Protagonist - Blog Posts
The Protagonist of Forgotten Affinity
(I forgot the crack on their right eye on the bust drawing)
Leto Richwald is a living statue that got reanimated by a necromancer. He woke up with no memories, and only learned his name from the plate on the stone where he stood. He is not very good at feelings and such, being that he has no experience dealing with them. He has a hard time with fine movements and feels more comfortable when his hands are covered up, being as they move in a weird way, in his opinion. He has a natural tendency to protect, being that every time someone has tried to hurt them, they have not been injured since he is stone.
Questions: If you have any questions, please ask away. If it spoils a major plot point, I will give a vague answer. If it is inappropriate, I will give you a random fact about the story or a character that is not at all related to the question.
[Extra]: He can not feel pain, he has a natural draw to the color blue, he likes shiny things,he can not see out of his right eye too well, reading is not his strong suit, he likes fluffy things and silk, they use he/they pronouns, and his hands have a ruff texture so he scratches and rips things easily. They can also not feel pain.
I just love her :) Gotta replay soon
I cannot draw chibis, but I hope you’ll like those Halloween stickers XDD
So...Anime souls? Was drawing this while listening to All of You~ Really recommend to listen to Code Vein OST!
6 Tips for Writing an Underdog Character
People love reading about an underdog. There’s something within all of us that relates to persevering against the odds, even when they’re crushing. Anything becomes possible—but how do you write that kind of character successfully?
Here are a few tips to get you started.
1. Create Their Disempowerment
Underdogs need to lose something or have one thing less than those they fight against. It might be something they hope to gain back or something they hope to gain at all.
Let’s use The Hunger Games as an example for this post. Katniss comes from District 12, but she’s already at a disadvantage when she volunteers as tribute. Restrictions on her district kept her from food security for most of her life. Without a lifetime of basic nutrition, her body is already at a disadvantage in the physically-demanding games.
District 12 is also one of the less appreciated districts in her country. She doesn’t think anyone will care about sponsoring her in the games, which makes survival much less likely.
But we still root for her! She volunteered to save her sister, which is heroic. There’s so much potential for more heroic growth that we keep turning the page, even though she’s not the most likely person to survive.
2. Make Your Protagonist Likable
Getting excited to see a character grow might be something you feel as a creative writer, but the average reader also needs an underdog protagonist to be likable in some way. Katniss will do anything for her family, including hunting where and when she isn’t supposed to. Many people would feel the need to do the same for their families.
She also feels deep compassion for people, which she covers up with her gruff demeanor. We’ve all felt like we got hurt because our hearts opened too wide for someone. We can relate to her building defenses into her personality, which might make her likable to more readers.
Katniss also has the core value of loyalty. People always seek loyalty in new connections. It’s how we trust new friends. It’s also how readers trust characters.
This site has a few more tips on crafting likable characters. Part of that happens while you’re creating the characters during your planning process, but you can also do it while you’re writing. As your underdog becomes more of a real person in your mind, you’ll know which primary character traits make them most likable to readers.
3. Plan Their Rock-Bottom Moment
Underdogs always reach a point where they feel they’re at their lowest. Even when they feel crushed or defeated, they choose to find strength and continue with their journey. It makes readers support them even more, but it’s also the defining moment of an underdog’s arc.
Your underdog’s rock-bottom moment will be the scene where they resist the temptation to give up, change their dream, or change who they are. It will be the choice that keeps them moving toward their end goal, instead of taking the easy road.
You could argue Katniss has a few rock-bottom moments. It might be when she hears her sister’s name called at the Reaping. It could be when Rue dies and she chooses to spearhead a revolution.
There could be multiple moments for your underdog too. It depends on the shape of your narrative arc and how many acts your story has.
4. Show Them Trying and Failing
It’s time for an important caveat—underdogs also fail. If they were perfect, they’d be god-like figures that readers couldn’t personally identify with.
Maybe your underdog achieves their ultimate goal, but they experience failure along the way. Their failure helps them grow or makes them pursue their goal with more conviction and determination.
Katniss begins her journey with a mindset of self-preservation. That makes her slightly selfish and automatically distrustful of people. She makes some choices readers would probably disagree with, but then she learns from them. By the end of the series, she’s as selfless as a human can get.
Characters don’t grow if they don’t make mistakes. Even underdogs should fail. However, that failure shouldn’t make them quit. It should either motivate them to keep going or give them a new perspective on how they can achieve their ultimate goal.
5. Train Them Along the Way
Underdogs start out as unlikely heroes because they don’t start with everything they need to succeed. That might be a societal problem, like coming from an economically disadvantaged family or a biased society. Maybe they don’t have the skills they need, like the ability to fight in hand-to-hand combat, outsmart their antagonist, or solve mysteries.
Usually, characters learn these things during their arcs. Your underdog will likely pick up what they need to succeed through the relationships they make and experiences they have.
Katniss already knows how to hunt when she volunteers for the games, but Haymitch mentors her to win over much-needed sponsors to survive. Peeta teaches her how to soften her heart and think outside the box. She wouldn’t have made it through the series without the people in her life. Other underdog characters can’t either.
6. Reward Them at the End
Underdogs work hard and transform themselves to achieve their goals. At the end of the story, they often gain a tangible reward, power, knowledge, a new title or a new community. Your underdog should get what they set out to achieve, plus a few extra things they didn’t expect.
Katniss wins the Hunger Games. She gets her primary objective: to continue living. She also protects her sister. In addition to surviving, she has her (albeit rocky) relationship with Peeta, a new mentor in Haymitch, a comfortable living in the Victor’s Village, and an audience of fans who are another layer of protection against President Snow’s desire to kill her.
The extra rewards propel her through the remainder of her storyline. They also set her up for more success with the new lifepath she sees for herself: aiding the revolution to end the games for good.
A new goal is sometimes a reward in itself. It depends on if you want to continue writing about your character or if you want a one-off story.
-----
I hope this helps gives you a new perspective on future protagonists! Adding one of these factors into your character’s growth could remove your writer’s block too. They set up a path forward for your protagonist and help shape their journey.
You can also use these resources to learn more about the underdog archetype:
Character Archetypes: The Disruptor and the Underdog
Writing the Underdog: Effort Matters Most
7 Tips to Writing Underdog Heroes
I found a Tumblr post on Pinterest about a pink-haired protagonist that doesn't want to be a protagonist and has to dodge all the handsome princes, deep childhood promises, magical girl items, demons, confessions and transfer students so she doesn't end up on an epic adventure or in some convoluted love triangle.
I loved the idea, so I thought that I would use it as inspo for a story! This may be my next story posted here, so look out for that!
This is what I'm talking about, btw
You either die a protagonist, or live long enough to see yourself become the npc.
where's that masterpost of quotes that have no right going as hard as they do. I'd like to submit "Protagonism is best left to teens and the insane"
i don't care if the overly kind protagonist is naive and is sometimes "unrealistic". i want to be kind throughout every situation in my life. i want to go through obstacles and have the strength to smile after. it takes more courage to be kind after enduring hardships than it is to be cruel. i just watch & read these amazing characters change the people around them with so much compassion and i can't help but wish i could be that way too. these characters are also so grateful for the people around them, and it reminds me to be thankful for every moment. <3
Movies I wish I could see for the first time again
Tenet (2020)
Inception (2010)
Matrix (1999)
Avatar (2009)
1917 (2019)
Avengers: End game (2019)
Fight club (1999)
Joker (2019)
Dunkirk (2017)
YOU are the Snowflake of whom the Prophecies foretold!
"Spooky's Jumpscare Mansion" first anniversary (29th of July) collab
My parts were Specimen 11, Specimen 5 and Specimen 2
Why the Protagonist Must Be a Problem-solver
In some ways, this post's topic sounds obvious, in others . . . not so much. On the surface, the tip seems simple, and yet, it is easily and often overlooked.
Your protagonist must be a problem-solver.
Yup.
A problem-solver.
I don't care if she's the laziest, most passive, most dimwitted person on the planet, within the context of the plot, she must be a problem-solver (even if a reluctant one).
Otherwise, she'll feel like a weak character.
Otherwise, the plot will feel weak.
Of course, I'm sure you can find rare exceptions to this.
But 99% of the time, your protagonist needs to be a problem-solver.
So let's talk about why.
Why it's Important for The Character
Imagine a protagonist who doesn't problem-solve. She encounters the antagonist, reacts emotionally, but doesn't do anything to try to win the conflict, or at least gain the upper hand of the conflict. She won't be interesting for very long. It's hard to care about what happens to her, when she's putting no effort in to resolve it, when she doesn't care enough to try to fix it herself. It may start to feel like she's stuck in a loop--just circling the same internal responses over and over again, never really progressing, never really moving on.
Sometimes writers mistakenly think this makes her more sympathetic, but in reality, as counterintuitive as it may sound, the opposite is true. Audiences lose interest or become annoyed.
We've all met people who talk, and whine, and fume about their problems but don't do anything to better their situation. We may feel sorry for them at first, but eventually, we want them to take action to improve their predicament. Often we may even find ourselves giving advice (or in some cases, doing the problem-solving work for them).
We feel the same way about characters.
Your protagonist doesn't need to be the next Sherlock Holmes or Violet Baudelaire to be a "problem-solver."
At the most basic level, what this means is that when she encounters an antagonistic force (a problem), she's coming up with--or perhaps shifting--goals and plans (however big or small, or grand or modest), and taking action to try to make those a reality.
If she's not doing that, she's probably too passive in the plot and not exercising enough agency. The story is happening to her, but she's not doing anything to make the story happen. She's not influencing the direction of the story.
When the protagonist is the one coming up with goals and plans, and implementing them, the audience becomes more invested in her. They want to stick around to see if she's successful. She also now holds some accountability over what happens--the consequences--and that actually makes her more interesting and more sympathetic. What happens, good or bad, is on her. She holds responsibility.
If your protagonist isn't problem-solving, it may be a sign that her wants aren't strong enough. Solid stories will showcase the protagonist's deepest desires (however big or small, or grand or modest), what she would sacrifice almost anything to obtain, avoid, or maintain. If the right desire is in jeopardy, the protagonist should naturally be driven to problem-solve. Characters with strong wants are more compelling. And in reality, we all have powerful wants we house deep within our hearts.
Great stories will test and challenge the deep desires of the protagonist's heart. And if that's not happening, you likely haven't figured out your protagonist's deepest desires or you need to alter the character so that she desires what she desires more deeply. Don't settle on something she kinda wants. Find what she'd be tempted to sacrifice her life for--literally or figuratively (meaning her current lifestyle). What does she want to obtain, avoid, or maintain bad enough, that she'd consider doing things she wouldn't ordinarily do? That's the kind of want you should showcase--whether it be obtaining recognition as employee of the month, avoiding responsibility by taking on a new identity, or maintaining control by offing all rebels.
It's usually helpful to focus on an abstract want--obtain recognition, avoid responsibility, maintain control--that can then manifest into various concrete goals. Most people aren't going to give their "lives" to become "employee of the month," but many have gone to such lengths to obtain recognition; becoming employee of the month is just one way to obtain that. So even if the goal seems modest on the surface, tie it to a deep abstract want. (A bit of a tangent, but it's useful, so I left it in here 😉)
When the protagonist is problem-solving, it conveys to the audience what she cares about. If the rebels are increasing in power, and she doesn't do anything about it, then obviously she doesn't really care about being in control very much. That's not a deep desire of her heart. So we need the protagonist to problem-solve to help convey character.
And finally, if she's not struggling to overcome (problem-solving), she's probably not growing through a character arc. She's stagnant. She's not changing her worldview as she strives for success, nor is she wielding her beliefs, growing in resolve. This can make any attempt at an internal plotline feel repetitive or nonexistent, because the character isn't progressing on an internal journey. She's just stuck in the same spot.
Why It's Important for the Plot
Solid stories will showcase the protagonist's deepest desires, and even if those desires are abstract (obtain recognition, avoid responsibility, maintain control), if the character wants them bad enough, they will manifest into concrete goals (employee of the month, new identity, off the rebels) that have specific plans (show up on time to work, move to a new city, locate the rebels' base).
So the protagonist has a goal. The antagonist opposes the goal.
And since there should be an antagonist for nearly every scene, this means there are problems in nearly every scene.
If the protagonist isn't trying to solve those problems, by adjusting his goals and plans, then it's likely the plot isn't properly progressing. Like I mentioned with the internal journey above, the external journey probably feels repetitive, or in some ways nonexistent. It's just circling the same situation over and over, in the toilet bowl.
If you find yourself arguing against this, then it's likely because another character is the one doing most of the problem-solving, in which case, it's also highly likely that character is the true protagonist, and your "protagonist" is really more of a viewpoint character spectating the external plotline.
The plot needs conflict in order to progress properly. If the antagonist shows up, and the protagonist allows himself to just get beaten, it's not strong conflict. Sure, stuff is happening, but if the antagonist is hammering him to the ground without his resistance, it's not much of a conflict. It's passive victimization. And while that might work in a scene or two, it's not going to hold for a whole story, or even a whole act.
A passive victim isn't a problem-solving protagonist. Obviously.
So, suffice it to say, your protagonist needs to be a problem-solver.
A kids movie antagonist:
Ah hah! I have finally achieved my goal, now nobody can stop me!
The main character:
Aight, *checks watch* it's near the end of the movie, time to beat their ass.
"Nope not happening"
I just love refusal of the call, especially when the character flat out see the signs and just completely goes far away from them.