Where do You Source Your Protagonist's Design?

[Eldoria]

Where do You Source Your Protagonist's Design?​

Authors generally design their fictional protagonists inspired by:

1. The author's inner experience (both empirical and imaginative)
2. The social constructs (e.g., nobility = elitist, mother = loving toward children, mentor = wise, etc.)
3. The archetypes/ tropes (e.g., yandere, hero, anti-hero, etc.)
4. The philosophical/ ideological ideas (e.g., Pain (Naruto) represents peace through collective suffering, Marry El Rose (Blood Rose Princess) represents the law of blood as the last justice for humanity, etc.)

Note: all of these sources of inspiration can be used in designing a protagonist, but please choose the most dominant source in designing your protagonist character.

 

[Representing_Tromba]

I base it on the actual place, era, fashion trends, social standing, economic standing, and culture they are in. I guess you could argue that it is a social construct, but I would argue that it is an outlier because of it being historical rather than imaginative.

 

[just_darkjazz]

I want my main characters to look cool, first and foremost. I figure out the rest around that.

 

[Navillus]

Where do You Source Your Protagonist's Design?​

Authors generally design their fictional protagonists inspired by:

1. From the author's inner experience (both empirical and imaginative)
2. From the social constructs (e.g., nobility = elitist, mother = loving toward children, mentor = wise, etc.)
3. From the archetypes/ tropes (e.g., yandere, hero, anti-hero, etc.)
4. From the philosophical/ ideological ideas (e.g., Pain (Naruto) represents peace through collective suffering, Marry El Rose (Blood Rose Princess) represents the law of blood as the last justice for humanity, etc.)

Note: all of these sources of inspiration can be used in designing a protagonist, but please choose the most dominant source in designing your protagonist character.

I take all of these into account so I don’t really have a single one that’s outright dominant… if I had to choose though it would be 1 I guess… it would be reaching a bit though-nyah.

 

[Eldoria]

I take all of these into account so I don’t really have a single one that’s outright dominant… if I had to choose though it would be 1 I guess… it would be reaching a bit though-nyah.

The option uses multiple choices, you can select some but not all.

 

[Navillus]

The option uses multiple choices, you can select some but not all.

Then there is no option for what I do because I use them all equally… if I allowed one to be dominant my characters would likely fall in quality by at least 70% but yes option 1 is the closest to what I do… nonetheless this was an interesting question as I’ve never actually thought deeply about this before-nyaah.

 

[Eldoria]

Then there is no option for what I do because I use them all equally… if I allowed one to be dominant my characters would likely fall in quality by at least 70% but yes option 1 is the closest to what I do… nonetheless this was an interesting question as I’ve never actually thought deeply about this before-nyaah.

Narratively, even though all 4 sources of inspiration may be involved, the character will usually lean towards one of the dominant sources of inspiration's personalities depending on how the author portrays them in the narrative.

 

[Navillus]

Narratively, even though all 4 sources of inspiration may be involved, the character will usually lean towards one of the dominant sources of inspiration's personalities depending on how the author portrays them in the narrative.

Oh! I use my own personality as a source of inspiration so if that aligns with one of the options then that’s my dominant option-nyah.

 

[BearlyAlive]

I guess the first option. Options 2 and 3 are pretty much the opposite of what I tend to write, and 4 is a bit too much in your face on the moral propaganda scale, so I tend to avoid it.

I like my Protagonists skilled and flawed, so I take my flaws as inspiration and bullshit my way through into turning them into something at least semi-useful. One can dream, right? Right?

 

[Rezcore]

I like to start with ethnicity then the struggles they'll face, and how that'd affect them as they move towards their destiny. But that's because I'm working on an althist novel

 

[Eldoria]

I like my Protagonists skilled and flawed, so I take my flaws as inspiration and bullshit my way through into turning them into something at least semi-useful. One can dream, right? Right?

In a sense, the protagonist represents another side of the author, either as an alter ego or a projection of the subconscious. Many psychological studies of literature have discussed this, such as those by Jung, Sigmund Fried, and others.

 

[Clo]

Nivi's struggles with self-worth are my own. Writing episodes where she spirals into depression is so easy, because I just have to put on paper the kind of shit my own brain pulls on me all the time.

Pretty much all my characters are reflections of something inside me, amalgated with ideas taken from people I know, read about, or imagined.

 

[Golden_Hyde]

I avoid fully using the archetypes unless I find one interesting and would serve the plotting. So yes, it's the first for me.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

Rule of cool.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

I work from story idea backwards and create the character(s) I feel I need for it. So can use all or none of these, depending on the situation.

 

[Eldoria]

Pretty much all my characters are reflections of something inside me, amalgated with ideas taken from people I know, read about, or imagined

This aligns with literary psychology, where, according to expressive theory, the protagonist is considered a channel through which the author channels emotions, imagination, and personal experiences.

In this framework, fictional characters are not simply free creations, but rather "reflections" of the author's inner self, whether consciously or unconsciously.

 

[Clo]

This aligns with literary psychology, where, according to expressive theory, the protagonist is considered a channel through which the author channels emotions, imagination, and personal experiences.

In this framework, fictional characters are not simply free creations, but rather "reflections" of the author's inner self, whether consciously or unconsciously.

According to that theory, and looking at my cast of disfunctional characters, I am worried about what that says about me xD

 

[Eldoria]

I avoid fully using the archetypes unless I find one interesting and would serve the plotting. So yes, it's the first for me.

Archetypes and tropes are shortcuts to creating familiar characters that readers can easily recognize, but they also make stories cliché and predictable.

According to that theory, and looking at my cast of disfunctional characters, I am worried about what that says about me xD

Well, that's the problem: these theories of literary psychology allow readers to 'possibly' read our inner experiences as authors, whether in the form of values, trauma, preferences, or relationships. I'm worried that Eldoria will be associated with the protagonist, Marry El Rose, a mother, of an innocent little girl, who experiences trauma. ?

I want my main characters to look cool, first and foremost

It falls into the first category: the author's inner experience in imaginative form as the author's ideal persona.

Note: The persona is that which in reality one is not, but which oneself and others think one is.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

Going by these:

Jack Diamond is a hybrid/distorted archetype (Noir Detective/Superhero/Occult Investigator)

Kelly/Sparrow ... not sure what she is. Was the result of a challenge, initially (don't remember the actual challenge itself, but the whole "waking up as a female version of himself" thing was the result of it), and decades of doing "superhero stuff" (earliest attempts at writing were superhero stories... mostly silly ones but still)

The crew from the Between Worlds series are all amalgams of several of these. David is probably pretty much an idealized me, Malcolm is entirely the first type (a mix of several people I know with a wild power tossed into the mix), Thellissandra is an attempt to totally subvert the "mysterious warrior" archetype, Carol ... wound up different from what I'd first planned and I'm not really sure where she wound up. Same with Liz (who started out as "what if my wife were a black haired lesbian, and, essentially, 'Sir Not Appearing in this Film"? and wound up mutating into something wildly different)... and the next generation is something else altogether.

Dane Coleman is ... different. Kind of a mix of all four, nearly evenly.

Nathan/Indigo is, pretty much, Martian Manhunter from DC Comics with a different paint job and personality, and minus the psychic stuff. So I guess that's type 1.

 

[DJ_Rhaposdy]

I like to draw characters first before I write them to get the vibes I want. I start with an archetype and building off of that. Here's an example of one my character line ups:

These are the major female characters in my story. I wanted a mage, a warrior, a serene noblewoman (whom I turned into a bard as I was drawing), a beautiful airhead, a stern office lady, a gremlin with a giant hammer, and a mysterious cloaked figure. I gave them distinct silhouettes, found their color pallets, and gave them outfits with multiple textures and material. I didn't have a distinct era I was inspired by, I just wanted fantasy vibes that homogenized with multiple attempts.

From there, I flesh out their backstories and imbibe them with traits that tend to be the opposite of their designs so they can grow past the archetypes they started out as. For example, the serious looking warrior in green is a trickster that likes to play jokes as a sign of affection, but she is also fiercely loyal, even if she is more sarcastic than not.

I'm also a sucker for distinct eyebrows, so if I feel the design is lacking, I like to slap on a pair to make their face unique.