Can you’ve a couple of protagonist in your story?
It's easy to believe that we understand the role the protagonist plays in a story.
We saw movies and read books. We know the protagonist when we see her. As I supervise and edit authors, more and more authors have asked me the big question: "Can you have multiple main characters in a story?"
Yes you can. But should you
Have you ever read a book with multiple protagonists?
When I was teaching creative writing for a year, my students and I read Celeste Ng's Little Fires Everywhere. If you haven't read this book (or watched the TV series on Hulu), here's a quick look at the back of the story (like on Amazon):
Everything is planned in Shaker Heights, a quiet, progressive suburb of Cleveland – from the design of the winding streets to the colors of the houses and the successful lives that residents will lead. And nobody embodies that spirit more than Elena Richardson, whose guiding principle is to obey the rules.
Step into Mia Warren – an enigmatic artist and single mother – who arrives in this idyllic bubble with her teenage daughter Pearl and rents a home from the Richardsons. Soon Mia and Pearl become more than tenants: All four Richardson children feel drawn to the mother-daughter couple. But Mia has a mysterious past and a disregard for the status quo that threatens to disrupt this carefully ordered community.
When old family friends of the Richardsons try to adopt a Sino-American baby, a custody battle breaks out that dramatically divides the city – and places Mia and Elena on the opposing side. Elena is suspicious of Mia and her motives and is determined to uncover the secrets in Mia's past. But their obsession will come with unexpected and devastating costs.
Little Fires Everywhere explores the weight of secrets, the nature of art and identity, and the wild allure of motherhood – and the danger of believing that following the rules can prevent disaster.
Sounds like a big screen story, doesn't it? It is.
And while my students and I tackled some big (and brilliant) ideas unraveled across the various storylines, my class as a whole remained divided over who they considered the main character of the story.
Was it Elena or Mia?
Some even thought it was Pearl.
(A particularly interesting question that screenwriters considered while writing the TV script.)
It is no coincidence (which particularly enthusiastic readers of this article may have already noticed) that these three tips are also the different characters that are mentioned by name in the excerpt from the book.
There's a reason for that.
Elena, Mia and Pearl (especially Elena and Mia) each experience important character arcs that have a significant impact on the main plot (or A story).
And while I personally wouldn't suggest Pearl as the main character (although she and the Richardson kids play an extremely important role in the literary tension), I think both Elena and Mia play central roles in the cast of the ensemble.
Does that mean this book is an example of when you can have more than one protagonist?
I think so.
And other stories also have multiple protagonists.
Definition of the protagonist
Before delving into (and when) using multiple protagonists, it's important to understand what makes a protagonist different from a supporting character.
In a traditional story, the protagonist has several very specific requirements. If your protagonist doesn't meet these requirements, your story will collapse.
The protagonist can also be referred to as a hero or main character, but these terms are imprecise and, for some stories, clearly wrong. The protagonist of Macbeth, for example, is clearly not a hero. Nick Carraway is the main character of The Great Gatsby, but he's not the protagonist.
My favorite definition of the protagonist comes from Stephen Koch's Writer & # 39; s Workshop:
The protagonist is the character whose fate is most important to the story.
The protagonist centers the story. It defines the action and moves it forward. Your fate will determine whether the story is a tragedy or a comedy.
You may not know who your protagonist is until you have written half of your novel. You may think your protagonist is a character only to find out that your villain is actually your protagonist.
To become a better writer, you don't have to know who your protagonist is before you start writing. However, when looking at your work in progress it is important to ask:
Whose future is most important to this story, to the other characters in this story? Whose future is most important to me?
If you can answer these questions, you have found your protagonist.
They also found that the characters' readers (likely) take root throughout the story.
When should multiple characters in a story be used against a single protagonist?
Whether you're writing a short story like Hemingway's White Elephants, epic science fiction like Star Wars, telling a real life memory like The Glass Castle, or polishing up a complex historical novel like Ragtime, you need to confidently appoint one protagonist – or several – to be your main storyline if you want to become a better writer.
But how do you tell the difference between major characters who act as protagonists and supporting characters who support (but not control) your main story?
I would recommend looking at two big story elements: the point of view and how your main characters experience different arcs of art while connected by an external environment.
1. How POV influences your protagonist decisions
Which characters will change at the end of your story? How do you tell the difference between a changing minor character (like Hans Solo) and a main character who acts as multiple protagonists?
Turn to your points of view.
Choosing different POVs for your character will not automatically resolve plot holes in your first draft. However, considering whether or not your story is better told by different characters can change the way a reader perceives and understands the plot.
Whether or not third person is limited (most popular choice), first person, or omnisciently written, the way the POV is used to tell the story also shares certain perspectives that inevitably relate to the bias and / or affect a reader's sympathy for point of view characters.
Take Alexander Hamilton into the Broadway phenomenon, Hamilton. He's the only protagonist in the story, but because this is a drama, we as an audience are privy to multiple storylines, all of which are tied to Hamilton's character arc and fate.
Hamilton's main antagonist is Aaron Burr, and we become a lot more personable to Burr because we can see his side of the story.
For much of the first act, most of the audience relates to Hamilton and his impression of Burr: Burr is always waiting for something to happen and then feeling increasingly disappointed if he does not “rise” up the social ladder.
Why is Burr not taking action?
For much of the beginning of the story, Hamilton (and the audience) share this frustration, but then the audience gets a glimpse of Burr's reason to wait on "Wait For It". This is something Hamilton never learns himself and which is why he never fully understands Burr and his indecision.
What does it mean for the audience to know Burr's side of the story?
For one, it makes his character likeable.
There is also tension weaving into the plot as we experience Burr's growing bitterness for his friend the protagonist.
The same tension arises when we see the views of Jefferson, Madison, Angelica, Eliza, and Washington. The complexity of the story increases, of course, but everything has to do with Hamilton, the only protagonist.
2. When several protagonists are connected by the plot and setting
Just because a story has multiple POVs doesn't necessarily mean there are multiple protagonists (although there is a higher chance).
However, you can't have multiple protagonists without having multiple POVs, as we as readers have to experience every plot and character arc for a main character.
Sometimes this is used to thwart multiple protagonists, as in Kristin Hannah's The Nightingale.
In this story, two sisters, Vianne and Isabelle, are drastically changed by their circumstances. Told in the first person with two points of view, the reader is taken on extremely different journeys that show drastically opposite character choices and actions.
Regardless, both sisters are closely linked by their external environment: France during the Second World War.
Because of this, the sisters meet again in the finale of the story.
This is the second key to multiple protagonists.
If you have more than one protagonist, multiple POVs need to be shown.
We also need these points of view, which are interwoven by the plot and the environment.
The two (or more) main characters and their individual character arcs must come together by the end of the story, otherwise the reader will wonder why the different characters don't have separate books.
And as the secondary subplots condense, for any sister, like Isabelle's love interest, in addition to her resistance efforts and Vianne's determination to protect her daughter, the plot would be robbed of the far-reaching (and high) death rate of the landscape and the diverse interior of each sister's experiences make the entire story a bestseller success.
Regardless of stories with single protagonists or multiple main characters, considering the point of view, the environment, and the climax of your plot, be it your first novel or your twenty-seventh novel, is an important decision.
What you need to seriously consider is the type of POV that best suits your plot, and whether then multiple viewpoints assimilated by plot and setting remove or tackle the surprising but inevitable twist at the climax of your story.
Does the genre of the story affect how many protagonists there should be?
While there is usually only one protagonist in a story, this is not always the case.
There are two protagonists in romantic comedies and Buddy Stories (a script category used by Blake Snyder in Save the Cat! The Last Screenwriting Book You Will Ever Need). (And these protagonists sometimes work as main or secondary opponents of each other!)
For example, in Romeo and Juliet, it is the fate of both characters, not just one of them, that matters to the story.
The same applies to Lethal Weapon and The Odd Couple.
I love multi-faceted stories, stories like The Yacoubian Building or The Joy Luck Club or 44 Scottland Street. * These stories have multiple characters who might be protagonists, but while the stories start with multiple possible protagonists, the writer in the end led you to just one or two.
Other types of genres, often with multiple protagonists, are smart book club fiction (think The Husband & # 39; s Secret or Lone Wolf) or any storyline that requires an ensemble cast.
Keep in mind that both options require a central character – or a character in the ensemble who acts as an offshoot of the other main and supporting characters. Or point of view.
The most important requirement for the protagonist
This is the most important element of your protagonist and therefore one of the most important of your entire novel. If your protagonist doesn't, your story will fail. Seriously.
Your protagonist has to choose.
Protagonists have to make decisions. A character who does not choose its own fate and thus suffers from the consequences of its choice is not a protagonist. At best she is a background figure.
Donald Miller says the story is, "A character who wants something and is willing to go through conflict to get it." When your character doesn't want enough choose To overcome conflict, your reader will run away in disappointment.
Your protagonist can initially decline the choice. She can argue back and forth between which option to choose. It can spend a hundred pages of waffles. That can actually be a good thing. Choice is hard!
However, individual or multiple protagonists have to make decisions until the end.
Readers will wear protagonists who are not very personable. You will endure selfishness, pride, and even cowardice in one character. But readers won't stand a protagonist who doesn't make up his mind.
The choice makes the difference.
How many protagonists do you have in your story? Why did you choose multiple main characters or a single protagonist? Let us know in the comments.
WORK OUT
Try to write the back of your book. Ask yourself: is it important to name multiple main characters, or is your plot better off just naming one point of view?
Use the back like Little Fires Everywhere, The Nightingale, and The Way of Kings as examples when multiple characters are named. Study stories like The Five People You Meet In Heaven and Pi's Life for individual protagonist stories. You can read all of this quickly on Amazon or visit your local library.
Then, for fifteen minutes, write the back of your story with multiple or a single protagonist. See what works best.
When your time is up, post your practice in the comments section. And when you post, please provide feedback to a few other writers.
Have fun writing!
Joe Bunting
