Writing Tips!

Developing Friendships in Fiction

this post was made by legit-writing-tips on tumblr, or http://legit-writing-tips.tumblr.com/post/162845558695/legit-tip-192

check them out and enjoi

Regardless of the genre that you write in, and the type of main character that you have, it's likely that your main character is going to have friends. Or allies of some kind, even if they're not the type of have "friends."

Writing realistic friendships can be surprisingly tough, though. That's especially true if you're writing about a character who's quite different from yourself. Not everybody has the same needs when it comes to friendships, so the type of friends and friendships your character has may be very different than the type you have in your life.

Your character may be a social butterfly with a wide network of friends. They may be a political figure whose friends are also the people they work with and network with on a regular basis. They may be a loner who only has one or two close friends. You may be writing a cyberpunk story with a character whose only friend is their robot companion.

What's the First Thing to Think About?

First - what is available to that when it comes to friendships? Not every character is capable of easily making friends - perhaps due to mental illness, or isolation, or other circumstances.

Or, if they can easily make friends or socialize with a lot of people, are they the type to forge deep friendships with these people? Or do they keep people at a distance? Do they "put on a mask" and not show their "true self" to the people they come in contact with? If so, they may know a lot of people but not feel that they have any true or close friends at all.

What is their situation regarding friendships as your story begins?

As your story starts out, think about the people around your character and their social circle. If you are starting them out with a social circle and friends, then you're going to have to establish their relationship with these friends right out of the gate - which can be a difficult task.

It's really not enough to just say Character A and Character B are friends and to leave it at that, especially if the friend character is going to play a significant role in the story. This is where a lot of novels in the romance genres and chick lit genres fail. (This isn't to say I dislike those genres at all. Just that I've read a fair few and found this to be an issue.)

We need to see how these characters became friends. More importantly, we need to see why these characters are friends. All too often, friendships come across as fairly unbelievable, especially when characters have conflicting personalities, which leads me to my next point -

Friends Need to Have Reasons to Be Friends

Just as in romantic relationships, friends fulfill needs in each others lives. It's all well and good to create a character that's interesting and dynamic, but if that character doesn't fulfill some role for the main character - provide something for them beyond simply being comic relief, or someone for them to talk to like a brick wall for dialogue, then that character can feel very flat for readers.

Imagine if you will two characters as friends for Character A. Character A is going on a quest to save the kingdom from an evil wizard. She has two companions.

Her first companion is a drunken dwarf. Her second companion is a beautiful elf. The drunken dwarf is revealed over time to have lost his wife to the evil wizard during a raid on his tribe, something which he reveals to her over several conversations with Character A. This helps her to realize the full extent of the evil wizard's power and motivates her to continue on with her task. Their friendship is also cemented by the fact that she lost her parents to the evil wizard.

The beautiful elf has several conversations with her about good and evil. We learn a lot about his life with his clan, and he's a well developed character by all accounts. And yet, even though he travels with her through the entire story and they have several conversations, they never really "feel" like friends or companions. He doesn't fulfill any role for Character A as he doesn't tell her anything she wouldn't already know.

Remember - Friends Fight Sometimes

One of the great things about Harry Potter is that J. K. Rowling remembered that friends fight sometimes. It may be a little annoying to read about, but that's only because it's a little too real for people who've been there. Letting your characters disagree, fight, and get pissed off at each other adds to the realism of their friendship (and also helps them become stronger friends in the long run).

Don't Be Afraid to End Friendships

I rarely see it happen in fiction, which is surprising. But in real life, sometimes friendships end and people realize they have to part ways. Maybe that's because you suddenly figure out that being together has become unhealthy or toxic for the two of you, or because other things get in the way and you reach a point where you know you just can't continue on the way things were.

But it happens. And it could make for some interesting, poignant moments for your characters to deal with, especially if those friendships have made a big impact on their lives up to this point. Just a little something to think about.