Welcome, Guilty Pleasures, to the first Pop & Fiction article.

If I asked you what drew you to your favorite character, what would your response be? There's a myriad of answers you could give and none of them are necessarily wrong, but any successful author can tell you that making a character isn't quite as simple as some believe. Character creation requires a combination of research and a vigilant dedication to honing the craft in order to master, just like any skill. You can even look online and find many choices of character creation plans. Pop & Fiction is written with those characters in mind, where we deconstruct certain facets of a character in order to analyze them. So, let me move on to the first vital element I believe is quintessential to a character: mystery.

Did you know that a very popular character from Marvel comics started off without a backstory and it took nearly twenty years for him to reach what we know today as common fact for comic fans? You may know him as a short bundle of rage named after an animal or you may know him thanks to a certain actor who revitalized his popularity for the past seventeen years. Whatever the case, his recent movie also marked the end of an era and many comic fans like myself are wondering what the next chapter holds. To truly appreciate him, I'd like to explore a few things about the character known as Wolverine.

It all starts in the informally named "Bronze Age of Comics," a fifteen year period between 1970 to 1985 where comics introduced darker elements and relevant social issues to their stories. His very first appearance was in October 1974 on a teaser panel in The Incredible Hulk #180 before making his major debut in the following month in The Incredible Hulk #181 as nothing more than a superhuman agent of the Canadian government. As far as anyone was concerned, it was a character that filled a tertiary role before fading into the annals of history. However, his writer brought him over to the stepping stones of what revived X-Men in 1975. With other characters overshadowing him and Wolverine under the threat of being dropped, John Byrne decided to take over the character and introduce another superteam known as Alpha Flight that was interested in capturing Wolverine. This would transform him from a simple character most readers just saw as a supporting role into an enigma with an unstable nature and a murky past. Loyal comic fans were hooked and eager to see how things played out.

 

Just who was Wolverine? Why did he leave the Canadian government to join the X-Men? These were two questions readers were asking at the time and those questions are the foundation of his rapidly growing success. Everyone at the time might be able to recognize that Wolverine was a bit different than other X-Men since he was more feral but that's not enough to keep a reader's interest. Instead, Marvel brilliantly deployed a classic tactic all successful writers employ called a "hook."

 

As writers or roleplayers, this is the lifeline we all need to keep things interesting. Just imagine making your writing partner squirm with anticipation when they're on the verge of discovering why your characters act a certain way. Just imagine how fulfilling it is to be praised for enticing one of humanity's basic desires to explore the unknown. Can you think of a time where you or your partner made everything too transparent about a character so there wasn't anything mysterious about them?

 

There are so many fun and interesting methods to add more dynamic appeal to this mystery, too. For example, you can integrate a quirk about your character that makes your partner feel like they're more involved. Marvel boldly applied this to Wolverine by giving him amnesia so he didn't know anything about his past. That doesn't seem like much at first, but imagine the impact it has when you are sharing a moment with him after a major revelation about where he came from. Not to mention, it didn't necessarily provide any real hints on why he acted the way he did. That added an extra layer of mystery to the entire journey!

 

This is something I'd like to ask people to start trying if you aren't already. Take some time to create a character with a mysterious past with a partner you trust to give you the opportunity. Try and develop layers of suspense with the character using all the tools at your disposal such as the story itself or more. If you need help, reach out to the Consultants because they might have a few ideas! Maybe you can even message us here at Scandalous to tell us what you did. We'll certainly be glad to hear feedback on if this article helped you or not.For now, ladies and gentlemen, I leave you with that food for thought. If you're anything like me, you might be asking, "Diesel, how can you keep a mystery when you discuss the entire plot with your partner before you start writing?" Well, there might be an answer to that in next month's article. With that "hook," farewell, and remember to stay frosty.

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by Diesel