bringing the audience in
June 23, 2006
Most would-be storytellers have no problem creating a Protagonist and an Antagonist for their stories. Those concepts are pretty cut and dried. The Protagonist is for something and the Antagonist stands in his way. But they often forget one other important character.
They’re also fairly adept at creating some sort of Main Character throughline - apart from what the main story is about. This is a part of the story that is very personal - where we get to identify and empathize with the main character.
But what I’m noticing is left out A LOT is an Impact Character. And the Impact Character is not simply the Antagonist! (Although this is a common mistake). It’s OK to make the Protagonist your Main Character, but super-boring to make the Antagnoist the Impact Character.
The difference between an Impact Character and a Main Character is more than just “I want to do this” (Protagonist) and “I don’t want to do this” (Antagonist).
There is a difference of world views between the two characters. A difference of perspective.
We need more of these opposing world views if we want to bring the audience into our stories.