So, remember how I last month I said I might be back to writing about world development from a traditional fantasy standpoint, because I was going to work on my traditional fantasy novel? Yeah, that didn't work out so well. I started to write it, worked on it for a few days, and then came to a dead stand still. This is the same thing that's happened every time I've tried to write this book. And this time I've finally hit upon the problem: I really love the story, and I really want to tell it, but I can't get into my characters. And that brings me to the topic of this month's column: the importance of being attached, but not too attached, to characters. It's something that affects authors, readers, game masters, and players. Oh, and also people who watch movies and television too. Let's broaden it to "anyone who creates or interacts with characters." As an author, it's important to have some sort of rapport with your characters. It helps you portray them realistically, gives you an idea of what to do when the story takes a sudden odd turn, and most importantly, I think that when an author really loves a character, it carries through and the reader identifies with them better. In my own books, the characters that I like best come through the most vividly, and as such, people just like them better. There are few things more important for an author to do than to make the reader like or somehow identify with the main characters in the book. I've read quite a few books where I really liked the story, but the hero was such a whiny putz that I couldn't get into it. Not to mention all those epic fantasy series where there always manages to be at least one character who I have such a hard time getting into that I decide when to take a reading break based on when there's another chapter from their POV. That probably can't be avoided as an author, but you've got to try to make sure that it's only one character that readers feel that way about, instead of most of them. Of course, the difficulty with becoming attached to a book character is that it's very difficult to kill them off. Some authors have this skill for making well-rounded, fascinating, maybe even lovable characters and then killing them off, oftentimes in a cliffhanger fashion and then taking five years to write the next book (I MEAN YOU, GEORGE RR MARTIN!). Then the readers might get very upset, because you killed their favorite character (AND BY READERS, I MEAN ME!). Other authors have a habit of liking their characters so much that they constantly put them in impossible situations that they get out of (Uhm... I think I mean you, Tad Williams, but I kind of hated Otherland and blocked most of it from my memory). An author must find the happy medium between believability and not alienating your readers. Good luck with that. Game masters have to be careful about character attachment. You don't want to make an NPC so cool that you want to play them, and then you run the game more for yourself than for your players. You don't want to start setting up situations where the players only get out via Deus Ex Machina provided by your uber-NPC. That's just not fun for anyone other than you, and if you're going to do that, just write a book. You also have to be careful that you don't grow so attached to a player's character that you show favoritism to them, give them awesome loot, and let them get away with lots of crazy stuff. It tends to make other players a little jealous, and can be especially bad if that player is your spouse, child, or very close friend. On the other hand, I think it's good for a game master to grow a certain amount of fondness for the player characters in general. Don't develop the cynical killer GM attitude and see how many you can knock off in a night. Let yourself enjoy the clever character concepts, the well-developed backgrounds, the silly quirks, or just the fact that Bob really likes to play barbarians. It'll help you run a game that everyone will enjoy, when you come up with little ways to let the things you love affect the game, in negative and positive ways. And then there's the matter of the attachments players form with their own characters. It's very important for a player to like what they're playing, otherwise they just don't enjoy the game. We have a few people in our group who either constantly switch out characters, or they spend the game session reading, talking, or playing hand-held games, because they can't find the right fit for a character. In a large group especially, it's hard to find a niche, and hard to develop a personality. The other danger of players who don't enjoy their character is that it makes them more prone to doing stupid things that will negatively affect the entire game. If you're a player who doesn't enjoy your character, I strongly suggest that you either talk to your GM. He or she should be able to help you come up with a way to make the character more fun, or maybe suggest a different character that would be better suited to your nature. GM, if a player does come to you with this problem, do your best to help them. Remember, the idea of the game is for everyone to have fun! It is possible, of course, for players to get too attached to characters. I do it all the time. There've been characters I liked so much that I would quit a game if they died. In fact, if my Spirit Shaman and her Archivist henchman both died in D&D, I'd quit, but that's partially because I'm not too keen on D&D anymore. There's also the problem of loving a character who simply doesn't work in the group due to alignment issues or redundancy or what have you. To avoid this, whenever you make a character, it's important to realize that they're somewhat expendable. Keep a back-up plan in mind. Accept the fact that they may very well die (unless you have a really nice GM). Even then, you may find yourself overly fond of a character. So then just remember... if they die, you can always remake them again and again for every game you play. Or you can go on and write books about them (just make sure to get the other players' permission if you want to use their characters, too). You could even hold a mock funeral for their character sheet. Whatever helps you mourn. Now if I could just get attached to these book characters, I could write again! Catch you next month, and happy gaming.

[Back to Collector Times]

[Prev.]

[Return to Gaming]

[Disclaimer]

[Next]

Copyright © 2007 By AJ Reardon E-mail AJ at: ErtheFae@aol.com Visit AJ at: www.erthefae.com