Developing 2-D/3-D Characters - What are the Tricks? | Being The Hero

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Developing 2-D/3-D Characters - What are the Tricks?

Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009 Subscribe To Our Feed

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Three D characters are three-part beings. Just what does that mean? It means they must be like real people who have nuances, nervous habits, attitudes, bad habits, good habits, a past, present, and future, and sometimes unpredictable. Do they have a mental history? Will they be able to appropriately deal with their mental problems? This is what it takes to make believable characters.

The supporting roles can be two-dimensional. Their history can be more shallow, and the reader doesn’t need to know every detail about them. However, you should know them and their quirks just as well as your 3-D characters.

Do the following exercise two times (only for 3-D characters), and you will be home free. From then on, it will be automatic impulse. Every story will have a protagonist (white hat guy) and an antagonist (villain). For these two characters, create a long and detailed background of what they are like.

Tell what their attitudes are like
What is their speech like
Tell about their flaws
Tell the emotional problems they have
What is their point of origin
What was their childhood like
Describe it
What are their actions like
How do they walk
What is their mood most of the time? Somber? Dramatic? Joking? Angry?
How well do they get along with their family
Give their history.
Describe their Holiday season

What types of “warts” will your 3-D characters specialize in? (Warts - distinguishing attributes for characters.It might be a bald head, long hair, odd venacular, emotional problems, a physical problem, tattoos, or whatever you choose. The reader depends on these warts to keep the characters straight in his mind.

Let’s look at some warts on characters: Let’s say a woman’s son is getting married. This overweight woman goes to catalog order a dress for the wedding. She orders the dress two sizes smaller than she wears. What does this tell you about this lady?

She is proud
She has high hopes of losing lots of weight
She is determined
She is the kind of person who will see things through to the bitter end.

You can use an emotional wart to show almost anything. Let’s try another.

A woman who insanely stresses over her varicose veins begins wearing bathing suits in public. Why? In this case, you can see how a person’s wart is eating away at them internally. (Research 4 conflicts in writing).) This can be one of the strongest types of stories if it is done well.

It isn’t difficult to develop a 3-D person. Pretend you are answering a list of 50 questions about yourself, and then do that with your 3-D characters. Search for pictures in catalogs; pics that will represent your characters; tape them on your wall. Now, for your 2-D characters, make a list of only basic traits.

The main thing to know about your characters is that they are just like real people, like you and me. Bad thoughts, mood swings, and fears make your characters real.

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