October Novel Prep Challenge

No, not those kinds of axes.

I noticed it was quiet in here, and someone happened to introduce me to a cool writing podcast with an episode highly relevant to what we're working on right now! (Perhaps especially relevant to this weekend's upcoming contest round.)

I usually just create character dynamics by feel (a pinch of this for conflict, a dash of that for lifelong friendship), but the authors on the podcast suggested making an actual relationship axis. The farther apart the characters were on the different points of the axis, the more likely they were to be in conflict. For example, a hero and villain will probably be diametrically opposed on at least one of the points, but probably more. People with very close relationships are likely to be relatively close to each other on many points.

Some folks might prefer a more relaxed approach, but I know many people enjoy populating charts and graphs and such, so I thought it might be fun to share. (I decided to do it for my characters, for fun!) Here are the points (pretty heavily paraphrased):

(and before I forget, here is the episode  )

Mind: (level of intelligence or education)
Money: (how do they deal with it? what are their spending habits?)
Morals: (where do they draw the line? what do they believe to be right and wrong? are the things they find sacred and inviolable aligned or in conflict?)
Manners: (separate from morals; what face do they put on for the public? Some of these points were a bit challenging for me to conceptualize, but for a character with impeccable manners and abhorrent morals, look no farther than Hannibal Lecter! )
Monogamy: (not actually about marriage and faithfulness, according to the podcasters. This point specifically asks if their ideas about their relationship are in agreement. Are their desires aligned, or does one consider the other a lifelong friend and the second find the first one no closer than an acquaintance?)
Marx Brothers: (do their senses of humor match? what makes them laugh?)

I'm not sure how effective this will be in novel-planning, but it sure is fun to play around with! It's interesting to think about where different famous fictional dynamics (friends or foes, or both at once!) would fall on these axes. Putting characters relatively close on several points and completely opposed on another would make for a fascinating dynamic, I think!

There are all sorts of fun and funny ways to explore character dynamics. You can stumble across some of the greatest revelations in the strangest places.

Anyway, this tickled me while I listened to it this morning and I wanted to share.

Happy writing, everyone! May your characters jump off the page (but not run away from you just yet).