When you write a main character

[~Yubel~]

As i´ve been writing, coming up with stories and analysing great mangas.

I´ve come to realize something and it´s very important, almost crucial to the story.
When you do a main character, you should ask yourself "What makes this person a main character? What qualities does this character have that puts him above others? What does he have that others don´t?, what makes this person stand out?"

If you take a look at any great series, you will see that the main character is special and has reason for being a main character.

Naruto has this special power to change people and he´s the child of the prophecy which means he will bring peace to the world.

Luffy has this divine luck for getting out of almost impossible situations and he has the middle initial "D".

Ichigo is the only person in the series that is a third human, third shinigami and third hollow.

Yusuke later found out that he was not only a human and spirit detective but that he was a demon too and not any demon but Raizens decendants who was top of the demon world.

Even non-fighting anime such as yugioh, yugi wasn´t special in himself but the fact that he had atem is what put him above others.

Jaden from yugioh GX was a reincarnation of the surpreme king and the only slifer who became top of duel academy while not wanting to rank up.

What i´m saying is that all main characters have something that solidifies their position and no one in their respective series could ever replace them as main character.

Even my own fanfic which i wrote and later decided to stop doing, On search, the main character Daichi was raped in his past which made him feel powerless so whenever in battle, if he find himself on the ground and weak, he´ll snap and defeat the enemy(depending on how strong they are themselves), i gave him a reason for gaining what is called "nakama powerup" and being in a world of magic, it makes that powerup even more justified, not like fairy tail where natsu gains a random powerup from nowhere in all his fights.

Yeah so this was just me giving advice to those thinking of doing fanfic, i hope it helps!

 

[frankieblazer]

Decent analysis. But all characters have that something that "solidifies their position as well" Ever since Jiraiya died, have you seen any amusing Perverted sage?

 

[System001]

Thanks for the info. Now i have ideas , though the whole raped part wasn't needed >.>

 

[~Yubel~]

Decent analysis. But all characters have that something that "solidifies their position as well" Ever since Jiraiya died, have you seen any amusing Perverted sage?

Not all characters, Jiraiya was a great character but there are bad and generic characters as well.

 

[Train]

The main character though may not be the only character that has defining characteristics that makes them 'special'. There's also the main character's support / friends, teachers, the villian, etc. They're special and irreplaceable too. (IMO)

Without Haku, Sasuke, Pein, Jiraiya, Naruto wouldn't be what he is now.

I feel the main character is not only 'special' as you say, but its the one with the main focus. I mean, its called 'Naruto' because, as you can see, he's given the most focus in the story. >_> '

And I feel a story can have more than one main character, by narrowing its focus to a few, and show each of their perspectives equally. Like a group of friends, or whatever.

Edit -

It's not like I'm saying the main character has no defining charactersitcs at all. It just sounds like your saying the main character is the only special one out there, and has the most unique character.

However, I feel you can even make side characters, or the villain(s) just as special, and have them shape your main character, and twist his or her path.

I also feel you can possibly write about the dullest character possible - and yet make them go on an extraordinary adventure! Though personally, I wouldn't want to write about that. xD

 

[Reborn]

I like the angle of the protagonist having nothing motivating him to do what he does other then pure undefined, un-inherited will. For a writer, it's easier to come up with a strong enough back story for your character, which will set them aside as special. It's easier to do then to actually construct a character out of nothing but his own preogative.

Naruto used to have that, his drive to become Hokage was enough to make him do things to shut people up about him being a failure, a looser, and prove people wrong about their first impression. First it was the Shadow clone, then the summoning, then Rasengan, then the dynamic of Naruto's character left him as more was added to make the story thicker. Sasuke left the village so we see Naruto almost give up on his initial dream which was what game him his best qualities in part 1. Naruto's the son of the Hokage, and is destined to bring peace to the world, which would prove Neji correct about undeniable destiny (should Naruto defeat Tobi and everybody) and we now have all these things Naruto was destined to do. Yes that makes him special, it gives him more of a story, however it makes it bigger, you focus on so much now in this series because of all these things that have been added to make the one character stand out.

I like it, and I'm not complaining, otherwise I wouldn't be herexd

However, simplistically, I liked the Naruto where his drive was enough to have him have the ballz enough to step into the fight with a rouge Anbu shinobi who could go toe to toe with his sensei and still manage to come out on top. The drive that allowed him to defeat the #1 contender genin, face the Shukaku, fight in the presence of 3 of the sannin. All that good stuff which could've still made him a great character and extremely powerful. Sage mode was where Naruto's dynamics in that category fell, now everything is simply destined to happen and Naruto's words speak empty to us now.

 

[~Yubel~]

The main character though may not be the only character that has defining characteristics that makes them 'special'. There's also the main character's support / friends, teachers, the villian, etc. They're special and irreplaceable too. (IMO)

Without Haku, Sasuke, Pein, Jiraiya, Naruto wouldn't be what he is now.

I feel the main character is not only 'special' as you say, but its the one with the main focus. I mean, its called 'Naruto' because, as you can see, he's given the most focus in the story. >_> '

And I feel a story can have more than one main character, by narrowing its focus to a few, and show each of their perspectives equally. Like a group of friends, or whatever.

Edit -

It's not like I'm saying the main character has no defining charactersitcs at all. It just sounds like your saying the main character is the only special one out there, and has the most unique character.

However, I feel you can even make side characters, or the villain(s) just as special, and have them shape your main character, and twist his or her path.

I also feel you can possibly write about the dullest character possible - and yet make them go on an extraordinary adventure! Though personally, I wouldn't want to write about that. xD

Naruto is the child of the prophecy and as such regardless of any other character influence, it was his destiny to be where he is today, those people were ultimately not required for naruto.
It´s "destiny", i don´t like it and i find it funny how kishi made him "fight" destiny before yet made him destiny´s child lol.xd

I like the angle of the protagonist having nothing motivating him to do what he does other then pure undefined, un-inherited will. For a writer, it's easier to come up with a strong enough back story for your character, which will set them aside as special. It's easier to do then to actually construct a character out of nothing but his own preogative.

Naruto used to have that, his drive to become Hokage was enough to make him do things to shut people up about him being a failure, a looser, and prove people wrong about their first impression. First it was the Shadow clone, then the summoning, then Rasengan, then the dynamic of Naruto's character left him as more was added to make the story thicker. Sasuke left the village so we see Naruto almost give up on his initial dream which was what game him his best qualities in part 1. Naruto's the son of the Hokage, and is destined to bring peace to the world, which would prove Neji correct about undeniable destiny (should Naruto defeat Tobi and everybody) and we now have all these things Naruto was destined to do. Yes that makes him special, it gives him more of a story, however it makes it bigger, you focus on so much now in this series because of all these things that have been added to make the one character stand out.

I like it, and I'm not complaining, otherwise I wouldn't be herexd

However, simplistically, I liked the Naruto where his drive was enough to have him have the ballz enough to step into the fight with a rouge Anbu shinobi who could go toe to toe with his sensei and still manage to come out on top. The drive that allowed him to defeat the #1 contender genin, face the Shukaku, fight in the presence of 3 of the sannin. All that good stuff which could've still made him a great character and extremely powerful. Sage mode was where Naruto's dynamics in that category fell, now everything is simply destined to happen and Naruto's words speak empty to us now.

I like the characters who have to work hard to come up and i actually liked naruto part 1 more then i do shippuden because alot of the original themes and concepts are getting tossed aside now.

With that said, a character should still have depth and there ain´t no such thing as a good character who gets through everything through determination alone.
We don´t want superman here, we want a character that can go through hardships and have his down moments where he gets outside help, that´s how people relate to a character.

However, i do hate the main characters with "heritance" and special bloodline because it takes away the value of their work, we know that it was "meant to be" from the beginning because of this one thing and it pisses me off, a main character should never have a special heritance or bloodline IMO.

 

[Escorpiius]

The main character though may not be the only character that has defining characteristics that makes them 'special'. There's also the main character's support / friends, teachers, the villian, etc. They're special and irreplaceable too. (IMO)

Without Haku, Sasuke, Pein, Jiraiya, Naruto wouldn't be what he is now.

I feel the main character is not only 'special' as you say, but its the one with the main focus. I mean, its called 'Naruto' because, as you can see, he's given the most focus in the story. >_> '

And I feel a story can have more than one main character, by narrowing its focus to a few, and show each of their perspectives equally. Like a group of friends, or whatever.

Edit -

It's not like I'm saying the main character has no defining charactersitcs at all. It just sounds like your saying the main character is the only special one out there, and has the most unique character.

However, I feel you can even make side characters, or the villain(s) just as special, and have them shape your main character, and twist his or her path.

I also feel you can possibly write about the dullest character possible - and yet make them go on an extraordinary adventure! Though personally, I wouldn't want to write about that. xD

I'll agree with Train rather than you. You said almost everything I wanted to say. And I'll add to that fact is that with proper writing, plot and development, I can write a story with a main character that was a side character in a story easily. It depends on your writing.

Also, on all of the stories stated in the main post, all got "hero-abilities" like in movies. But all those stories are Jump's typical extravagant mangas with loads of power-ups. Stories with main characters having pervy/darker/grey/corrupted/lazy ect... sides, can also work as well if not better.