So you’ve read most of this workshop and done the homework only to come to this post. This, easy, simple way to create characters flawlessly in your sleep so that you can just write your story with Jason Statham(sp) in mind!
Well, sort of. Obviously there is the huge issue of copywriting to deal with. Infringement is NOT a happy thing. So what do you do? And why did I make you read all of this before this point?
The answer is simple. Now you KNOW what’s going on in Wolverine’s head, or any character Sean Connery has ever played. You knew subconsciously as a fan of the movies with the men we love in them, but now we’ve brought all that thought to light. Hopefully anyway *g*
The idea of taking your favorite character and analyzing him will help you tremendously as you build your own story and plot things out. When you start out, you’re going to make small changes (at least I do) to the characters you’re modeling from. Józsi from His Reign and Riddick only have one thing in common physically, they’re built very strong! Emotionally, they have some similarities but that’s about it. I started by needing a strong Alpha who took chances, trusted his gut and had issues but that would fit into my plot which deals with control and lack thereof. Riddick from “Chronicles” fit the bill.
You’ll need to know how the hero you’ve modeled your hero after will answer certain questions. What archetype are you? What is your goal, your motive? How did you end up where you are? How does this character fit in with my plot?
How can I as an author tweak the answers to fit my story? What’s really going on in my hero’s head and how does this differ from the hero I’ve modeled him after? How is this similar? What are they feeling in certain dangerous situations and how are they reacting? What did it take to force their change in Being?
In the end, you’ll discover that your character and the one you’ve modeled him from are nothing alike. They may be similar, but all alphas have similar behavioral patterns, it’s what makes them Alphas!
Have you done this before? What characters of yours were modeled after our favorite onscreen heroes? Who wants to share?
Józsi was modeled after Riddick, from the Chronicles of Riddick movies. Even more fun was that so was Nicholaus in the following story but much less so because of his position in the pack.
Using Movie heroes to model our story heroes after is IMO better than using TV heroes. Books are only so long and even if they’re read and reread, they still take up limited amounts of time in our days depending on how active a reader we are. Given two hours of exposure with a movie hero, we’re shown (in many cases) just about everything we need to know about that hero to figure him out. Our minds work best at faster speeds when it comes to processing, so our emotions can become involved so much quicker. That is powerful when you think about it.
When you use sitcom or TV heroes, you're given less information because the writers need to stretch the story over a period of time in order to keep viewers hooked. But in a movies, you have an attachment primarily because of the money spent. You can leave, or wait it out. If you wait it out and the movie sucked, guess whose going to her about it.
This is a short lesson. We only have one more left and you’ve completed the workshop! For those of you who have participated, you’re almost done. For you lurkers, where are you hiding? *g*
If anyone has any questions, feel free to post and I’ll do my best to answer them!