How To Improve Your Characters To Improve Your Sci-Fi Story

Introduction

HAVING A GOOD STORY to tell is key to success. Having characters to tell the story are the keys to the kingdom. Characters readers (watchers & listeners) believe, become attached to, and care about unlock the imagination.

As a writer, I start with a story. I insert a main character whose job is to follow the trail of action, intrigue, romance, and adventure considered a plot. Along the way this main character must interact with others. Some assist the protagonist, some attempt to prevent their continued forward motion, and some are simply scene setters. Eventually the main character reaches the end of the story—the climax.

I have given my lead character the qualities necessary for him or her to succeed. I have, hopefully, also provided the characteristics to make them interesting. I do not care if my reader relates to the character. They do not have to like him or her or it. But they must be engaged.

Like most writers, I began as a reader. Living in these times also means experiencing sci-fi through television, movies, comic books, and games. All of these experiences work together to lead me to a style of science fiction writing I am most comfortable producing. The Space Opera and Military Science Fiction formats fit my needs. These are subcategories filled with authors, great, good, and bad. My love for world building, the pursuit of research to support my theories, and the amount of history, especially military-conflict history keep me entertained.

Developing characters requires work.

For fun, I made a list of my favorite characters from television and movies. No particular order, just the first ten that came to mind:

The Doctor, Doctor Who

Ellen Ripley, Alien

Darth Vader, Star Wars

Captain Malcolm Reynolds, Firefly / Serenity

HAL-9000, 2001: A Space Odyssey

Rick Deckard, Blade Runner

Han Solo, Star Wars

Spock, Star Trek

Buck Rogers

Terminator

With the Doctor, my enjoyment waxes and wanes with the different actors. My love of the series is based on the relentless fight to save humanity against outside forces, even if saving humanity is a questionable pursuit.

That Ripley is the only female that immediately came to mind bothers me. There are several female characters I consider important, usually vital to the outcome, in my own books.

Two machines. Hal and the Terminator. Single-minded and driven, regardless of obstacles. Devoid of mercy. Intelligent without emotional complications. How often have I wished I could conduct some interpersonal or business decision without the entanglements of humanity?

Two bad guys: Vader and Terminator.

One straight-up hero: Buck Rogers.

Three reluctant heroes with issues: Reynolds, Deckard, and Solo.

One side-kick: Spock.

All fighters. All flawed. All struggling with inner-demons. All hiding those demons from others.

Wondering if my fascination with reluctant heroes and superior villains, I jotted down sci-fi books with characters I wish I knew more about. Books I re-read in hopes of discovering more about the people,