Hopelessly Lost, But Making Good Time #72

By Pam Bliss
April 1, 2007

Hello, and welcome back to "Hopelessly Lost ...," the series about making you own comics for people who answer all of life's big questions by making up stories, and for those who enjoy reading the results. This is the third, and final, installment of our sub series about shapeshifting characters for comics, and once again I'll be suggesting questions a creator needs to answer when creating these characters and the stories they will play in.

Technical questions

Even if you have decided what type of shapeshifter your character is, defined all the basic terms, and developed the alternate form(s) as characters in their own right, there are still a lot of technical questions to answer if you want to write and draw him or her in a realistic way. Remember that treating imaginary subjects as if they are absolutely real is the secret of convincing storytelling, and the more far fetched or fantastic the story the more important that is.

First, it's important to make sure that that you've tied up all the loose ends in your basic shapeshifting concept or concepts. This is also a good time to add all those telling little details and gimmicks that make your characters and their backgrounds unique, and which make such good hooks for attaching plots. An easy way to do this is to make a list of essential questions, and make sure you have an interesting answer for each of them. Here, purely as an example, is my own list. If you have a number of different characters with different shapeshifting techniques, make sure your answers help define, and perhaps highlight, the differences.

Are the character's transformations voluntary, involuntary, or both?
If they are sometimes or always involuntary, what are the circumstances that trigger the change?
Can the character stop the transformation partway, and use the transitional form? A werewolf, for example, may have three forms: human, "wolfman", and true wolf. If so, be sure to define the transitional form as yet a third character.
How long does the change take? Is it painful, or debilitating, or exhausting?
How long can the character remain in his or her alternate form without having to change back? Are their some circumstances which always make him change back?
What is the biological relationship between the two forms? Does food eaten by one form nourish the other, is one form rested when the other one sleeps?
What happens if the alternate form is injured? Does this trigger a "failsafe" that transforms the character back to the primary form? Does the damage "carry over"? If a werewolf loses a toe in a trap while in wolf form, does his human form lose a finger?
What happens if the alternate form is killed? This may vary with the type of shapeshifter. A shaman may simply wake up back in his own tent her spell or trance over; a magician may suffer magical or physical damage (or both) and may also lose her ability to transform; a natural shapeshifter like a werewolf will probably die.

And, of course, what happens to the primary form's clothing when she transforms? Don't laugh. This is an essential question that has serious storytelling implications, as well as possibly creating extra work for the artist. A shaman might undress as part of the ritual, while dignified magicians often transform clothes and all. Scientific shapeshifters often find their clothing torn dramatically but still remain modestly covered.

Natural shapeshifters frequently find themselves naked in awkward circumstances when forced to "turn human" unexpectedly, and tend to leave changes of clothes stashed around their usual haunts. It's easy enough to define the transformation in such a way as to avoid this problem, but having your hero end up shivering behind a strategically placed bush or piece of furniture is much more fun for the writer, for the artist, and for the audience as well, especially if the character is easy on the eyes.

Questions with wider implications

The basic larger question is: in what kind of world, and what kind of culture, does your story take place?

How do your shapeshifting characters relate to their culture, and how does the culture perceive shapeshifters? A werewolf who lives in a culture that thinks werewolves are a myth will have a much easier life than one who lives where people believe in them and hunt them down with silver bullets. Shapeshifting in a "believing" culture has complex legal and moral implications, particularly if both forms are sentient, and are recognized as such. Is one form liable for crimes committed by the other form, or bound by contracts the other form signed? If one form takes a mate, what relationship, if any, does the other form have with that person or creature? An all-shapeshifter culture creates enough storytelling options to make any writer's head spin.

Or is this a culture where there is more than one kind of shapeshifting to contend with? The Wolf Shaman, out for an evening stroll in her alternate form, will be disconcerted at best to find herself imprisoned on suspicion of being a werewolf. A comic with an all-shapeshifter cast, each character being a different type, with all their varying forms, strengths and weaknesses, set in a culture where people believe in some kinds of shapeshifting but not others, or only one kind, or none, is a concept that practically writes itself.

Last, there's the science fiction question, which you must answer if you want your story to be read as SF rather than horror, fantasy, magical realism, folklore or any other genre where things "just work that way." This question is "what happens to the mass when a 100 kg human transforms into a 30kg wolf, or a 4 kg black cat?" Scientific types will tell you it either has to go somewhere, or be discharged as energy. Unless the character's primary form and alternate form have the same mass (and you can fudge a little) it's this big unexplained difference that drives the pickier science fiction types absolutely crazy. You can get around this by ensuring that the two forms do have the same mass (Weretapir, anyone? Wereelk? Or is the werewolf's alternate form just an extraordinarily large or heavy wolf?) or you can go to great lengths to research and create an explanation involving physics or alternate dimensions or string theory or some such thing. I will wait here for you.

I'm just careful to not call my stories science fiction, so I don't have to worry about it.

Finally

Finally, remember that you can use shapeshifting characters in a story that takes place in the kind of universe where "real" shapeshifting is just a little too far-fetched. Some transformations are one time affairs. The prince who is turned into a frog, then restored with a kiss, is a classic example. Curses are common causes of such transformations, but they can also be the results of magical or scientific accidents.

And there's always the singular, unexplained character, like the aforementioned Dougal who just happens to be able to turn into a black cat. Sometimes odd things do just happen, even in the "real world" and as long as Dougal remains a minor character, he just adds a little flavor of mystery to a mundane storyline. If he becomes the most popular character in the series, and you find him taking over all the plots, then you may end up creating a different kind of story than the one you had planned, but such is life. Any resemblance to my own personal experience with a certain werewolf is purely intentional.

Next time: something else. Until then, go out and make some comics.

Pam Bliss has been making comics since 1989, and the minicomic, in all its infinite variety, is her favorite form. Her cartoon short stories are set in the perfect Midwestern small town, Kekionga, Indiana, where just about anything can happen. Her new ongoing series, KEKIONGA, explores the mysteries of that most mysterious place through the eyes of an innocent young superhero. For more about all the Kekionga stories, visit www.paradisevalleycomics.com. Or, for updates on work in progress, essays on storytelling and other subjects, auto industry comments and random stuff, including a thrilling weekly adventure serial, read Sharkipede's LiveJournal No Silver Cars at http://www.livejournal.com/users/sharkipede/.

Paradise Valley Comics
No Silver Cars
Sparky's Minicomics Tips:
- Part One
- Part Two