Exchange of Realities

This one’s for Shakespeare. In response to my posts about large casts of characters, she asked about ways to keep characters from being forgotten completely.

I’d already discussed a few ways not to lose track of characters in that post. Writing down information about a character, or otherwise committing it to nonmental storage, can help reinforce the character in your mind, just like why teachers assign homework and give out study guides. And of course, distinctive traits are likelier to stick out in your mind. But memory doesn’t always work, and you can’t really look up a character to remember he exists without knowing he’s there to look up, can you?

Photo by anemco

So instead, we need a reminder. And for that, I use narrative anchors. The idea behind a narrative anchor is simple: it’s a connection between a character and an element of the story you’re going to remember and use, like an event, a place, or a person, one that’s likely to come up in the course of the story. Because of the association, when you come to the narrative anchor, it reminds you that the character exists, and you can go back and make sure the character’s been active enough for you. Think of narrative anchors as being like an hourly watch alarm or a periodic reminder.

What can we use as narrative anchors?

One effective narrative anchor is participation in an event, particularly one that you as creator or the other characters will find particularly memorable. What makes it an anchor is that the event couldn’t have gone the same way without the character—for instance, he might have been the axe-wielder stared down by the potted plant, or the trainee who lasted longer than expected in the practice bout against the protagonist team’s biggest combat monster. When you remember the event, by necessity it reminds you of the character, and then you can check.

Another thing that can serve as a narrative anchor is a location. The easiest way to anchor a character to a location is to make it his stomping ground; one character might have a habit of volunteering at a library or browsing in a game store, another works at the school, another has sworn she’s going to make it to the top of that obstacle training tower and can usually be found either attempting it or training up for her next push. But that’s just the most obvious version. For characters with more of a reputation, just being the talk of the location can anchor them—and while it can be something big like being a hero or a movie star, it can also be a more minor claim to fame like having made it through the 10-scoop sundae surprise challenge at the local ice cream store and then asked for seconds. Or you can just anchor the character directly to the place. On the one hand, he might have helped to build it or to bring together the people who frequent it, but on the other hand, it’s just as easy to remember someone who broke the window, stole the centerpiece, or is responsible for one of the regulars not being there anymore.

The most effective narrative anchor, though, is probably a more prominent character. It’s not going to be enough just to be friends; a lot of characters have gotten lost that way. But if the character shaped the anchor in a way that would cause her to think about him a lot, the connection will serve. Yeah, the logical way to do this is with big shiny connections, like romantic firsts or important and constantly relevant lessons, or with something pervasive like the character’s similarity to someone who’s important to the anchor. But sometimes something minor can get into a character’s head and not get out, and that might work as an anchor as well. For instance, there’s one woman I sat next to on a flight to San Diego once who I’d consider anchored to me, if my life were a story. I don’t know her name, and we never really talked; the main thing I remember about her was that she drank a cup of scotch while wearing a sleep-mask and didn’t miss or spill. But her doing that gave me an idea for a character concept that’s still in my head looking for a world to occupy, and I won’t forget that.

For extra security, you can give characters multiple narrative anchors; just one is nice, but the more you have, the more the character will come up. And as an added bonus, this creates more connections between characters, and more between the characters and the world, and that makes the world more realistic.

As you’ve probably guessed, I like taking questions! If there’s something you want to know, leave it in the comments for a post or on the Suggestions page (or for the Generic Villain if it’s about antagonism and villainy), and I’ll answer it and give you a link back. Answers and publicity—what’s not to like? Or just stop by and see what else I have to say about minor characters.