by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls
One of the issues I’m facing is I have a really strong concept, but I’m having some serious issues nailing down some basic aspects of the characters in the story. Originally, I wanted the Hero to be something of a loser at the beginning of the story and he reluctantly, gradually grows into being the Hero.
But the more I think about it, the more maybe the Hero should start off being a lot less me and a lot more a mixture of Pod Save America’s Jon Favreau and Morning Joe’s Joe Scarborough. I want my Hero to be center-Left, but I also, given the pretty spectacular things he’s going to endup doing before it’s all over with, be primed to be a political leader.
The problem, of course, is I don’t really know that much about any of this and so I want to hone closer to what I know than maybe I should. As such, I think maybe I might give my Hero a flaw at the beginning that hampers his success. I’m thinking along the lines of he’s a drunk or something. That would be the kind of flaw that might put him in the position to be a success if he just sobered up long enough to do so.
And, yet, I don’t know. I just don’t know. I like the idea of the Hero being the owner of a bar. But given where this story is set, if he owns a bar and is all that talented, there would have to be a reason why he was there. At the same time, maybe it’s not he who owns a bar…it’s his romantic love interest? Maybe? Maybe it’s the woman in the story who is connected to a bar and yet why would our Hero be at the bar in the first place if he’s so successful.
This is all a lot of fun in its own way, but it’s also a real struggle. All I know is I need to settle on some basic elements of my characters and keep moving so I can throw everything up in the air again when I start writing the second draft. I can’t keep writing and rewriting things as if I’m trying to avoid actually getting anything done.
Something’s gotta give.
