Insider Secrets to Writing Great Science Fiction Characters (with examples)!
I’d love to tell you about my short story and novel writing, but this isn’t about me. It’s about you. That is, if you ever intend to write science fiction or read a book or watch a movie … or a TV show.
Repeat after me: “Holy cow! I need to drop everything and read this right now!”
Make your heroes and villains stand out!
Watch them learn and grow!
Whether you are a writer or a reader, every story must revolve around character and character change. That’s what helps us understand ourselves and what it means to be human. Now, for this to be super useful, I will hit a few characterization basics on the way to naming some examples of my favorite characters from various books, TV, and film.
I could tell you why I like each main character, but I won’t. (Okay, in general, I love these characters for the way they relate to my background as a Navy officer, planetary geologist, and (mental) escape artist from reality.) Instead, I’d love to hear your feelings about these people and about any sci-fi novel you love.
This is my first post, so I might as well confess right up front that I’m not the brightest guy on the planet. (Yes, there’s a list somewhere.) And, while I’d like to think my name appears in the first ten or twenty volumes of that list, please don’t be surprised if I send you shooting off to meet some really awesome people who ARE experts. Seriously, while I want to help you understand character, I do not intend to reinvent the wheel.
Photo by Mauro Mora
As a first great example of someone brilliant, I’d like you to meet K.M. Weiland. No one knows more about writing character arcs, and she will even send you a FREE e-book about “Creating Unforgettable Characters.”
Someday soon, I’ll even have a free sign-up offer or bonus of my own. I … just haven’t made it that far yet. I’ve been too busy writing, training Alaskan Malamutes, and tending my six-acre honeybee sanctuary. Fortunately, my speculative fiction characters keep dragging me back to the keyboard.
In my River of Light series, Janek Larrivay has become one of my favorite characters. Lissaya Anning (aka “Hipshot”) anchors an all-women heist crew in the same fictional universe, and I always enjoy her exciting capers. (Yes, please note that I don’t just write male characters.) Daryle Chantree is steadily maturing and showing more leadership as a U.S. Navy Time Shear technician in my Time Wing Six series. I some ways, I really want to believe these people live in some alternate reality all their own.
Photo by Brian McGowan
I also love showcasing new alien or “exotic” species. This often helps my characters understand humanity’s place in the universe. In this regard, the O.C.E.A.N. series of personality spectra can be an influential touchstone. I stumbled across this idea at MindTools.
OCEAN. is an acronym for Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism. After that, I look for variations in Honesty and Values. Oh, and when “auditioning” new characters and aliens for a great story, I often come back to a quote from the Netflix TV series Sense8. (Character Cepheus ‘Van Damme’ Onyango said this offscreen, and I certainly scrambled to make a note of it.) Not to worry, I expect to discuss how I “design” my aliens in a future blog.
“Nothing good ever happens when people care more about our differences than what makes us the same.” — From the Netflix series Sense8, Sn2.Ep10.
Photo by Andrew Ruiz
This is especially true for story ideas involving aliens. Also, don’t forget to note special considerations when describing alien voices for your audiobook narrators.
When it comes to character growth and the ordeals I intend to put them through, I often pace my novels to a modified Hero’s Journey cycle. Here’s more on that from Derek Murphy.
While keeping each of my characters’ flaws, misbeliefs, and evolving goals in mind, I center plot decisions on external obstacles. And I mean really horrible ordeals that gradually draw out the character change or choice that lets them come sideways at the enemy with their bold and innovative, new plan of action.
Some of the universal lessons my storylines contain require conquering fear and finding courage. This often entails survival issues, learning to trust, and standing up for a cause. In most cases, my secondary characters represent some aspect of each story’s theme. In each scene, I like to track how the POV character sees him- or herself after each turning point.
Photo by Brian McGowan
Here are some examples of my favorite characters from genre fiction. With one exception, the links lead to the eBook on Amazon.
Lissaya Anning in Cross the Sky.
Donel Aspic, the Hegemony Consul in Dan Simmons’ Hyperion.
Paul Atreides/Muad’Dib in Frank Herbert’s Dune.
Tom Bartlett in Robert Heinlein’s Time for the Stars.
Leisha Camden in Nancy Kress’ Beggars in Spain.
Daryle Chantree in Fire and Forget.
Corwin in Roger Zelazny’s Chronicles of Amber.
Captain Creideiki in David Brin’s Startide Rising.
Kinnall Darival in Robert Silverberg’s A Time of Changes.
Dua in Isaac Asimov’s The Gods Themselves (The middle third of this book is awesome!).
Erasmus in Neal Stephenson’s Anathem.
Garion in David Eddings’ Pawn of Prophecy.
Herrin in C.J. Cherryh’s Wave Without a Shore.
Karou in Laini Taylor’s Daughter of Smoke and Bone.
Kevin Laine in Guy Gavriel Kay’s The Summer Tree.
Janek Larrivay in Lesser Beings.
Kitty McCulley in Elizabeth Ann Scarborough’s The Healer’s War.
Elizabeth Orme in Julian May’s The Many-Colored Land.
Koot Hoomie Parganas in Tim Powers’ Expiration Date.
Kleph Sancisco in C.L. Moore’s Vintage Season.
Severian in Gene Wolfe’s The Book of the New Sun series.
Shevek in Ursula K. LeGuin’s The Dispossessed.
Stavia in Sheri S. Tepper’s The Gate to Women’s Country.
Pham Trinli (Pham Nuwen) in Vernor Vinge’s A Deepness in the Sky.
Ender Wiggin in Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game.
Luis Gridley Wu in Larry Niven’s Ringworld.
Photo by Wonderlane.
I wish I could list ALL my favorite characters from TV, but here are a few. Most links lead to each actor’s IMDb link.
Lyta Alexander, Babylon 5 (Patricia Tallman).
The Doctor, Doctor Who (Tom Baker, David Tennant, Peter Capaldi).
Kaylee Frye, Firefly & Serenity (Jewel Staite).
Captain James T. Kirk, Star Trek (William Shatner).
Delenn, Babylon 5 (Mira Furlan).
Jack O’Neill, Stargate SG-1 (Richard Dean Anderson).
Clara Oswald, Doctor Who (Jenna Coleman).
Amy Pond, Doctor Who (Karen Gillan).
Captain Malcolm Reynolds, Firefly & Serenity (Nathan Fillion).
Romana II, Doctor Who (Lalla Ward).
Captain John Sheridan, Babylon 5 (Bruce Boxleitner).
River Song, Doctor Who (Alex Kingston).
Spock, Star Trek (Leonard Nimoy).
Hoban “Wash” Washburn, Firefly & Serenity (Alan Tudyk).
Photo NASA
Going as far back as 1951’s The Day the Earth Stood Still, here are my favorite characters from film. The links lead to each movie’s IMDb page. When writing science fiction, I often ask what these heroes might do in a sticky situation.
Commander Adams, Forbidden Planet (Leslie Nielsen).
Louise Banks, Arrival (Amy Adams)
Buckaroo Banzai, in The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (Peter Weller).
Dave Bowman, 2001: A Space Odyssey (Keir Dullea).
Truman Burbank, The Truman Show (Jim Carrey).
Jack Burton, Big Trouble in Little China (Kurt Russell).
Physicist Robert Capa in Sunshine (Cillian Murphy).
Korben Dallas, The Fifth Element (Bruce Willis).
Rick Deckard, Blade Runner (Harrison Ford).
Gwen DeMarco/Tawny Madison, Galaxy Quest (Sigourney Weaver).
HAL, 2001: A Space Odyssey (Douglas Rain).
Dark Helmet, Spaceballs (Rick Moranis).
Ben ‘Obi-Wan’ Kenobi, Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (Alec Guinness).
Klaatu from The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) (Michael Rennie).
Leeloo, The Fifth Element (Milla Jovovich).
Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (Peter Sellers).
Vincent/Jerome Morrow) in GATTACA (Ethan Hawke).
Neo, The Matrix (Keanu Reeves).
Lori Quaid, Total Recall (2012) (Kate Beckinsale).
Rachael, Blade Runner (Sean Young).
Ellen Ripley, Alien & Aliens (Sigourney Weaver).
Han Solo, Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (Harrison Ford).
Photo by Sarvaswa Tandon
And I have two favorite “characters” from games, both from “Portal 2.”
Cave Johnson (voiced by J.K. Simmons).
GLaDOS (voiced by Ellen McLain).
So, where should you go from here? Watch your favorite movies with an eye for character change. Then re-read a graphic novel or a few of your favorite books with the same concept in mind. How did your favorite characters evolve?
Last, let’s use the Star Trek universe as an example of characters who became all-time fan favorites. Spock, Seven of Nine, Data, and Benjamin Sisko all showed the most significant character change throughout their various series.
Now, as you mentally audition people for your next story, get out in the world and do some people watching! Good luck with your creative writing!
P.S. My latest science fiction novel: Double Take, goes LIVE on Amazon on 7 December 2021. Why not check it out?
