It’s been a while since I created something that is more based on an OC rather than already-established characters and people with a clear and precise reference. But after reading something, and getting enamoured by one of the characters, I decided to pick up my pen and draw out this marvellous thing, and it honestly got me thinking quite a bit.
Let me be clear on the front that what I read, or rather say indulged myself into wasn’t a standard novel or anything. Instead, it was a fanfiction, of all things. The imaginative alternative really got to my head this time around, and honestly, the urge to read and know was too much for me to bare, so off I went, expecting the worse of things, but ended up finding something truly unexpecting, which is where my inner questioning began.
What does attract us towards certain characters and pushes us away from the rest? What makes a character likable? And, in the end, are most originally written MCs of various novels and stories just a blend of some list of characteristics that are generally favoured by certain audience types, or does every reader experience every character in their own different ways?
The answer to these questions, while complex, came to me after giving it some real thought.
I think that most, not all originally written main characters from books do hold a certain level of similar characteristics that the audience can relate to and be fond of. We all know that bonding starts from relating and understanding, which is a tool writers more or less often used to create an MC everyone loves and supports, or in some cases, understands. But I do not think that is the whole story of this character-building and novel writing agenda, because while some characteristics like being reckless and stubborn might be a common trait among certain MCs, what makes them different from one another is the story they tell, the experience they share, and the past they try and overcome.
So even though characters like Sherlock Holmes and Feluda, are in a sense a shadow of one another, both of them convey different lifestyles and experiences from one another, making them stand out as an individual in a reader's mind, rather than just another vague image of a person they passed by.
The reader's own perspective also adds to the individuality of these characters, as I’d like to think that every reader reads and experiences books in different ways, which actually creates a paradox where no MC is the same in every reader's mind, and thus, the original way, as to how the writer themselves wanted to portray the MC as to their audience, is lost in the wind.
Because, I for one know that the way I view Harry Potter or let’s say, Dorian Gray is in no way similar to any other readers I know, because to me, they portray something else entirely in my head, and thus cannot be completely similar to any other avid fan who has their own sets of ideas about these individuals.
It all comes down to the level of relating and understanding, that we more or less do whenever we encounter someone new. Some people try to project their own life stories onto MCs and thus create a bond with them, while some try to figure out what makes them different. And through this process of understanding and questioning, every character gets a life of their own in every reader's head, which is never homogenous in nature.
Now, with all of that out of the way, let me present to you, Dantanian Noir. I’ve been rather smitten with him recently. He is the sort of dark and destructive in the ways I truly love, and also, he has a dragon. I think that’s enough reason for me to like him as much as I do.
I’ll end this long lecture with the working process through which this masterpiece of a man came to be.
I apologise for not having a detailed step-by-step process of it. I got lazy and forgot to take screenshots.
