I’m not usually much of a one for giving writing advice. Write however you want, is my feeling, what’s it got to do with me? But I added a new bit Of, dare I say it, writing advice to my standard schools workshop the other day, and it’s working really well, and because it touches on matters Mega Robo Bros-relevant, I thought I would share it with you here.
My workshops are always based around getting kids started with some easy tips for creating their own characters. But this new bit I’ve added starts to touch on how to develop those characters further, and how that development can lead to story ideas. Essentially, once you have created a character, you want to ask yourself two questions about them:
WHAT does this character want? And
WHAT is standing in their way?
Two simple questions, and they are both WHAT questions, on the basis that this will either be simple and easy to remember, or totally confusing. Anyway, I like to work through it using these two as an example:
So, taking Alex first of all.
WHAT does Alex want?
If you have kids, or a class, of Mega Robo Bros readers, maybe try getting them to consider these questions themselves! I’d be fascinated to hear what they come up with. Other people’s answers may vary, and far be it from me to explain my own books to anyone. But here, just for the sake of it, are my answers.
It seems to me that what Alex wants, if you boil it all down, is just to blend in to the background. To go unnoticed. Alex is powerfully afflicted with something I certainly remember from being that age: an overwhelming and frankly exhausting sense of self-consciousness, and basically just wants to get through the day without people staring and pointing and passing judgement.
WHAT is standing in the way of this?
Well, you know, Alex is a shiny bright blue robot. He tends to stand out.
What about Freddy, then?
WHAT does Freddy want?
Well, Freddy is a bit more straightforward. Freddy, basically, wants to PUNCH THINGS and BLOW STUFF UP WITH LASERS.
And WHAT is standing in Freddy’s way?
Teachers, parents, the entire school establishment and basically all of human society, pretty much lining up to tell him hey, don’t do that, stop punching things and blowing things up with lasers.
So so far, so good. We have two characters whose basic desires are constantly thwarted - in Alex’s case by the very nature of his own existence, in Freddy’s by the society in which he finds himself. These are not conflicts that can ever really be reconciled, and so they give us lots and lots of potential stories.
But there’s actually something else here, and it was pointed out very astutely by one young person in one of my recent workshops, who said:
“What they want is opposite. Freddy wants attention, Alex wants no attention.”
And that’s it, right? That’s kind of the core of the story. Alex wants to blend in, Freddy wants to stand out. They are constantly causing problems for each other and getting in each other’s way and driving each other mad, but they can’t do anything about it, because they’re stuck with each other. Because that’s family. Just putting the two of them together in a scene gives you an infinite, inexhaustible well of conflicts, and therefore stories to tell.
I guess the only way you’d come to the end would be to actually resolve those central tensions, to change those characters and that relationship, in some definitive, irreversible, final way. But who would do a thing like that?
Oh did I mention? Check out the final series of Mega Robo Bros, coming soon to The Phoenix!
Anyway when you lay it out like that it sounds almost like I am some smarty pants writer person who actually knows what the hell I am doing. I should stress that this is all after-the-fact reflection; I didn’t sit down and plan these characters and this story in this deliberate, methodical way. They just turned up in my head, fully formed, already winding each other up. But I think it’s an interesting way to think about characters, and if you’re working with young people and getting them to work on their own writing, maybe take a minute to consider The Two Whats.
A QUICK PLUG WHILE I’M HERE
…for the next volume of Mega Robo Bros - the fifth new-format book, and the FIRST containing all-new-to-book material: NEXT LEVEL! It’s only a month now till it comes out and you can pre-order it now from places like Amazon and Waterstones or, even better, you could go and ask your nearest local independent bookshop to order you in a copy. Because then they’ll know people want it, and maybe they will even order more. I can dream! Okay thanks bye.