Why should I read about your character?

[bilance]

What does it take for you to want to read a story about a character? Do they have to relate to you in someway? Is their circumstance interesting enough to keep you hook?

For me, I always find the support character much more interesting than the main character. Heck I even love the villians. So why is it difficult to have the main character be interesting? What do they lack or did the author simple made them a lens for readers to enjoy the story through.

[RAVENEYE]

Good questions. Makes me wonder if lots of authors are falling into a trap like "this is the kind of character people like so I'll just go with this type of hero" instead of making their main character flawed and messed up and as interesting as the villains. Generic hero is not cool. Boring, for sure.

Rather scary, actually, and makes me question if I've done the same without realizing it.

The opposite of boring hero characters can be found in China Mieville's novels. Wow, his main characters do some seriously bad stuff, usually with good intentions, but with horrible consequences. And they're weird to begin with. Dark and strange, but you end up liking them--most of the time. I guess an exception for me would be his characters in "Iron Council." I didn't like any of the characters in that book. They were a bit too weird, and I couldn't relate much.

So, yeah, I think being able to identify with some aspect of the main character, their struggle, their setbacks, their quirks even, does help. Maybe that's why some people like certain stories and others don't. Hmm ... a big question to ponder.

[Alatariel]

These are the exact questions I ask myself ALL THE TIME. I agonize over this to an obsessive degree because I'm super sensitive to boring characters or characters with zero growth.

I think we tend to play it safe with our main characters and give them arcs that are "typical" hero journey type arcs. And maybe because we've been subjected to so many bland main characters we believe this is how they are supposed to be. I remember reading Stephanie Meyers (Twilight) saying she purposefully made Bella generic so she was more "relatable" and that young girls could place themselves in the story more easily. I think a lot of authors also write themselves as the main character but don't want them to be "Mary Sue's" and so they take them down too many notches and end up with cardboard.

This is a FAIL in my mind because that's not why most people read books. It's a huge mistake to purposefully make characters bland so we can impose ourselves into the story. Sure, we might fantasize about being part of a story world, but the reason I do that is MAINLY because I love the characters. Sometimes it's because of world-building but usually I want these pretend people to be my friends.

I also find the side characters and villains to be more compelling and vibrant. The rogue, the villain with good intentions, the comic relief who has secret trauma...

So right now with my WIP, I keep stalling because I feel like my main characters aren't awesome enough and the only person to blame is me. I always ask myself why I love certain characters and ultimately it comes down to ONE thing...

My favorite characters all have at least one passion that informs all their choices. I absolutely love ridiculous comedy TV shows like The Office, Parks and Rec, Brooklyn 99, How I Met Your Mother, and Frasier. I can take each character and tell you exactly what drives them forward, even the ones on the boring side are vastly more interesting and nuanced than characters in most drama TV shows.

For example: Leslie Knope - she LOVES government and she's super positive, ethical, optimistic, energetic, and a hard worker. She will get things done at a ridiculous speed and at a high quality, she will be thoughtful and deeply compassionate. She's not naive...at first, yes, but once she realized government is all about quid pro quo and no one elected is actually qualified to run a government she still believes in it, loves it, and works to change it. Even when it kicks her in the heart over and over.

An example of a character that I consider BLAND: Elena from Vampire Diaries. She's the main character (it's her diary), the main love interest everyone goes ga-ga over, and she's constantly in trouble. She's in like...eight seasons of this show and I can't tell you her passions or interests or what drives her...it's kind of a vague "I will do anything for my friends and family" but that's not interesting. That's basically everyone. It doesn't make her memorable. The entire time, when another hunky vampire declares his love for her, I ask "but why?" Because I can't understand what about her personality sets her apart from literally every other person in the world.

Anyways...I have tons of thoughts in this subject and could talk endlessly on it. Basically, it comes down to more than a character bio, backstory, and your character's favorite type of music. What drives them forward? What informs all their choices? What is at their core? I think we should be able to boil down our characters to this one thing...and that's why I struggle. Because I take my two main characters and I'm like oh no, their core is as bland as Elena's. A vague notion of "I don't want to hurt people" or "I want to get home/off the island (Lost)" is boring and common. Unless you can specifically create a scenario in your story that directly challenges those boring/common notions in the most elaborate way. Like, in the show The 100, the entire premise is about survival. What will we do to survive? And the writers picked the most heart-wrenching and morally taxing ways to ask that question. They pushed the characters to make impossible choices, all based around the theme of survival and who deserves to survive. It's one of my favorite shows. I think Clark becomes a very interesting and complex character even though she started out as the typical cardboard cut-out blonde girl leader-type.

Ok...I'm gonna stop blabbing now.

[bilance]

I'll be sure to check that China Mieville guy out Raveneye. Sounds like I might be going for the same kind of character as him.

I agree with the being able to identify with the main character thing. But for me I personally don't want to read about another angsty teen with issues that other people can't understand. Sure it relates to a lot of people but I don't find the enjoyment of reading them. They become too predictable. A dime in dozen.

[bilance]

Feb 15, 2021 13:56:14 GMT -6 Alatariel said:

These are the exact questions I ask myself ALL THE TIME. I agonize over this to an obsessive degree because I'm super sensitive to boring characters or characters with zero growth.

I think we tend to play it safe with our main characters and give them arcs that are "typical" hero journey type arcs. And maybe because we've been subjected to so many bland main characters we believe this is how they are supposed to be. I remember reading Stephanie Meyers (Twilight) saying she purposefully made Bella generic so she was more "relatable" and that young girls could place themselves in the story more easily. I think a lot of authors also write themselves as the main character but don't want them to be "Mary Sue's" and so they take them down too many notches and end up with cardboard.

This is a FAIL in my mind because that's not why most people read books. It's a huge mistake to purposefully make characters bland so we can impose ourselves into the story. Sure, we might fantasize about being part of a story world, but the reason I do that is MAINLY because I love the characters. Sometimes it's because of world-building but usually I want these pretend people to be my friends.

I also find the side characters and villains to be more compelling and vibrant. The rogue, the villain with good intentions, the comic relief who has secret trauma...

So right now with my WIP, I keep stalling because I feel like my main characters aren't awesome enough and the only person to blame is me. I always ask myself why I love certain characters and ultimately it comes down to ONE thing...

My favorite characters all have at least one passion that informs all their choices. I absolutely love ridiculous comedy TV shows like The Office, Parks and Rec, Brooklyn 99, How I Met Your Mother, and Frasier. I can take each character and tell you exactly what drives them forward, even the ones on the boring side are vastly more interesting and nuanced than characters in most drama TV shows.

For example: Leslie Knope - she LOVES government and she's super positive, ethical, optimistic, energetic, and a hard worker. She will get things done at a ridiculous speed and at a high quality, she will be thoughtful and deeply compassionate. She's not naive...at first, yes, but once she realized government is all about quid pro quo and no one elected is actually qualified to run a government she still believes in it, loves it, and works to change it. Even when it kicks her in the heart over and over.

An example of a character that I consider BLAND: Elena from Vampire Diaries. She's the main character (it's her diary), the main love interest everyone goes ga-ga over, and she's constantly in trouble. She's in like...eight seasons of this show and I can't tell you her passions or interests or what drives her...it's kind of a vague "I will do anything for my friends and family" but that's not interesting. That's basically everyone. It doesn't make her memorable. The entire time, when another hunky vampire declares his love for her, I ask "but why?" Because I can't understand what about her personality sets her apart from literally every other person in the world.

Anyways...I have tons of thoughts in this subject and could talk endlessly on it. Basically, it comes down to more than a character bio, backstory, and your character's favorite type of music. What drives them forward? What informs all their choices? What is at their core? I think we should be able to boil down our characters to this one thing...and that's why I struggle. Because I take my two main characters and I'm like oh no, their core is as bland as Elena's. A vague notion of "I don't want to hurt people" or "I want to get home/off the island (Lost)" is boring and common. Unless you can specifically create a scenario in your story that directly challenges those boring/common notions in the most elaborate way. Like, in the show The 100, the entire premise is about survival. What will we do to survive? And the writers picked the most heart-wrenching and morally taxing ways to ask that question. They pushed the characters to make impossible choices, all based around the theme of survival and who deserves to survive. It's one of my favorite shows. I think Clark becomes a very interesting and complex character even though she started out as the typical cardboard cut-out blonde girl leader-type.

Ok...I'm gonna stop blabbing now.


I too love comedy over drama. And yes the character bio is very important and the character design as well. Here is an example gamepress.gg/arknights/operator/shaw I never played the game arknights and only knew it through advertisement but then this character caught my eye and when I looked at her character bio. I knew if I played that game. I would really want her to be on my team. This fan music video basically sealed the deal for me (it is a Japanese song fyi)  I could be biased but I felt that she was a really interesting introvert. But as a main character I'm not sure how to pull it off so that other people would like her.

[RAVENEYE]

Feb 15, 2021 23:06:11 GMT -6 bilance said:

I'll be sure to check that China Mieville guy out Raveneye. Sounds like I might be going for the same kind of character as him.

I agree with the being able to identify with the main character thing. But for me I personally don't want to read about another angsty teen with issues that other people can't understand. Sure it relates to a lot of people but I don't find the enjoyment of reading them. They become too predictable. A dime in dozen.

Oh, totally. I think the relatability can be broader than that, for sure. There's a universality in pain and suffering and struggle, hope and ambition, etc. that all humans relate to, and no matter what the character's age, station, situation, quirks, etc. it's these universal things that resonate with readers. It's just sad when authors stick these relatable things inside generic characters that are otherwise boring. Cardboard, like others have said. 

They're either playing it safe, or their imaginations are getting lazy.

Heh, yeah, Mieville. Definitely the least lazy imagination I've ever read. He shows me how puny my own is. The dude either suffers from night terrors or enjoys LSD trips to come up with some of this stuff. And his characters are not angsty teens, but mature adults who royally screw up. My advice: start with Perdido Street Station. If you survive that book, move on to The Scar (my favorite). Good luck!

[Bird]

I like to read characters that are diverse not just in their personality, but in their skin tone and gender and sexuality and culture. *gets on my soapbox* (Especially for novels that take place on Earth or fantasy world that use Earth-like systems to classify people based on race -- if you don't factor in how skin color plays a role in the character's life, then what rock do you live under? Many parts of the world - especially the US - still discriminate and harm people based on darker skin tones. Does that mean you go all out? No. But it does mean having that nuance at least alluded to or influencing the character in subtle ways. The fact that some jerks think this is too "SJW" really speaks to people's nonacceptance of folks not like them or is a reflection of privilege. Examining these aspects in a character is not too "SJW." It's called writing a good character with nuance that reflects the influence of their culture and environment.)

Anyway, *gets off my soapbox* I love novels that examine those nuances. N.K. Jemisen for example does an amazing job of delving deep into oppression and liberation ideas through the use of a fantastical world that includes people who can shape the earth. The story hinges around the love of a mother and daughter but the themes that are unveiled span an entire world in the end.

I love flawed characters who are more grey-area -- where they do good or bad things (as judged by us, the reader), but no matter the character's intentions, the impact always outweighs their intent. And seeing how they navigate that is fascinating.

Some people claim that writing a book where a character is always reacting to the world around them is bad, and to that I say, hogwash. I like reading those books because they reflect more of what I go through. Lots of shit happen to me that I couldn't control, and thus I reacted to it. That's been a good portion of my life. When I finally was able to take action into my own hands, it was in a very limited scope, and many of these reactive character books embody that same vein. The character is trapped in a reactive cycle, until they find a way to take action on their own but often it is in a limited scope or with an impact that was not at all what they intended. Seeing this in fiction speaks to the marginalized person's experience, and fancy-pants critiquers that disparage this genre is failing to see the beauty inherent within these character's journeys. Not everyone is an "I-do-all-my-own-action-and-never-react-to-things-happening-to-me-hero." Sometimes we're the bug under the giants foot that keeps getting smashed into the ground until we find a way to bite that foot.

Ok, what a terrible metaphor. But hopefully it gets my point across. haha.

Also, I'm not writing this to debate anyone. Just answering the question and thinking about the articles I've read that gave "tips" on characters.

[StarGirl06]

I used to think this was just me. I usually find the main character annoying in some way, especially if they are female, such as Bella from Twilight and Katniss from The Hunger Games. There are some exceptions in a trilogy called Eve of Man, I really like Eve, the main character, she's not so annoying to me compared the Bella or Katniss and because of this I thought it was the type of books I read. I'm glad feeling like this isn't just me.

I think this has made me struggle to write my own main female characters, I tend to focus on other characters and I'm left with a flat main character that's just there being kind of useless while the others shine more. I don't know, maybe I'm being harsh on myself here but I've noticed my characters do tend to sound the same which I need to work on. Like with my characters Reed and Lexie, they are from the same story and both have point of views but I seem to have left Lexie as she's the one who I see as the main character, but left her behind to focus on Reed, which makes him have more personality and be more interesting between the both of them. This is definitely something I need to work on, especially with my female characters. This is most likely just me but it might be because I'm female, writing the opposite sex is more interesting to me. Also something to work on with my characters because I do know it shouldn't matter what gender they are, they need to be interesting to be worth reading about and I can't just fill my stories with male characters. Well I could but wouldn't that be a bit weird?

I think I've gone off on a bit of a rant but yeah, it's interesting to me how side characters can come across as more interesting than the main character and "should" be the main one. However, there's most likely a reason for them to be a side character. Would these characters become less interesting if they were a main? I guess it does depend on how the POV is written.

This reminds me I managed to finish The Lost Boys series by Lilian Carmine recently and my favorite character was Vigil but he wasn't in it much compared to other characters, however to me he was by far the most intriguing one out of all of them and wished he'd been in it more haha.

[Alatariel]

Feb 17, 2021 4:27:51 GMT -6 StarGirl06 said:

I used to think this was just me. I usually find the main character annoying in some way, especially if they are female, such as Bella from Twilight and Katniss from The Hunger Games. There are some exceptions in a trilogy called Eve of Man, I really like Eve, the main character, she's not so annoying to me compared the Bella or Katniss and because of this I thought it was the type of books I read. I'm glad feeling like this isn't just me.

I think this has made me struggle to write my own main female characters, I tend to focus on other characters and I'm left with a flat main character that's just there being kind of useless while the others shine more. I don't know, maybe I'm being harsh on myself here but I've noticed my characters do tend to sound the same which I need to work on. Like with my characters Reed and Lexie, they are from the same story and both have point of views but I seem to have left Lexie as she's the one who I see as the main character, but left her behind to focus on Reed, which makes him have more personality and be more interesting between the both of them. This is definitely something I need to work on, especially with my female characters. This is most likely just me but it might be because I'm female, writing the opposite sex is more interesting to me. 

Stargirl, I think you've definitely hit something there. I'm a heterosexual woman, so writing the male character interests me because I write what I want. But also, I wonder how much society and the media has impacted our view of female characters? For a long time, we were treated as objects, thing to be obtained, saved, won. Or we were shown as "strong" AKA emotionless robots because male writers think strength is showing zero emotion, except anger. 

Now we see more complex and nuanced women characters but they're still pretty rare, and growing up with only cardboard cutouts as role models our whole generation has suffered. We're told the only reason girls are main characters is because of Social Justice Warriors and the Politically Correct Police. It's infuriating. As Bird said, diverse characters are the best because it represents real life. There is no default human but hollywood wants us to believe white males are the only ones capable of being The Hero.

Ah, we can all rant a bit on this subject, can't we? I also think female characters get torn apart to shreds by critics. If the female main character shows emotion, breaks down, reacts to trauma in a realistic way, makes a rash choice or a mistake...critics swoop in and denounce the character as a worthy hero because of one mistake. Then you look at her male counterparts and the critics are silent. They can screw up a million times and people shrug and say "they're only human".

[bilance]

Alatariel I think you have a point on people disliking characters that breaks down or makes mistakes. But I won't point my finger at only females, if I have to read about an edgy male teenager that has this super awesome power and is basically hailed as the chosen subvert his role by needing to be cradled. I would shred him as well.

That brings back the question what would it take to make a reader enjoying reading about this sort of character. In terms of dealing with situation like trauma I would like them to have a positive trait. For example there is this reality show about obese people who wants to lose weight. I rather about a person willing to change and perhaps maybe fall back into his habit by lack of will power only to receive the scolding he deserves for showing the lack of commitment. That in which he really strove to get his achievement.

Compared to a a person who blames his parents or wife for making him the way that he is. Not showing any sense of responsibility for his condition with his close ones blaming themselves because they love him too much that they couldn't say no to what he wants. Which in the end of by some miracle he was able to get the surgery he needed to lose weight and have a bunch of people cheer for him. Realistic sure. But do I really read about this kind of character? If I do then how can I get the readers on the characters side?

Although what I worry is how on earth do we keep the readers interested when the characters have nothing much to do that is exciting. Such as the information gathering before the event. The preparation phase before going to fight the big boss. How can I keep them interested in following my character go about doing all these things.