Unstoppable Characters

Before I begin, is anyone else's blogger dashboard acting all wacky? Normally, it refreshes itself so I can get to all your new posts. Mine, lately, doesn't refresh even when I hit my refresh button in my browser. Weird. Maybe it's all the snow we're being bombarded with, up here. *shrug*


What is an Unstoppable characters? 

The other night, the hubs and I watched the movie UNSTOPPABLE. We've always had movie date nights just for us, alone in the 'man cave'. We've got dim lighting and  surround sound that could challenge any theater. (Hubby is way into electronics.) We also have our own movie theater popcorn maker. Makes the cozy room feel even more like the inside of a cinema, tapping into the senses of smell, taste, and touch. You get the picture. 


Since I've been writing, I not only read books with a keener eye, I also watch movies under a new internal microscope I didn't know I had. This new instinct gives movie night a whole new glow for me.


The movie was suspenseful and had lots of action. That's not what I'm here to chat about. I'm not offering up a review. Here's the movies log line:

With an unmanned, half-mile-long freight train barreling toward a city, a veteran engineer and a young conductor race against the clock to prevent a catastrophe.

Pretty basic, right? Seriously, that line truly sums up the film. It was all about two guys on a train trying to stop another train. Period. Plain Jane. It was so simple it almost scared me. So why did I sit there and watch the entire film? There wasn't much of a story. 

Characters. That's why I stayed.


Simple, tid bits of backstory were weaved in at just the right times, making me want to know more. Not so much about the train, train conducting, or the inevitable danger that must be coming but the two men who'd just met. We're first introduced to them in their setting--something that defines who they are as people. Major important element in beginning our novels. 


-Start the character in their Setting. This tells me something about who they are as people and how they react to their environment. 


These characters' stories were simple. Family issues (I won't say because I don't want to spoil it for those of you who haven't seen the movie.) and not too complex psychics or wants out of life. Two simply guys on a train.


Characters don't need to be complicated to be interesting or to draw a reader to want to know them. They don't need to have such a thick onion peel that when the layers are being stripped during the story the reader gets lost. The only criteria is that they feel real, like you could stand behind them in line at the grocery store or that they might like the same toothpaste you use.


Sometimes simple gives a jolt to the character development throttle - Unstoppable, making the reader need to follow the story. I'm still pondering what made me like these two guys and why I ended up rooting for them. Honestly, I think it's because they were so down-to-earth real. And that perception was given to me through how and when those simple tid bits about them were fed to me.


I plan on expanding upon this post about Unstoppable characters. But for your interest, here's a great Post  on this same subject I found last night. 


Are your characters Unstoppable? Are they simple? Complex? How do you handle their development?