Writing About: A President

FYI: This is a literature post for writers who are interested in writing about a fictional president. This is not a political post. Please keep that in mind. Thank you!

In chapter twenty of my final supernatural-thriller, I introduce a new character: the President of the United States of America. And while I was creating this powerful character, I realized the most difficult character a writer could EVER create is a president. Being a president is the toughest job any person could have and trying to mimic that, even in fiction, is far from easy!

Who is Tomas? Probably not who you think. ;)

Image by Chrys Fey.

Here are three options you can use to help you create a president: 

1.   You could create an evil president. 

To achieve this you would have to describe a mean, narcissistic personality and how this president does things potentially dangerous to the citizens of the country he/she rules. The president could relish in his/her power in a godlike manner, have a thirst for revenge that could include killing, and/or want to secretly bring down the country. Make sure to reveal the state of the country to show the impact of his/her reign.

2.   The other option is to create your ideal president. 

What type of qualities would you like to see in a president? What issues would you want him/her to support? While this method takes after your opinion, it would be wise to consider showing the president in a different light for the sake of remaining  neutral. You can do this by including a character who may not agree with everything your fictional president does in your book.

3.   Or you could try to fashion a president most people could be satisfied with. 

This is by far the trickiest method and the one I took. To do this, you will have to compile a list of traits that others look for in a president and combine as many of them as you can. Trying to create a president everyone can be happy is very well impossible, but the odds of more people liking that fictional president is a bit greater if that is your goal.

Next you will have to complete a character profile. I included gender and race because even though I would like to say that these details don’t matter, it is obvious when it comes to a president (even now-a-days) it does. That doesn’t mean you can’t use whatever gender/race you want, you certainly can! It's you're book!

·         Name:
·         Age:
·         Gender:
·         Race:
·         Party:
·         Position on Issues:
·         Personality:

Don't forget to also consider what he/she would look like as you would with any other character. Just because they are presidential doesn't mean you can't reveal what eye color they have.

Bring Characters to Life!

And if your president has a major role instead of a small role then you'll have to go even more in-depth while creating him/her. Does your evil president chew cinnamon gum like a camel? Does your honorable president like sugar in his coffee? Does she wear a fancy red scarf every day? 

Characters Make a Book

So who is Tomas, you ask?

Here he is:

He's my families cat! :P
I didn't have pictures for this post, so I improvised. 

Image by Chrys Fey.

QUESTIONS: 

1. Have you created a presidential character? How did you do it?

2. Which type of presidential character would you be more interested in reading or writing about: an evil president or an honorable president?


REMINDER: This isn’t a political post, so any comments bashing past presidents or the current president will be deleted. Keep it nice and clean. Thank you!