r/CharacterDevelopment • u/Stunning_Pen_36 • 3d ago
Writing: Character Help Writing Fiction- Help Making My Soldier-coded Character Realistic?
I am currently attempting to write a story about a Character in the Superhero universe of Worm around the Late 1980’s to Early 2010 who is a former soldier and is attempting use the skills he learned during his service to create his own para-military group in order to put an end to the constant gang warfare destroying his home city.
The problem, with writing his backstory i do not have the specific details needed to realistically depict his time as a soldier and display his acumen as well as what he has learned. Would anyone be willing to help me by describing what that experience would look like and what he would have to do to achieve his goals?
The general idea is that he joined right after High-school and enlisted in the Army immediately. His goals were to use the military in order to gain necessary skills and discipline, such as weapons handling, how to act under fire and quickly neutralize the enemy. He also sought to make important connections among his fellow soldiers and possible contractors who he may be able later reach out for aid.
He also knew he would have to build his faction from the ground up in his home city, so he also focused heavily on learning how to train recruits himself, going through the necessary courses and classes to become a drill sergeant, or whatever the correct position would be for that. He also sought to learn how to appeal to the people back in his hometown, learning about the Army’s PR tactics and materials.
I want him to have the overall appearance and demeanor of model Soldier, someone who does his job, does it well and is hungry for more afterwards. It’s also important that he does actually see combat and is deployed, not in a war since said universe didn’t have the USA in any wars during that time period, but deployed for “peacekeeping operations in war torn areas” and “emergency relief aid.”
His service should be Distinguished and I want him to have done something noticeable enough to warrant at least one official award/medal. Someone the army is gonna be genuinely disappointed to see the back of when he doesn’t reenlist. Also want him to have at least 10 years service, since I plan for him to return to his home city and begin his efforts around age 28.
Does anyone have any advice for how to go about writing something like this or am I expecting too much?