How to Build A Protagonist
A free extract from next year's course
As you may know, because I literally never stop mentioning it, I am running a novel in a year course next year. I heavily implied you should buy it for your husband or SELF for Christmas. BUT £250 is a lot of money and I know that so I am very willing to offer you a lick of the spoon before you buy the ice cream of me supporting your literary endeavour. So I release to you a sample of what a weekly letter will look like. Over the course of the year I will send subscribers 50 of these, and answer any questions on them on the threads, and cheerlead you via whatsapp, and put up monthly audio or video writealongs. But the base of it is - an email every week. Some learning, and some homework.
What follows is week 2 - on starting to develop a protagonist.
The protagonist, or main character, is crucial in any work of fiction. A huge part of the reason we read is to find out who we are. We are like children when we read and write - we play with our dolls and we use them to make sense of the world. And these dolls are hugely important, and most importantly, they must never feel like dolls. They must become real to us, as readers and writers, we must come to love them and hate them and feel that we can predict their actions, the same way we would a real life friend or enemy or lover.
No pressure.
The good news is that the way we come to love and hate is simply to know. A character that “leaps off the page” has no real magic to it - just consistent and thorough detail, and a carefully thought through interior and exterior life. As writers, all we need to do is to get to know our characters so thoroughly that we create a kind of model or simulation of them in our heads. This means their actions will always seem authentic to the reader.
There are many ways to get to know your protagonist. We will start, on this first pass, with a straightforward interview.
I assume that you already have a rough idea about some of the basic characteristics of the main character of your piece. It’s okay if you don’t - we can make it up right now. Take a few minutes to fill in this basic information for the main character of your piece. Don’t think too hard - you can always change these later.
Full name
Gender
Age
Birthplace
Current place of residence
Anyone else living there?
Job
Relationship status
Height
Body type
Hair colour
Style of dress
Hobbies and passtimes
Favourite film/books/music/tv
These questions are important, but more crucial is a deeper level of understanding of character. It is not the fact that a character is a postman and has brown hair that makes him who he is - it’s the way he sees the world.
A classic tool to get beneath a character’s skin is the Proust Questionnaire. This questionnaire, popularised by Proust, has been adopted as a base set of celebrity interview questions across the media. Vanity Fair credit their questions to Proust, so lets take them as our examples for how this might work. Here are interviews with the actor and director Kenneth Branagh and the rapper and businessman Snoop Dogg.
Now, we all know that Kenneth Branagh and Snoop Dog are different. They live different lives and are known for different things. They both work in entertainment, they are both well known, and we can assume they are both wealthy, but beyond that, what do we know about them?
Their answers can illuminate us as to their interior lives. Here is Snoop Dogg on self improvement -
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? Nothin’. All my experiences, talents, wins, and L’s make me who I am today. I am constantly evolving, learning, and working toward not just being great, but also staying true to who I’ve always been—just a kid with a big dream from the LBC.
From this we are getting a real sense of an optimistic and confident (arrogant?) man. A sense of openness, I’d say, as well. By contrast, Branagh is incredibly taciturn.
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? Overthinking.
Two very different answers from two very different men. We learn very little, in terms of practical details. But we immediately get a real sense of who they are. We form our opinions about who we like, and why. I like Snoop - I like the bounce of his answers and I don’t mind the cockiness. I’m sure some of you will find it annoying, and be drawn to Branagh’s more dignified, perhaps drily funny retort.
What about their attitudes to fear? This is Branagh’s greatest fear -
What is your greatest fear? Ignorance.
And this is Snoop’s -
What is your greatest fear? Heights. I love being high, but I don’t like being up high.
Interestingly, only Snoop has really answered the question. I don’t believe Branagh - I think he’s probably afraid of spiders, or clowns, or he can’t stop thinking about the apocalypse, or SOMETHING. But he doesn’t want to tell us. That’s interesting. That tells us something. Snoop gives an honest answer, but he frames it as a joke. Is that because he’s very comfortable, or very uncomfortable?
Let’s now look to their ideas about happiness. This is Branagh’s -
What is your idea of perfect happiness? Eating ice cream in the cinema, watching the trailers, with the main film about to start.
And Snoop’s -
What is your idea of perfect happiness? Everybody around me is happy, my spirit is right, and just nothing but peace and tranquility in the building.
And Branagh finally gives us something solid - a clear image. It’s interesting that he finds happiness in a moment, whereas Snoop describes an atmosphere. It’s interesting that Snoop is surrounded by people, and Branagh is alone. Again, do we believe them?
One final question from each of them, from which I think we can all clearly see what an excellent pairing they’d make as housemates in a sitcom -
Branagh -
What is your most marked characteristic? Restlessness.
Snoop -
What is your most marked characteristic? Smoking weed.
I hope I have illustrated for you that the fundamentals of character are not just in the details, or even the opinions, but also in the attitude. Most people value their relationships, and their work. But how do they tell us this? Where do the place the emphasis? And how do we feel about it?
Homework
First, choose 6 numbers between 1 and 35. They can be lucky numbers, random numbers, just 1,2,3,4,5 and 6, whatever. Now go to the Proust Questionnaire -
https://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/2000/01/01/proust-questionnaire
And note down the questions that correspond to one of your chosen numbers. Every day, answer one of the questions you’ve selected, in the voice of your main character, as if they were being interviewed by Vanity Fair. Take as long as you like - go on tangents, tell anecdotes. If you have time (or your character is a taciturn Branagh type), answer many many more than six. Step into their shoes. And as you do this, you might like to reflect on what your answer to each question is, and what your partner’s, your close friend’s, your enemies, might be. We are seeking to create a character as real and vivd as any of these people. Take this week to truly find out who they are.
Please enjoy crafting your protagonists and, as always, send me a comment or an email if you have any questions!