Welcome to the Party

Where we got up to last time

In the last post, I introduced you to the eight archetypal characters which can be found in fiction.  Some of these characters are found in almost every Hollywood movie, such as Star Wars, or Jaws.  We have all seen the 'Guardian' character who helps the hero change to attain the goal, we have all seen the Skeptic character who say it'll never work. Through over-use, a lot of these archetypal character seem a bit thin.


Let's try it for Fiend

Although Dramatica goes into immense detail about complex characters later in the theory document, perhaps the standard ones will be enough for Fiend.  Even if we don't stick with them, we really need some more characters anyway, so this would be a good time to create them, even if we change them around a bit later. So let's look at the archetypal story roles we need:

1. Protagonist

We need to name him, so I'll just pluck a name out of the air.  Jacob Fraser.  Known as Jake by every one, he had a troubled upbringing.  He is late 20s, medium build but strong.  He has dark eyes and dark hair.  He is a little bit scruffy, and doesn't like having to get dressed up.

2. Antagonist

This has to be Fiend, but I think that needs to be a nickname he is given, so he needs a name to start with.  The original outline had his vampire origins in northern Europe and this is still something that would add a bit of flavour.  The online German phone book can help.  Friedrich Recker.

3. Reason

This is a new character, someone who can always inject a bit of logic into any course of action.  Not the brother.  Perhaps an older friend of the brother, who used to be a big name but is now older and wiser, and knows people.  Let's call him Thomas Bower.

4. Emotion

This is the brother.  He's a hothead, but he's thrilled with success.  He's enthusiastic for what the Fiend leads him to do.  He isn't organised enough to be a success by himself.  He gets angry at everybody at some time or other, but can be equally kind.  Let's call him William Fraser.

5. Guardian

His brother's girlfriend is an ex of Jake.  They broke up because Jake never opened up about his past.  She thought he was the love of her life, and still cares about him.  Although now with his brother, she still wants to protect Jake and helps out whenever she can. Let's call her Katie Ward.

6. Contagonist

The contagonist should deflect Jake away from his goals, but not necessarily be opposed to him as  a person.  I'd like to introduce a partner for Jacob.  She thinks she loves him, and is trying to mould him into an image of his brother.  She has low ambitions.  Her name is Elaine Cullum.

7. Sidekick

Everybody needs a friend, who is supportive of your actions, even if they are a bit suspect.  So for this, I've created Peter Law, tall, light-brown haired.  He's not into the petty crime thing, but doesn't give Jake a hard time about it.  Good natured and supportive.

8. Skeptic

At some point in the proceedings, they have to defeat Fiend.  They find someone who knows how to do it, from the previous time it was done, but he sees this time is different, and is determined that it cannot be done this time in the same way.  Let's call him Bobby Liddell.


An ensemble of cast and crew

Well, that's quite a collection of characters.  At the very least, the archetypal character model within Dramatica has allowed me to create a whole ensemble of new characters who have very specific functions within the story.  This might have taken a long time if we had just started writing and hoped for the best. We haven't fleshed them out yet, but let's look at how they might change the outline of the story.

Jake Fraser works for his brother William in a low-level criminal gang.
A violent incident in Jake's past means that the he controls his emotions carefully.
This led to the break up of a relationship with Katie Ward, a childhood sweetheart.
Katie has become involved with his brother William, but still cares for Jake.
Jake discovers a man trapped in an abandoned church next to his house.
Jake releases the older man, Friedrich Recker, almost by accident.
Fred comes to live with Jake and his girlfriend Elaine, and his health improves.
A series of grisly murders occurs in the neighbourhood.
Elaine is increasingly irritated with Fred's presence in the home.
Fred gets involved with William, Thomas and Jake in crime.
William wants to emulate the Fiend, but after an incident Jake turns against Fred.
Fred becomes the leader of the criminal gang and adopts the moniker Fiend.
Thomas Bower tries to convince William to leave, but is rejected.
Violence and crime escalates, as does the chasm between the brothers.
Fiend really wants Jake to join him, he can sense the controlled anger in him
Fiend starts manipulating William into wilder schemes as a sort of blackmail
William gets killed at some point, releasing and heightening the tension
Jake, with Thomas, Pete and Katie, try to find out how the Fiend was trapped originally.
They track down Bobby Liddell, who was a young man at the time.
Bobby explains how it was done but is skeptical it can be done the same way this time.
Jake needs to get close to Fiend to enact this, so feigns complicity
Final scene where a Fiend is defeated

Well, that has certainly beefed it up a bit!  We now have some character conflicts, between Jake and his current girlfriend Elaine, between the two brothers, between Elaine and ex-girlfriend Katie.  Between oldster Thomas and his long term friend William. And Between Freddie the Fiend and just about everybody.  Is there something else still there between Jake and Katie?  Does William's death make a difference to that?

A word of difference

The story just got a whole lot bigger, and some of that was thanks to Dramatica.  I would probably have invented characters for the protagonist's love life, and I would have had to invent some gang members and friends, but I don't think I would have been so logical about doling out the character traits without working from that direction first.

And these are just the archetypal characters, what will happen when we start to look at Dramatica's character quads in the next episode?