. It created conflict at times, and solution at others. There was always something new to learn or understand. This might seem a little extreme, and when writing a short story -- it admittedly is. However, being familiar with the similarities and differences between our real lives and those of the lives in your f story is important. It is something that will hook the reader -- finding the differences themselves, and sometimes even trying to make sense of them. And, most importantly, relating to them.
I wish you the best of luck in your writing endeavors, and thank you again for allowing me to invade your inbox!
Sara Jean |
Noticing Newbies: January 28, 2015 Issue [#6802]
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