Dual Nature Characters

Whilst most Codex entries for characters are straight forward, there may come a time where you are unsure about how to structure them. What if you are writing about a Superman-like person, who has an alter-ego? Or a transformation story inspired by Jekyll and Hyde? Or your character has multiple personalities, and you would like a way to document them sensitively, but separate from the primary persona.

The various facets of your character might have distinct voices, motivations, appearances, and relationships with other characters. Without clear documentation, these differences can blur together, leading to inconsistent characterization.

For AI assistance, being clear is especially crucial. AI models can struggle with understanding that two seemingly different characters are actually the same person in different states, leading to outputs that mix traits inappropriately or miss the significance of the duality.

Or, even worse, the two identities interact with each other!

When should I use this?

• Your character has a genuine split personality or a transformation
• Your character maintains a secret identity (superhero/civilian, spy with covers)
• Your character undergoes a significant transformation that essentially creates a new person, and you don’t want to replace the old codex entry
• You need to track which characters know about which identity

How

We have several options for documenting these complex characters, and you can choose the one that best fits your story’s needs. Depending on if you’re hand-writing, or using AI, you may find that different methods work for you.

Option 1: Single Entry with Sections

The most managable option for the human-writer, however some smaller models may not understand all of the nuances.

Best for: Characters whose identities are known to be connected or where the duality is straightforward.

I recommend including a note about how subtle you want these transformations are. You may need to specify in your scene and/or beat which persona is present, if the AI is getting it wrong.

Option 2: Linked, but Separate Entries

This option is good for if you find that you have to ‘hand-hold’ the AI models in the scene beats.

Best for: Characters whose identities are meant to seem separate to readers for part of the story, or where the personalities are dramatically different. Also great for superheroes.

Option 3: Single Entry with Progression Markers

Option 1, but on steroids.

Best for: Characters whose transformations occur at specific points in your narrative and where tracking the timing of changes is important.

Case study

Let’s look how we might create a Codex entry for Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde from Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic novella, using the single entry approach.

Potential Tweaks

Now, it may be that as we write, we notice that the triggers for transformation get tangled up. At this point, we might decide we need to utilise method 3, and add some progress additions. Or, we find that the characters that shouldn’t know about the transformation do. In that case, we may want to go to the secondary character’s Codex entry and add in additional notes regarding their knowledge.

Troubleshooting

Characters transform at inappropriate moments

During writing, your dual-nature character suddenly shifts identity without proper narrative setup, or fails to transform when they should based on established triggers.

Cause: Vague or missing documentation about specific transformation triggers and conditions.

Solution:

1. Create a dedicated “Transformation Triggers” section in your Codex entry that clearly outlines:

   • Exact circumstances that cause transformations
   • Any progression in how transformations work throughout the story
   • What factors prevent change

2. Mention in your beats if a transformation occurs or not. Don’t let the AI guess if you know in advance if a shift should occur. Mention your character by name throughout, using the correct aliases for each part of the scene.

Character knowledge blurs between identities

e.g. Jekyll recalls events that happened only to Hyde when he shouldn’t have this memory.

Cause: Insufficient clarity about what each identity knows about the other’s experiences.

Solution: Include a specific “Memory/Knowledge” section that states:

• What each identity remembers about the other’s actions
• How this memory relationship might evolve
• Key information that should remain exclusively with one identity

You can use codex progressions for this, or document the information on the secondary character’s Codex.

Secondary characters respond inconsistently

A character who shouldn’t know about the dual nature addresses Hyde as Jekyll, or characters react with surprise repeatedly to a transformation they’ve already witnessed.

Cause: Missing documentation about who knows the secret and when they discovered it.

Solution: Add additional information to the Codex of the secondary character, to state:

• Which identities they know of
• How they typically respond to each identity

Voice and dialogue inconsistencies

The character’s distinct speech patterns blend together, making identities less distinct.

Cause: There is not enough detail on how the two voices differ.

Solution: Develop separate voice guides for each identity, specifying:

• Vocabulary preferences
• Sentence structure and length
• Speech quirks and verbal tics
• Emotional expression patterns
• Example dialogue that exemplifies their distinct voice

Or use a voice sheet to really direct how the characters should speak.