Subject: I'm no expert
Author:
Posted on: 2015-03-06 00:14:00 UTC

Ugh... I wrote a massive wall of text, realised I was rambling (and slightly ass-kissing), and deleted it. Time for version 2.0:
Having thought about it, most of your stories use the characters as expositors for and tools of the plot, rather than having the characters themselves drive the plot. Come to think of it, that's true for most of the PPC; I've rarely come across an Agent who I care about like I do, say, Fred Weasley. In no way is this a bad thing; I think it comes with the fact that the PPC is aimed more at achieving catharsis than being dramatic. And that the Narrative Laws of Comedy rule HQ.

The issue with this story is that it's plot-driven with a weak plot. To salvage it, you would either want to (a) make the characters deeper and more individual or (b) play to your strengths, revamp the plot (while still keeping the same general concept), and add some funny.

...I'm sorry that this isn't really answering how you could improve on your "interchangeable characters" problem, but that's not really a question I'm able to answer. That issue is also a weakness of mine.

...And I've gone from ass-kissing to slightly aggressive. Not sure which is worse.

Last night, I was thinking that this could almost play well as a video game. Side-quests could pad it out a bit, and possibly provide needed character development. Because what novels gloss over, RPGs emphasise!

What you could try is mimicking the style of an author who does character well until you assimilate it into your own style. But again, I feel like the intended style of a story also has an effect on the amount and type of characterisation it needs (Dafydd and Selene don't need to be different for the story to work; the enjoyment there derives from them outdoing one another).

I hope you can take at least something from this. Every time I start thinking about what I've written, I pick it apart until it seems terrible, and one re-write seems like enough for now.

And now I've thought of something else: trope archetypes exist for a reason. Start by choosing archetypes for your characters (or pairs of archetypes, mixing and matching), and follow those religiously (as in, 'How would this archetype react to this situation?'). As you practise, you'll then be able to tweak the archetypes until you're creating believable, distinct characters. Really, practice is everything.

This is longer than I'd hoped. I'd best post it now, before I think of anything else...

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