What is Character Chemistry?

[@shulethwaits6921]

Solid character writing advice. I have an issue of creating a bunch of characters that I think are fun without consideration and attempting to cobble together a cohesive story out of them. It sometimes works out in the end but the best results always come from when I'm taking a more careful approach to things. I have a problem with people who hate liars and pizza haters interacting too much basically. Everyone's always entitled to making oc's for fun but if you really want your story to have some oomph you gotta have meaningful conflict, and that comes from characters butting heads with each other for reasons more individual to them than 'the plot demands there be a conflict, so these guys are being drafted into it just because'.

[@thelemmallama]

I guess that's also why people say you should have a theme, then give each of your characters a different perspective on the theme; that way, the chemistry naturally follows :D tho I do think that's a more specific case of this general principle, and it's possible to make a good story with conflict that's personal to the characters without taking that approach (e.g. by pivoting around a character and their various traits (which would cause the theme to change from arc to arc) rather than pivoting around a theme)

[@IgneousExtrusive]

The more I think about this, the more I realize that this is incredibly good advice. Especially in regards to contrasting conflict and stability. All conflict all the time can be exhausting and risks stepping into "melodrama" territory. No conflict makes it challenging to write a compelling story. Having stable, grounding background relationships is a great way to support the character conflicts in a story. Maybe that is even a different form of chemistry, where two people who are able to coexist without needing much interaction can provide reprieve. I know, from personal experience, that being able to be with someone in a casual setting without pressure to interact is a huge comfort.

[@thelemmallama]

I suppose there's the reaction part of chemistry, and there's the part where two compounds come together to form a stable molecule which is different from just the sum of their parts. That's probably the analogy I'd use for grounding background relationships XD

[@IgneousExtrusive]

@@thelemmallama I think it's a good analogy

[@_chairberry]

wow, character chemistry has always been a bit difficult to grasp for me, like i can recognize it when i see it but could never get the "how" or "why" behind it, but i feel like your explanation really helped clear things up! thank you so much!

[@StephenLena-i4l]

Runolfsson Spur