Creative Writing Corner Episode 5 – Lesson 3: Kickass Characters

Welcome, fellow scribe, to lesson 3, where we delve into the secrets of crafting kick-ass characters.

No, I don’t claim to know all there is to know about this aspect of the art. I am, as ever, an eternal student, and thus I turn my attention to one of the greats, a master of every aspect of storytelling, creator of some of the most memorable characters of all time, Professor J.R.R. Tolkien.

In The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien drew a world so real I felt I could live there, so magical I desperately wanted to, and so compelling I didn’t feel I could ever leave. (I was right about that; I’ve never left Middle Earth, nor do I want to.) But what makes that world compelling isn’t the maps or the magic – it’s the characters that people his world, and the quests they undertake.

Sure, maybe good and evil are portrayed in black and white in Tolkien’s trilogy, but his characters – the ones we come to know and love (or love to hate) – all live in varying shades of gray. They forge who they become through the fires of the hard choices they must make. This is why we’re drawn to them, compelled to follow their stories, to root for them through victory and defeat.

For those who aren’t Tolkienites, I apply a similar analysis in shorthand to the first Star Wars movie. Then I finish it with a great character-building (heh) homework exercise for you, pulled right from Janet Burroway’s Imaginative Writing. So listen in!

Catch you next time, my friend. Write on!

–Luke J. Morris