The 6 Pillar Character Personalities of Great Storytelling
Most great novels carry similar characteristics if you strip them down to their bare bones.
One of these characteristics is the personalities you find and the specific role these certain characters play in creating what could be called a dynamic cast.
# 1 Is nothing new, but extremely important.
Main Character
This is your Harry, Frodo, and protagonist.
We follow this character from beginning to end no matter what. They are our guide and everything revolves around them. No question, any story that strays from this pillar of storytelling comes off a little strange.
# 2 Just as noteworthy and kills any possible awkward silence.
The Sidekick
The Sidekick has many jobs to handle.
They give the main character the ability to share their thoughts with the reader.
They play comic relief.
They are the trusted confidant of the main character and can either be a giant help out playful burden (Sam and Frodo VS Donkey and Shrek)
The sidekick is not always necessary (but where would Sherlock be without Watson) but immensely helpful to the writer in many ways.
We strongly recommend the inevitable side kick.
If our main character is a lone Wolf we better have a good reason for it.
#3 Another pillar of the story. What novel would be a story without:
The Antagonist
They’ve been called “he who shall not be named.” Sauron and Moliarty. Remember Professor Moliarty from “Darkwing Duck?”
Not to be confused with Moriarty from Sherlock. I can see how you would get those 2 mixed up. Very common sounding name.
Yes, the antagonist is destined to be pitted against the protagonist, the main character of most stories.
Now it should be mentioned. Not every antagonist is a character. The easiest way to think of an antagonist is to think of it as a force.
If your main character is trying to survive and save their family from a tornado. The tornado can be our antagonist force. It’s up to the writer.
But something or someone must be challenging the main character or there might be no story to tell. It’s a story after all and to be interesting for the majority of stories there has to be conflict.
# 4 Not always necessary, but always welcome and very wise indeed:
The Guardian/ the Mentor/ The Teacher
Thank you Gandalf, Dumbledore, and Merlin for your guidance, wisdom, and help on our adventures. We’d probably be dead without you.
The Guardian is extremely self explanatory but this character oversees and guides the main character while helping them accomplish their task.
In many cases the teacher actually pushes the main character into their adventure as a direct catalyst. Thanks Gandalf. Without you Bilbo would never have found the Ring and middle Earth would be lost to Sauron.
It’s nice that things worked out that way.
The 6 Pillar Character Personalities of Great Storytelling
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What’s love got to do with # 5?
The Romantic Interest
Not totally essential. Many main characters have accomplished their goals without them and some have even been hurt by them. Poor Disney’s Hercules, poor little guy, he didn’t know.
But the romantic interest can play a huge role in any protagonist’s journey. Some Plots wouldn’t have moved forward without them.
Was the Little mermaid really interested in walking? Or did she really want the prince? Please feel free to debate in the comments 😉
But seriously where would the rescuers down under be without each other?
The romantic interest is a great way to move the story where we want it to go and it’s even possible to use the romantic interest as the moving driver for the protagonist.
The love struck protagonist could try to win the others heart.
Or we can make a climactic moment by putting the love interest in danger.
What’s #6’s problem?
The Critic
The Thinker is a critic and they think almost the exact opposite as the main character and their sidekick.
Not every story has a critic just like not every story has a side kick and sometimes the critic and the Sidekick can replace each other.
The critic helps the protagonist think about things differently or outside the box. After all, what dreamer didn’t need a realist and vice versa?
Use the critic to help the main character think outside the box.
And use them to give the main character weaknesses that their critic can help with.
Not every story needs all of these and any one of these personality types can be manifested in several different characters for example, Draco and Voldemort are both Antagonists and challenge Harry depending on circumstances.
Dumbledore and Snape are both Guardians. Hermione and Ron are both Sidekicks and are both critics at different times depending on what the protagonist and plot needs at any given scenario.
We can do this too. The personalities are not laws of writing as much as tools that are extremely helpful to use and manipulate as we need as writers.
Hope this helps!
Happy Writing!
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