How to make memorable characters with these archetypes?

[ConcubusBunny]

Hey, all. So as you've read in the title for a chapter that's coming up, I'm in a bit of a pickle as it stands right now for a few characters that I have planned for the future.

I have a scene coming up that I'm getting close to writing, but hitting a bit of a snag. I've got a;

• A Nonchalant laid back character that puts difficult situations aside rather than face them.
• A thoughtful kind character that thinks of others other than themself and gets real protective of their friends.
• A nice, kind soul that hides the cold and unforgiving nature hiding underneath all of that bubbly and good natured spirit.
• A rowdy, brash, outlandish character that exudes confidence and thinks everything can be solved by her fists.

As you can see not exactly easy to do with very little time window that I accidentally gave the to have a lasting impression as the main hare in their first introduction into the story before the focus character has to leave for a secret mission for a while.
I want to create a situation where the four people of the main harem are gripping enough in their first introduction to leave them wanting more of them and not less.
As a reader, I know the first impressions aren't everything for a character it's more of how useful they are i the story, but I still feel uncomfortable leaving things as they are now.

Any advice on this matter will be much appreciated.

 

[Bartun]

This one is interesting, I'll come back later with something.

 

[SailusGebel]

Hare? Rabbit?

To make a memorable character give this character a memorable appearance.

 

[ConcubusBunny]

Hare? Rabbit?

To make a memorable character give this character a memorable appearance.

It's supposed to say harem

 

[SailusGebel]

It's supposed to say harem

If you were talking about a harem, in my opinion, you should focus on the appearances even more.

 

[greyblob]

you can't show all of that in one scene. give each character proper time to develop

 

[JayDirex]

you can't show all of that in one scene. give each character proper time to develop

@Inflamebawdy Blob is right. Your situation should only involve no more than two characters at a time. It will be too difficult to try to keep up with everyone like dropping a bag of apples on a table. Start with one. Then work your way to two more. Leave the last one a goofy finale.

 

[LostLibrarian]

Here is one thing: if you write a harem story, then you write to an audience who already knows their archetypes. There is a reason, that a lot of harem feature different hair colors and that you see a lot of the same hair color combinations though the more standard works. That color coding is a way to directly tell the user the archetype/character of the girl.

• The noble blond hair (often used for uniqueness, foreigners)
• the either kuudere or awkward blue hair that often looks for a place to make friends/become more lively/connect with the world
• the strong-headed and often more open red hair (also a good tsundere)
• the more traditional (often also dominated by/dominating with rules) black hair
• the more childish/innocent pink hair
• purple hair goes often with high standing and more "well-mannered" nobles
• green hair for more comedic/lively girls

The same can be done with the actual hair cut as well. Ahoge, ringlets, twintails, ponytail, etc... the hair alone is often enough to tell you anything you need to know to understand the role of the character.

So if you really want to reach the harem-level fest and introduce a lot of girls fast, keep these three points in mind, you'll often find with these stories:

1. Don't bother with an explanation of the archetypes. The overwhelming majority of your users knows the archetypes. Going into more details is something for later. "Girl is a tsundere, time to move on."
2. Actions define character. If you only have a few moments, then use the actions of a character to leave an impact. There's a reason a lot of the harem anime start with a physical confrontation or the usual "walk in on the girl undressing" scene. It leads to instant action.
3. Concentrate on the difference. I don't need to know the 95% that are the same. Concentrate on the 5% that make your character memorable at all.
4. The normal beginning pace of a lot of harem anime is 1 girl/volume, where the girl is allowed to shine. Yet the other girls are still part of the school, class, club, team, enemy, etc.
   
   So even if your characters only have a short introduction scene before they have to wait for their turn, find a way to have them active in the background.
   (Let one of them be someone who delivers a message, someone who is a contact, someone who is at the same place without the same mission, etc). Those few moments here and they are extremely important. They keep the character in the reader's memory. Repetition also makes characters easier to memorize. It can also add some mysticism to them.

Those are the easiest way to structure a harem anime. The other way would be to more or less write 5 short romance novels and introduce the girls one by one. But if you want to go the fast route, then you have to maximize your gain. So push in as much time with the girls as possible and concentrate on the biggest value/words.

Action, specialties, hints, and repetition.
Good luck.


----------------
That said: I clicked on your novel after I typed out all of this and saw "smut + harem". So putting a lot of focus on their appearance should be the way to go. You more or less just want to the reader to say "I can't wait to see her naked!". Big-breasted genki girl and flat tsundere would already be enough for their short character description. Having a more unique look through accessories or their physique would be the way to go...

 

[Bartun]

I'm not really into harem stories but if you want to make the characters memorable you should make their interactions interesting. Each character should have their own dreams, fears, and purpose other than being horny and trying to take the MC to pound town.

Each one should have their own reason why they are the way they are, and that's not something you do in just one chapter.

• A Nonchalant laid back character that puts difficult situations aside rather than face them.

This one sounds the least interesting. Unless he/she is stupidly hot, his personality doesn't endear to the reader much, unless he/she uses it as a facade to hide his/her true personality for some reason. It really depends on his/her interactions with the MC.

• A thoughtful kind character that thinks of others other than themself and gets real protective of their friends.

This one sounds cool. I like this type of character because he/she already has his/her personality established as a selfless character.

• A nice, kind soul that hides the cold and unforgiving nature hiding underneath all of that bubbly and good natured spirit.

This one seems the most interesting, with internal struggles and all. Maybe he/she can feel comfortable enough around the MC to share his/her emotional turmoil.

• A rowdy, brash, outlandish character that exudes confidence and thinks everything can be solved by her fists.

Oh, the confident one. This one has great potential as all this confident potentially violent personality could also be just a facade to hide a vulnerable interior that she could slowly open up with the MC.

It all depends on what kind of MC and their interactions with the "haremettes" the reader can find endearing. Of course, they also need to be their own characters with dreams and fears, and to actually develop some character through the story for them to be "memorable", and that can only be achieved with time.

 

[K5Rakitan]

Carefully

 

[ConcubusBunny]

Here is one thing: if you write a harem story, then you write to an audience who already knows their archetypes. There is a reason, that a lot of harem feature different hair colors and that you see a lot of the same hair color combinations though the more standard works. That color coding is a way to directly tell the user the archetype/character of the girl.

• The noble blond hair (often used for uniqueness, foreigners)
• the either kuudere or awkward blue hair that often looks for a place to make friends/become more lively/connect with the world
• the strong-headed and often more open red hair (also a good tsundere)
• the more traditional (often also dominated by/dominating with rules) black hair
• the more childish/innocent pink hair
• purple hair goes often with high standing and more "well-mannered" nobles
• green hair for more comedic/lively girls

The same can be done with the actual hair cut as well. Ahoge, ringlets, twintails, ponytail, etc... the hair alone is often enough to tell you anything you need to know to understand the role of the character.

So if you really want to reach the harem-level fest and introduce a lot of girls fast, keep these three points in mind, you'll often find with these stories:

1. Don't bother with an explanation of the archetypes. The overwhelming majority of your users knows the archetypes. Going into more details is something for later. "Girl is a tsundere, time to move on."
2. Actions define character. If you only have a few moments, then use the actions of a character to leave an impact. There's a reason a lot of the harem anime start with a physical confrontation or the usual "walk in on the girl undressing" scene. It leads to instant action.
3. Concentrate on the difference. I don't need to know the 95% that are the same. Concentrate on the 5% that make your character memorable at all.
4. The normal beginning pace of a lot of harem anime is 1 girl/volume, where the girl is allowed to shine. Yet the other girls are still part of the school, class, club, team, enemy, etc.
   
   So even if your characters only have a short introduction scene before they have to wait for their turn, find a way to have them active in the background.
   (Let one of them be someone who delivers a message, someone who is a contact, someone who is at the same place without the same mission, etc). Those few moments here and they are extremely important. They keep the character in the reader's memory. Repetition also makes characters easier to memorize. It can also add some mysticism to them.

Those are the easiest way to structure a harem anime. The other way would be to more or less write 5 short romance novels and introduce the girls one by one. But if you want to go the fast route, then you have to maximize your gain. So push in as much time with the girls as possible and concentrate on the biggest value/words.

Action, specialties, hints, and repetition.
Good luck.


----------------
That said: I clicked on your novel after I typed out all of this and saw "smut + harem". So putting a lot of focus on their appearance should be the way to go. You more or less just want to the reader to say "I can't wait to see her naked!". Big-breasted genki girl and flat tsundere would already be enough for their short character description. Having a more unique look through accessories or their physique would be the way to go...

Thanks for the advise, but not everyone of the harem are girls or follow the usual archetypes, looking to be original with the characters and find ways to incorperate their personalities in the story.

I'm not really into harem stories but if you want to make the characters memorable you should make their interactions interesting. Each character should have their own dreams, fears, and purpose other than being horny and trying to take the MC to pound town.

It's not really a "the harem wants to fuck (well, sorta, but a different rason than them being horny.... sometimes) typ of story" there will be times where I want to focus on the other characters character with explaining their person throughout the story when the time for them comes.

 

[LostLibrarian]

Thanks for the advise, but not everyone of the harem are girls or follow the usual archetypes, looking to be original with the characters and find ways to incorperate their personalities in the story.

Then you can't introduce them in a scene or two and make them memorable at the same time. If you use archetypes, then use them. If you don't use archetypes, then take your time. But you can't have the cake and eat it.

Going by your goal, restructuring the story seems like the best course of action...

 

[Ymadthepirate]

Depends on genre - Comedy, Action heck do w choose our own genre

 

[Dewux]

The best advice I could give you to write characters, whether you want them to be memorable or not, is to ask yourself: why does this character act this way?

A Nonchalant laid back character that puts difficult situations aside rather than face them.

Maybe here, the character fears confronting difficult situations head-on because of a past (a ghost) that put him in the same situation but he failed and got hurt (emotionally) in the process, which is why the character fears direct confrontation.

A thoughtful kind character that thinks of others other than themself and gets real protective of their friends.

Maybe here, the character was, in their past, abusing and manipulating their friends to the point that they caused one of their friends to suicide, and that suicide had haunted them ever since (their ghost), so now they want to do better by protecting their new friends.

A nice, kind soul that hides the cold and unforgiving nature hiding underneath all of that bubbly and good natured spirit.

Maybe here, the character was abused and ill-treated in their past; no one loved them, not even their own family; easily discarded by everyone. This past/ghost led them to become cold and unforgiving, and they wanted to take revenge but can't do so openly, which is the reason for their bubbly personality.

A rowdy, brash, outlandish character that exudes confidence and thinks everything can be solved by her fists.

Maybe here, the character has always lived in the slums , where the strong rules the weak. In order to survive, she has to become like them--rowdy, brash, and outlandish--and after months or years of torture and hard work, she became undefeated, which explains her confidence; this is her past (ghost).

Notice how each of the scenarios I've made on a whim has a past--more accurately, a ghost--this is important when creating characters, especially when you want them to become memorable. A ghost will always stem from the character's past; it's the reason for their overall character in the story. Give them a past that explains how and why they've developed those personalities, habits, and mindset. Once you've done that, you just need to show it (don't tell). Or you can do what I do: break them apart (character-wise).

By breaking them apart, I mean by having your antagonist challenge the beliefs of your character--like running away from difficult situations to avoid getting hurt, protecting others before yourself is great, lying and manipulating everyone is the best way to solve your problems, and strength rules all--and succeeding. By having your antagonist succeed in breaking their beliefs, in addition to said character's reaction, you're essentially giving your characters more depth in personality, hence making them more memorable, empathetic, and relatable.

Breaking them apart would be a bit of a stretch for side characters, but for a harem, who hopefully aren't trophies, it's not so much.

 

[ConcubusBunny]

The best advice I could give you to write characters, whether you want them to be memorable or not, is to ask yourself: why does this character act this way?


Maybe here, the character fears confronting difficult situations head-on because of a past (a ghost) that put him in the same situation but he failed and got hurt (emotionally) in the process, which is why the character fears direct confrontation.

Maybe here, the character was, in their past, abusing and manipulating their friends to the point that they caused one of their friends to suicide, and that suicide had haunted them ever since (their ghost), so now they want to do better by protecting their new friends.

Maybe here, the character was abused and ill-treated in their past; no one loved them, not even their own family; easily discarded by everyone. This past/ghost led them to become cold and unforgiving, and they wanted to take revenge but can't do so openly, which is the reason for their bubbly personality.

Maybe here, the character has always lived in the slums , where the strong rules the weak. In order to survive, she has to become like them--rowdy, brash, and outlandish--and after months or years of torture and hard work, she became undefeated, which explains her confidence; this is her past (ghost).

Notice how each of the scenarios I've made on a whim has a past--more accurately, a ghost--this is important when creating characters, especially when you want them to become memorable. A ghost will always stem from the character's past; it's the reason for their overall character in the story. Give them a past that explains how and why they've developed those personalities, habits, and mindset. Once you've done that, you just need to show it (don't tell). Or you can do what I do: break them apart (character-wise).

By breaking them apart, I mean by having your antagonist challenge the beliefs of your character--like running away from difficult situations to avoid getting hurt, protecting others before yourself is great, lying and manipulating everyone is the best way to solve your problems, and strength rules all--and succeeding. By having your antagonist succeed in breaking their beliefs, in addition to said character's reaction, you're essentially giving your characters more depth in personality, hence making them more memorable, empathetic, and relatable.

Breaking them apart would be a bit of a stretch for side characters, but for a harem, who hopefully aren't trophies, it's not so much.

Thanks for the advice, bit after reading through I did notice that some thongs, like a protagonist breaking them isn't possible for my story, but I would keep the problems of their past and breaking their character in the background for what I have planned.

 

[Ai-chan]

From top to bottom:
1. Relatable (as in the reader can relate to his personality and his background)
2. Uniqueness (as in you can practically count on your fingers what other characters can be mistaken for this character)
3. Logical (as in his actions is logical as if he's a real person)
4. Action (as in the actions he take that is a solution to his problems)
5. Likeability/hateability (as in how much of a hateable or likeable character he is to the readers, the further he is to the extremes, the more people will remember him)

 

[ConcubusBunny]

From top to bottom:
1. Relatable (as in the reader can relate to his personality and his background)
2. Uniqueness (as in you can practically count on your fingers what other characters can be mistaken for this character)
3. Logical (as in his actions is logical as if he's a real person)
4. Action (as in the actions he take that is a solution to his problems)
5. Likeability/hateability (as in how much of a hateable or likeable character he is to the readers, the further he is to the extremes, the more people will remember him)

Thank you for help, Aichan. I really appreciate the advice you have given and has changed the way I'll tell my characters story.

 

[TheEldritchGod]

Any advice on this matter will be much appreciated.

Have a dancing demon that speaks only in rhymes 'kidnap the MC into a NULL-SPACE and then sing a song introducing the characters in a funny way and while explaining that she has to choose one and the other three will be plunged into tail spins of darkness and despair where they become black holes of emotional need and will never recover if she EVER CHOOSES ONE OVER THE OTHERS.

Then he spits her back out and says, "HAVE FUN!"