Writing Battletech: Characters

One of the great things about Battletech is the characters. From the heads of interstellar states to the farmer on a backwater planet, there is always room for stories and for memorable characters.

The first thing you must ask about your characters is; Who who are they? What is their background? what motivates them? What is the journey the story takes them on? The best stories are those in which the main character undergoes a trial of some sort, a test of their abilities. At the end, they have changed somehow from the character they were in the beginning.

You need to find the hook for the main character -- everyone else is either supporting or opposing the main character's actions. Start with the conflict the main character will face. It could be physically, mentally, it could be another person or a force -- in any case, the character must face some sort of obstruction to the character's goal.

I think the best way to illustrate that is to take a look at three of my Characters from my stories: Kenway Gaines (Salvage), Amanda Rawson (The Promise) and Nathaniel Trivedi (End of the Road.) I choose three of my own characters, because I understand them the best.

At the start of Salvage, Kenway Gaines is a young man starting out his military career. He is from a family of MechWarriors, but he isn't a MechWarrior himself -- instead, he is a technician. 

That right there is a hook. Kenway is from a family of warriors, but can never become one himself. Instead, he is a new tech, a Subaltern fresh out of NAIS, and assigned to a Recovery and Salvage platoon attached to the Fourth Deneb Light Calvary. This is a young man who can feel his family's disappointment, despite the fact he is a hard-working and knowledgeable technician. Because of this, he has no self-confidence in himself and feels that he left his family down -- that is the problem he has to overcome. In addition, Kenway green as grass, an additional problem, one his superiors have taken notice of. It is only his skill as a technician that keeps him from being pulled for the R&S platoon.

On his first mission, his platoon goes out to recover a couple of 'Mechs. While surveying the area, Kenway spots what he believes is a new Capellan design in the water -- a Raven. This becomes the turning point for Kenway's change, as the chance of recovering and inspecting a brand new design has made him forget his troubles and starts gaining confidence in himself. The recovery doesn't go off without problems -- he is still a green soldier and the Capellans don't want to let the Raven go without a fight. In the heat of the action, Kenway finds the strength to take action to keep the Raven from being recaptured or destroyed.

But because of that experience, Kenway begins to find himself, as an officer and a technician. He is not the same person at the end of the story as he was at the start of the story. He has grown up and begun to find his confidence. At the end of the story, he is trying to find out everything he can about the Raven -- he is in his own element now. He has realized that he may not be a Mechwarrior, but he will show his family and his superiors that he is a soldier just like them. The story is about Kenway finding himself.

On the other hand, Amanda Rawson is a veteran MechWarrior assigned to be the XO of a rescue mission. She finds herself in the dark because her commanding officer, Leftenant Colonel Colin Kerse, is hiding most of the mission's details. That is Amanda's conflict -- trying to trust her superior officer when he is clearing hiding information she needs as the mission's XO.

They are heading for the Kurita-held planet of Chichibu, where Kerse claims there are Davion POWs being held there. Somehow, he managed to convince the AFFS to give him a force and to lead a rescue unit to . 

Amanda was recruited by MIIO to keep an eye on Kerse. Her orders are to assume command if Kerse acts in an insane manner. From the start, the events and Kerse's actions make her suspicious of him. Her orders are to step in and take command if she thinks Kerse has lost his mind. But what is the tipping point? Is there a tipping point to force Amanda into following her orders?

And that's the hook for her character, the test he must undergo. Can Amanda trust Kerse? Is he leading them into a trap? Even when she discovers Kerse's motivations and the information he had kept from her, can she still trust him? Is this a rescue or vengeance by Kerse? In the middle of the big battle, it falls to Amanda to take command of the rescue as Kerse is locked in a battle with past demons. At the end, Amanda still doesn't fully trust Kerse, but understand his action. Amanda's story is about trying to trust someone who doesn't trust her.

Nathaniel Trivedi's conflict is keeping his sanity in a situation of a grinding campaign. A member of Stone's Lament, he has seen the worse fighting of the Jihad and is currently involved in pursuing Word of Blake forces across the North American continent.

A student of history, he finds an outlet for his sanity in the Grasshopper he has been assigned to replace his destroyed Victor. This is the hook -- the "Mech's interesting history lets him forget the horrors and the grinding fighting for a few hours. The Grasshopper has a long and involved history over three centuries. Despite his lance-mates' teasing and his commanding officer's disdain for the Grasshopper history, he continues on his self-imposed activity. At the climax, the Grasshopper is destroyed, but Trivedi's actions helps Stone forces win an important battle. Instead of rebuilding the 'Mech, he thinks it is time to leave the military and return to pursuing a PhD.

So, three character, three different time periods, three different challenges. Each one must face a challenge -- Kenway, his crippled self-confidence, Amanda, her distrust of a secretive superior officer, and Nathaniel keeping his sanity in an insane situation. All overcame their challenges and all have changed in some way.

I'll talk more about character in another post, as this one is getting too long. I just don't know when, as there are a few matters that are coming up.

In addition, there may be some good news on the horizon, hopefully this month or next, about a Battletech product I wrote. I won't say anything else about it, but as soon as I can, I will write about it. It might just be the most important thing I've ever written for Battletech.

Later!

Craig