Character Relationships: 4 Main Relationship Dynamics, Character Maps, & Story Scenarios

Character relationships woven within fictional stories aren't always discussed among fiction writers, but they play a significant role in the story layout and plotline of plays, short stories, novels, or books. Just like people in real life, characters also form and build relationships among other characters in a story, which either help or hinder their story goals and inner transformation journeys during a storyline. Let's go over the four main relationship dynamics writers can choose from for their cast of characters, how these relationships affect characters overall, how to create character maps, and how to create story scenarios for fictional stories.

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WATCH THE VIDEO

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See episode of season 3 of my Journey of a Christian Writer series, Character Relationships: 4 Relationship Dynamics, Character Maps, & Story Scenarios or continue reading the post.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riWPftzOQzQ

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4 CHARACTER RELATIONSHIP DYNAMICS

Character relationships can fall in four main dynamics, including family, friendships, love or romantic, and work or business. Characters also have different roles. Family is the main relationship of most characters and consists of parents, siblings, grandparents, daughters, cousins, nephews, nieces, uncles, aunts, or sons. Writers can organize family characters based on those that are nuclear and those that are extended. Nuclear family are the most close-knit relatives within one's household, while extended family are relatives outside of one's family household. Below you can see how I organized my Savage family characters in my workspace Notion, based on nuclear and extended relatives. Each character is also labeled based on the family role they play and their occupations.

The fictional Savage family characters of my book series, organized by nuclear and extended family in Notion.

Friendships can be casual friends, close friends, sidekicks, kindred spirits, or acquaintances. Love or romantic connections includes wives, husbands, fiancées, fiancés, or significant others, while work or business includes bosses, supervisors, captains, coworkers, associates, colleagues, or other partners. By using these titles, writers can identify and determine which roles characters play based on their importance or significance within the storyline. As I mentioned in a previous blog post about nine generic characters, there are three main categories that distinguish characters from one another in a story:

• ROLE

  
  

• DEVELOPMENT

  
  

• DESCRIPTION

For role, there are also three main types of characters:

• MAJOR or LEAD CHARACTERS

  
  

• SECONDARY or SUPPORTING CHARACTERS

• MINOR CHARACTERS

  
  

Hence, this is the makeup of an entire cast of characters. The major or primary characters are the protagonists or main characters that have the most showtime, the secondary or supporting characters are next in line, playing significant roles in the protagonists' lives while helping them to attain their story goals. And finally, the minor characters are those who; in some cases, may be nameless or make only a few appearances within the story.

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HOW TO CREATE CHARACTER MAPS

A character map I made in Milanote based on my Hallelujah Praise series.

While having a large cast, it can be difficult to keep track of so many characters and the roles they play, but another simple way writers can do this besides writing a cast list is by creating character maps or character relationship maps. Character relationship maps are diagrams that show the story relationships between a protagonist or main character with other fellow characters and the roles that other characters play in the protagonist's life and the storyline.

It can also allow writers to visually see where conflicts or complications will arise and take place between different characters based on their story roles. Writers can create character maps using online software programs like Milanote or Gitmind, or they can draw one by hand and paste pictures of characters on a poster for a visual board. As you can see in the image above is an example of a character map based on my Hallelujah Praise series.

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HOW TO CREATE STORY SCENARIOS

In order to create story scenarios, it's important to know what they are. Story scenarios are situational setups or story situations. Using critical thinking, writers can setup story scenarios for the plotlines in their books. These can be created by outlining a character, a setting, and a problem or some type of conflict. For example, a man who's robbed by a criminal in a convenience store, or a woman bullied by her male associates on a construction site. These are two examples of story scenarios. Two resources that can help assist writers with story scenarios are the Master Lists for Writers and 5,000 Writing Prompts by Bryn Donovan.

CLOSING REMARKS:

Building believable, authentic character relationships is a process that takes time, patience, creativity, and strategic thinking. These relationships are vital for a cohesive storyline because with them also comes dialogue interactions that have positive or negative effects upon characters, their development, and determines the course of an entire storyline. While creating character relationships, think through about the significance of your characters' roles and how they play into your own fictional stories. For more writing videos or tutorials, subscribe to my writing channel Journey of a Christian Writer series. Okay, that's all this post. If you enjoyed it and found it helpful, please, give a (heart❤️), take part in the poll 🤔, and share your thoughts or comments 💬 below.) 

Happy Writing! 😊✍🏽💻

🤔Hey, writers, which of the four character relationship dynamics have you used the least in your stories?

• 👨‍👩‍👦‍👦 Family
• 👭 Friendships
• 👩‍❤️‍👨 Love or Romantic
• 👷‍♂️ Work or Business