Irreplaceable Characters

What made me think about this column is the surfeit of remakes that regularly roll through movies and TV executive offices. And are occasionally exercised in fandoms. I had to put my foot down in a recent discussion that there was no way to remake one particular 1980s TV show because it was so utterly a product of its original time that the premise and characters simply would not work today.

This is NOT a bad thing.

The best drawn characters and stories cannot exist anywhere else. The way they think and act and their problems are not only uniquely anchored in the setting or situation, but also uniquely challenging the characters at the very heart of who they are as people. The obstacles they encounter do not just challenge them–they challenge some self-belief, trait, or flaw of the character.

• The loner whose challenges revolve around gathering together, or being part of, a group.
• The follower who must learn to lead to find a resolution.
• The social butterfly who, at one point, must rely on no one else but themself.
• The cheat who must be absolutely, completely honest in order to move forward.

Even stories with a character who stars in several books, like a detective, are best when the detective is challenged in some part of their own life or belief system in order to solve the case and the entire story hinges on reopening and working through those old wounds.

• The detective asked for help by their ex-spouse. Then they encounter that ex’s new partner (or even the one their spouse cheated with) every time they have to come to the house (the same house the spouse got in the divorce).
• The magical alchemist asked to investigate the residue from a spell only to realize that the prime suspect is someone they have a crush on. Can they turn them in? Or do they believe that person couldn’t possibly have done this, and try to find another culprit? Do they plant evidence pointing to someone else, abandoning their moral compass?

If your main character is truly a product of their specific time and place, then their decision-making every step of the way is guided by that learned thinking–including any blind spots. If they believe they have unbending morality, or believe in honor, then forcing them to bend that morality, or act dishonorably, needs to have earthquake-like repercussions to their psyche.

~ Lara

PS – if you are looking to make your characters live uniquely within your plot and story, let me offer you suggestions for improvement in a manuscript evaluation. I am currently open to scheduling new projects in June and July.

Here’s May’s writing prompt. For the full details, request to join my Workshop group on Facebook.