Part 12 of 12 of Job titles for Story Characters • © 2020 All Rights Reserved
A lot of information has been included in this year's twelve monthly blog posts. That's why this end-of-the-year post is a summary— and a reminder.
Topping the list of reminders is that plot is only as effective as the characters who showcase that plot. Write that in big bold letters and post it where you can see it every time you write a story.
Characters are so important that they can be sorted into categories by their job or function in the story. Knowing their story job titles and duties (job description) helps a writer create a far better story and stops overpopulating the story with a "cast of thousands." As you have learned this past year—
Story job titles fall into categories of:
Major (or Main) Story Characters
The Protagonist (The Hero or Heroine)
The Antagonist (The Who or The What that opposes the Protagonist)
Major Secondary Characters
Romantic Interest or the Romantic Lead
Best Friend, Sidekick, Pal, etc.
Mentor, Advisor, Teacher, Sage, etc.
The Fool
The Entourages for the Protagonist are
Friends, men
Friends, women
A Love Interest or The Romantic Lead (who is not a Major Secondary Character)
A Mentor
A Coach
Pals (drinking buddies, poker pals, bowling pals)
Family (parents, siblings, other relatives)
Neighbors
Work associates
Food industry workers (bar tender, waitress, etc.)
Health workers (doctor, nurse, etc.)
Tradesmen (plumber, mechanic, pool man, etc.)
Professionals (law enforcement, banking or financial, veterinarian, etc.)
. . . and so on.
The Entourage for the Antagonist (if a Who) can be
* Friends
* Right-hand Henchperson or second in command
* Toadies, Monster-beings, Servants, Minions, etc.
* A Mentor
* Family (parents, siblings, other relatives)
* Professionals (gangsters, crooks, thieves, killers for hire, security enforcers, and others who procure things, obey orders, and carry out the Antagonist's plans and orders, and protect the Antagonist).
Tertiary Characters (Named Minor Characters), Symbolic Characters, and Prop People.
In the last three posts (September, October, and November) we discussed the sound of names (psycholinguistics), the merits of archetype names, tags and traits for names, and the value of having a master character worksheet (questionnaire).
Armed with the information in this year's posts, you should be able to write a story with far more believable characters.
If you're new to reading this blog, feel free to go to January 2020 and begin reading the posts.
And, thank you for being a faithful reader of this blog and for sharing the links with other writers. Your comments and questions are always welcome.
Strive to write well and tell a story well.
Catherine E. McLean
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Revision is where the magic happens—
use this guidebook to take the frustration out of self-editing that draft you wrote during NaNoWriMo
Tell Santa you want this guidebook in your Christmas Stocking
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