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Hi!
So, for once it’s not a singular character, since Alpha is behaving (for once), Igua is being nice an quiet, and all the rest aren’t starting any squabbles, except Krogen and Derringo ofc. I never can escape those two.
This time it’s an entire group.
Recently I noticed a lot of my MC’s have an underlining feature that is the same, even some of my villains have it! And that is they are protectors.
- Alpha wants to Protect his younger siblings and his Black Shadow teammates from harm
- Nahim protects anything that is a sliver of his former life
- Silvanis even ends up protecting a girl as his job, and he does it very well
- Igua is protective of not only his sister, but also all of Peaceful Valley
- Grathmere is protective of Alpha
And if i think longer, I could come up with more. I mean, you could boil it down to that the Realn culture celebrates protectors, and it’s within the unwritten Code of Honor to protect, and Grathmere lost his entire race except Leahae and Alpha, so naturally he’d be protective. But I feel like to many are that way. All have reasons to be protectors but it just makes me feel like they are the same underneath.
i think the problem came from when I was a little girl. Back then, I wrote WWII stories in my head, all featuring heroes. I had created in my mind the perfect heroes, the perfect men. Not flawless, but they didn’t let their flaws stop them from reaching higher. They protected everyone, and they did all they could, never stopping until they died, or they won. These were the roots of the Realn.
I’m just wondering if it’s to repetitive. Literally every one of my good guys are protective somehow of something. Except Krogen and such ofc, but those are Cgecko’s band playing in my Wond Galaxy. Don’t count.
So? Do you think I should keep the hero qualities? I do make some of my charries earn those qualities in their arc, but in the end, all of them have it.
I’d like to know your thoughts.
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In my opinion, I think you should keep them like that! Being protective is a good quality. I think it shows that they have love for someone (or something). I assume most people in real life are protective—deep down inside.
I don’t know if it is, but maybe it doesn’t have to be the strongest quality for some of them. It could be in the sidelines and shown through small ways. Idk.
Don’t know if that helps or anything. just my thoughts. 😁
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@rae To be fair, I’m a big fan of protective characters, so I may be a wee bit biased. But I don’t think it’s the end of the world, for a few main reasons:- It provides a subtle yet cohesive theme. Just having all of these characters with these motivations that drive them will add an extra layer of theme.
- It makes sense within the world. Like you said, your culture sets these characters up to value protection. Especially if you contrast it with characters from other cultures who don’t value protection, that could be a cool world-building tool.
- Heroes are protectors. I’m still not sure if this is an always thing or just a sometimes thing, but actively protecting someone else makes us root for a character more than ever. (This is one reasons writers trying to make us sympathize with a villain give them someone they’re protecting.)
That said, I get your fear that it might be a bit too repetitive. On one hand, I don’t think this is the end of the world; it might just be part of your “author brand”. There’s a quote (that I sadly can’t find attribution for) about how pastors only preach one sermon, or artists only paint one picture, or singers only sing one song. While that’s a bit hyperbolic, I think there’s a grain of truth – all of us will have a theme that keeps popping up over and over, and that may just be part of the message God’s placed on our hearts.
But variety isn’t bad. Maybe you could throw in a more selfish character, or one who’s just a loner, or one from a culture that values fighting for yourself above all else? I’m not sure a lack of a less-protective character would break your story, but adding one couldn’t hurt.
Anyhow. I have the itching feeling that the original version of this was better, but I’m gonna push “submit” and hope it makes it through this time. xD
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I think readers do tend to notice when an author writes about similar ideas.
I don’t think it’s necessarily bad for so many characters to have that motivation, but I would try to avoid having too many of them have it as their main motivation, especially main characters.
I know that all of these characters are from the same universe, but I don’t know where they all fall into different stories. From my understanding, Alpha’s is a direct sequel to Nahim’s, but aside from I don’t know at all.
So, it might be a good idea to differentiate this trait within these two characters especially. I’ve seen a lot of both, and I’ve definitely seen the motivation you’re talking about in both.
One thing I would be careful of from the start is that it seems to be by far the most dominant aspect of Nahim’s character. Admittedly, I’ve only seen him in an RP, so I’m not going to assume this is the case, but you definitely want to avoid having characters come off as one-note.
Alpha is a lot different from Nahim, I’ve seen the protecting thing from him, although only when it comes to Nar. It doesn’t feel like his primary motivation, but I couldn’t say what is. Alpha seems hard to read into. Regardless, I would suggest leaning away from the things that make him similar to Nahim, and possibly giving him some other primary motivation.
As far as the others go, I can’t say much, because I don’t know them well, but let me give you a generality:
Where you can, give them something else as primary motivation. Where you can’t, find a different way to deal with it. Nobody will have a problem with it unless two characters handle it the same way (or similarly.)
Hopefully that is helpful!
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I agree with @jonas that I haven’t seen much of a difference between Nahim and Alpha, and maybe that’s why I have a hard time distinguishing between them. This is, of course, coming from someone who has only roleplayed with one of those characters and seen limited material based on the other… so that’s very likely a me problem. *shrug*
But I can say from the roleplay, Alpha seems like a “protect”-oriented person. I almost feel like that is his justification for anything he does, whether that be breaking the rules, threatening people, or just straight up trying to intimidate people. Like Jonas said about Nahim, it feels like Alpha’s most dominant trait.
I would say try giving them different ways of outwardly manifesting the trait :] 90% of hero characters are protective on some level or form, but most heroes act nothing like each other. Some are outwardly docile and peaceful, and focus on emotional protection. Some protect in healthy amounts, while others take it too far. And there are still more ways protectiveness can manifest, not just in physically strong male leads.
Plus, if you’re wondering how much the theme of protectiveness should show up in your story, it depends on the scale of your story… if you’re planning to write a longer series, it’s probably best to explore a variety of things, and tie them up with each other as you go. An overarching theme is great, but the more subtle it is, the better.
This is all my opinion and should be taken with a grain of salt… and maybe a grain of sugar if you feel like it 😛
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Oh, and I also like Jonas’ point about one-note motivations. It’s probably one of the hardest things to hide from the reader’s notice. I personally believe it is okay, even great, for a character to have one point to them. One deep-set motive. But if you never show that motive, and instead make up a few secondary motives that demonstrate how the character thinks, that is the best way to let the story flow naturally.
Nar shouldn’t be allowed to date anyone without my permission = I don’t trust any guy with her = I don’t want her to get hurt = I want to protect my loved ones from any harm
– That’s like, a nicely translucent example that you’ve already used
Trust me, if you just omit any mention of the primary motive – “I want to protect my loved ones from any harm” – readers will figure it out anyway. And if you have a bunch of secondary motives that have a natural feel to them, the character can take on a whole new life.
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But whatever you do, protectiveness is a great positive trait. @karissa-chmil is right, it is hard not to be a sucker for protective heroes 😉
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Yes, Nahim’s main trait is being protective. I made him that way, and through the course of Guardian Angels, it is a huge piece of my plot. Nahim would never had been captured if he was protective to te point of being rash, and many people in the story would be dead if he hadn’t saved them.
Alpha isn’t protective to the same level. Yes, he does protect his siblings with such a vengeance that it gets on some of their nerves, and he protects the Black Shadows who are like adopted siblings to him with the same vengeance. But it’s not his main feature. His main feature is his struggle with himself, but then protection steals a front seat once again, because Alpha ends up trying to protect his loved ones from himself. When he discovers that his emotions can sometimes pour out in the form of magical power, and that it is the most dangerous type of Wondian magic, energy, he closes himself off, becoming an emotionless shell on the outside. All to keep his magic from pouring out and possibly killing those around him. In the process, holding in all this power drains life and energy from him. So, it seems that protection of others seems to end up being the trait once again.
Silvanis…his instinct is mostly save yourself and finish your mission. He originally has no protective instincts, no friends, and no intention of having a family. Until he meets Rosella, a young girl who is heir to being a powerful Empress. Everyone is trying to either kill her or manipulate her, and Silvanis ends up shielding her from his boss. Goes rouge and makes his mission, protecting her. Eventually he ends up with Oky and the little robot sidekick who has long converse with Jawbreaker who is Silvanis’s ship/friend (he’s a metamorph). At first, he doesn’t seem to fall into the protective type, just the business mercenary who must finish the job, or not get paid. But then, ofc he ends up protective of her and Oky because he bonds with them and secretly thinks them as honorary family (though he will never admit it).
Igua starts out as a grief-stricken rash boy who only has eyes for revenge and proving himself to his Cloak Circle, but once again, once he meets the people of Peaceful Valley, he becomes determined to keep that place peaceful and unchanged. Protective instincts become part of him.
Grathmere is only a horrid evil being who tortures everyone (except Leahae and her people) including Alpha. He slowly kills his victims. But Alpha, he will never kill. He even trades his life for Alpha, and when Alpha tries to kill him, Grathmere just defeats him, as a “I’m still stronger” move and then always places him somewhere where he will be safe and recover, before disappearing. Even when Alpha turned Grathmere’s magic against him to kill him when Grahmere was massacring the Realn army, Grathmere placed Alpha on Leahae’s paradise planet to recover from using to much magic for his body to handle. Before going off somewhere in the Galaxy to die. Even to the moment of his defeat, Grathmere protected his son, made sure his future was full of life.
Idk if this varies enough. All of them end up protectors anyways, even Chase is a Protector! Is it enough that readers will take it, or will they just be like “These are just Ruee recycling her favorite characters.” IDK
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To me, all of those have a distinct flavor, except maybe Igua. I think that Nahim and Alpha definitely are distinct enough. For Silvanis, the fact that he focuses on protecting a specific person, makes him a bit more distinct. So, as long as each character as their own interesting characteristics, I think this is fine.
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As he ages, he changes drastically which doesn’t help me at all. Nahim is easier cuz before he was fifteen, he was a jolly kid. After the Laxan Invasion he changed a lot but then the arc just goes up and he becomes wiser as he grows older and doesn’t change to much. While Alpha’s personality literally changes as he ages, like totally. From a child that resisted the darkness that tried to take him, to a man who decided there was no point fighting anymore and almost became evil. From a kid that would talk sometimes about his feelings, to a man who became more and more just a closed door.
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Do you want help pinning down his traits? I’ve just noticed you mention how hard it is to write Alpha quite often.
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I don’t really know your characters, but as long as they are different enough in other respects, I think it’s fine. Most people are protective of something, so it makes sense that characters would be too.
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