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Have you ever created a character and then later totally changed him or her because of some aspect that didn't fit the story or the genre -like SF or Fantasy- you were writing?
Posts: 55 | Registered: Mar 2003
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If I need to change a character, and if its possible, I come up with a reason that they would change and implement it in story. It spices up the story and makes them conform with it! (Always a good thing .)
Posts: 697 | Registered: Mar 2003
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I have to completely remake a character in the web-comic I write/draw. That was more due to my co-writer and I going our separate ways (he wanted more jokes and I'm more into storytelling) than the character evolving or not fitting in, however.
I've also had a novel in the planning stages where the character has gradually grown and changed in several ways - one of which is the reason I came up for the character's immortality, which actually alters some of his actions and such. Of course, since I've not gotten past the planning stages for that novel (outside of two story segments I wrote), I suppose it doesn't quite count, either. <chuckle>
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I’ve seriously revised a character, not because they didn’t fit the genre, but because they didn’t properly fit into what the story had become, and more specifically, the character focal point that would be more intriguing.
I don’t know why a character wouldn’t fit a science fiction/fantasy/what-have-you story, so long as you’ve dumped them in the appropriate situation for them.
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Phanto, Tangent, and GZ thanks for telling how you go about changing a character in a story.
GZ, my character fits the science fiction genre very well, seeing as how he is an alien android made up of molecular sized machines on a mammoth alien ship. He has one characteristic which is central to the story, and that is: he is capable of having sex -or as he calls it 'linking'. And that's the bit I'm afraid might not fit into the genre.
Since the whole story is controlled by this character, although he is not the protagonist, changing him would change the whole story.
It is a hard decision to make. But if I want to consider having my novel published, I may have to make that change.
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If there is no alien sex in SF, then there is no explanation half the things Captain Kirk does. (Not that I’m convinced there is anyway <ducks objects thrown by Star Trek aficionados and SF purists alike> ) :P
In all seriousness though, I don’t see why alien sex wouldn’t be included the SF genre. It’s out there already. Gratuitous, explicit sex probably isn’t found in most markets, but there is plenty of sex happening in the genre. Figuring out the implications for the “linking” of a micro-segmented android would no doubt take some unique twists that could add to the alien quality of your character or in turn help bring a very human quality to someone the reader might not relate on a very “human” level. It’s all in how you develop it.
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I agree with GZ. Your character actually sounds like he has great SF possibilities. Have you seen Bicentennial Man or A.I.? Both of these recent movies include androids that are capable of sex and even love. In the case of the A.I. character Gigolo Joe, it's the whole reason he was created.
Because your character is made up of quadrillions of molecule-sized machines (you might want to make them bigger than molecules . . . cell-sized would be more practical) the ability to have sex could be particularly poignant.
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GZ, somehow the science fiction I read never seems to have anything sexual in it and so I thought it was not part of the genre. I'm using the android's sexuality to make him appear more human -at least for the moment.
Doc Brown, the molecular sized machines come in different varieties which link together in various combinations to form something similar to cells; like skin cells, muscle cells etc.
I haven't seen Bicentennial Man or A.I -I did read an Asimov story called The Bicentennial Man a long time ago. I figured the idea of an android that could have sex and love was nothing new. There are no really new ideas, just new ways of using them.
Here are a few lines from my character study:
"Jay is a synth –synthetic life form- called the Guardian. As the Guardian he is second to the Pilot/Control synth-bio entity in the hierarchy of the Seedship. He has a dual purpose as Guardian: one purpose is to protect the existing pilot/control, and the other is to provide the synth part of a new pilot/control when the old one dies.
He reasoned out that the bio was the weakest part of the Synth-Bio-Ship link. Then he figured out an answer to the problem of the weak link, namely to change it into a stronger link by making it into mainly synth with only a very small amount of biological material."
In the backstory he has been going around 'impregnating' bio females with his molecular machines to change them into synths, one at a time because he is very monogamous. Up to the time that the actual story begins he has been unsuccessful in changing any of the biological females into synths -they all died.
When the story begins he 'impregnates' my unsuspecting protagonist/viewpoint character who was abducted from Earth and brought to the Ship -but she was not brought there for his purposes...
Anyways I suppose I should stop jabbering for now.
Jay is not an easy character to write because it is hard for me to get inside his mind...
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Regarding alien sex in SF, have you not read Asimov's The Gods Themselves? The middle section has alien sex in it. It's a brilliant piece in itself -- not becasue of alien sex -- and I highly recommend it to all. That section alone deserves the Nebula and Hugo he received for that book. Thank goodness you don't have to read the frist and third sections to understand the middle section!
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If he's trying to creat a synth-bio hybrid that's mostly mechanical, why must he use the boi reproductive system? Why not use a mechanical reproductive system (factory) and just incorporate a few human cells?
I realize that the bio reproduction is probably central to your story, so think of this as an answerable question.
I think the most interesting aspect of your android is his motivation: he doesn't feel love, lust, or even attraction for these women. He's just a powerful, dangerous, breeding machine.
Maybe he's so sophistocated that he knew how to take great precautions to keep the previous biological females alive, but they died anyway. Perhaps he will suspect these deaths were related to his treatment of them, possibly including depression. Maybe he'll experiment with treating this one differently . . .
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Balthasar, I've read The Gods Themselves more than once. But so long ago that I had forgotten about the alien sex in it. I'm sure if I look hard enough through all my books I will find lots more that have sex in them of one form or another.
Doc Brown, even though he uses a conventional way to introduce his machines into the chosen woman, he is not making a child with her. It is her that is being changed into a synth.
Why does he not simply manufacture a synth with a few bio cells in one of the factories? This is the reason:
He went to the next Habitat Sphere and the next after that and the next until he had visited hundreds, and then thousands; and each and every one was shut against him. ...
He needed one bio to change and take with him to the Center, so that he could restore the Heart of the Ship. But the one thing he needed so desperately was the one thing that was denied him. He had already been changed by the backlash from the bolt that destroyed the bio, which had killed its Guardian partner; and now this thwarting of his most basic programming mandates, changed him even further.
His programming went totally awry. He lost control. And he went on a destructive rampage. He destroyed the great machines that generated the force fields that held the rocky planets and moons, which provided building materials for new spheres and habitats, in place; and these planets and moons, free to move, plowed through the Ship destroying everything in their wake.
He returned to the factories and wreaked havoc, leaving behind only ruined bits of machinery as he went on his way. ...
(Don't ask me about the ship. At this point what I imagine may be a total impossibility)
Interesting what you said about the character -Jay- not feeling love or lust or an attraction to the women he tried to change into synths. Because my whole story is about him coming to feel all those things for my protagonist.
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