I think this is wise.
As another author remonstrated, "How can you write what you don't know about?" That doesn't mean you can't write science fiction, or can't write a country western novel while you're living in the urban community. However - with certain themes and elements - you want to stick with writing what you know.
I would recommend this with characters. Here's how I worked this out with my author friend:
- We ALWAYS began with the TEAM. In my project with my author friend, we have about eight characters, including the true love, which we will cover later. A lot of good books and best-selling series have a MC, and the MC has a group around him or her who the MC can rely on, whether physically or emotionally.
- We started with ONE trait we wanted in each character. We wanted every team member to fulfill a specific part for a group of bad-*** characters, working in sync to accomplish a specific mission. Example: Jose is the fastest character, while Burly is strong. Emotionally speaking, however, Jose is serious, whereas Burly has a great sense of humor, always cracking jokes, making the relationship between them complicated. You can see it happening already, can't you?
- Exaggerate that one trait, ESPECIALLY if it is emotional. Starting with the main trait you picked, exaggerate it. If this character's main is prone to anger, then exaggerate it to become the character's most noticeable trait. This makes sense to the readers, because as humans we tend to categorize people by traits we see in them, so when you exaggerate characters, you are showing what already happens naturally for the reader, making it easier to read.
- Go on to define that character. You can be as specific - or not - as you want. The example below shows what we did.
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| You can see I blocked a lot of our info - you gotta come up with this stuff yourself! So you can see what we categorized. Some things, such as general moods (humorous, etc.) and the like, are contained in the "Additional Notes" section
5. Relationships between each character should always be considered. Technically, there should be tension and varying degrees of bonding with each character, with each other and with the MC. Remember, Jose and Burly aren't really that excited about each other, what with their mood set, but since Jose is so quiet, he is generally not going to start a fight. Neither would Burly, since he is so laughable (is that even a word?)
6. Now, normally I don't do more than 5 rules, as you know, but with this progress, there's no choice. #6 is Stay true to that character. You shouldn't have much trouble following this rule, but keep it in the back of your mind as you write. Is this what the character would do in this situation?
7. Infuse yourself and those you know into your character. Always think, Is this what I (or that person I know) would do in this situation? This is SO important, and it leads into the next rule:
8. As a general rule, your character needs to be heroic. Yes, you might be scared in that situation, but remember, your character is a role model, unless you have written him or her otherwise. He or she needs to demonstrate heroic qualities. If you have written that character otherwise, however, such as a fearful character, then feel free to discard this rule.
9. Do NOT kill the main character, unless it is a tragic story, such as Shakespeare's Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet. However, those stories are not very common nowadays, and I would recommend you staying within normal plot lines, which we will cover later.
10. True Love. Now, each will novel will look different, but a great number of novels contain true loves. These are generally categorized in two ways:
The first type is typically used with female MCs, with the second type used primarily with male MCs. However, both have been used for both categories. My author friend and I plan to use both, for our series.
I gotta go right now, or else we could go deeper! If you have any questions, then ask them! If you didn't it would prove you didn't really read... XD
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