Creating realistic, fictional characters
The process of creating believable and engaging fictional characters is a complex and challenging endeavor that requires careful consideration of various factors.
Every writer should aim to craft realistic fictional characters whose stories create an emotional arc for the reader, taking them on a journey of feelings and experiences. Yet this is easier said than done.
Authors must learn how to seize readers and hook them hard.
Engaging the reader starts with a clever or intriguing first line and never lets up.
During the opening paragraphs, one can captivate the audience by either evoking sympathy through the protagonist’s struggles, starting at a crucial moment filled with tension, or introducing a mysterious element that piques the reader’s curiosity.
These simple hooks may create interest, but eventually they play themselves out because while a character’s hardship or pain may generate some sympathetic feelings from the audience, only genuine empathy can spark a reader-character bond.
It’s important to forge this connection as soon as possible so the reader will recognize the protagonist as honorable or deserving to make him worth caring about.
So, if empathy is the cable tying readers to characters, how do writers secure this line early on and keep their audience engaged? Simple. Add punch to a hook by showing the hero’s personality in a positive light.
For example, a hardened criminal digging through a trash bin for scraps might make for an unusual opening scene. But since readers know that he’s a criminal, they may wonder if he’s brought his misfortune upon himself. Because they can’t empathize with him, they don’t care too much about his situation.
But what if he’s providing for a trio of orphans rescued from a child-smuggling ring? By hinting at a positive aspect of his personality right away, his kindness, a sense of responsibility, or the desire to protect someone vulnerable, he becomes far more interesting, and readers glimpse a hero who is worth believing in.
The character also becomes intriguing because of the questions this added information raises: if he’s a criminal, why did he save the children? Why does he care? What made him look beyond himself to help someone else?
Suggesting the why behind character behavior is the second half of any successful hook. “Show don’t tell,” applies, meaning behavior and actions are the best vehicles for revealing a character’s personality.
The why tells us a bit about who the character is, shedding light on what morals and values he holds dear.
Revealing a protagonist’s positive attributes can also elicit admiration, even for an unlikable hero, and tells the audience that this is someone worth getting to know. Reading hints of greatness through a character’s actions and personality helps readers to become emotionally invested.
WHAT IS A POSITIVE ATTRIBUTE?
Many theories on a character’s personality exist, and while there are differences of opinion, people agree everyone is a unique blend of traits that satisfy basic wants and needs according to one’s moral code.
A person’s upbringing, genetics, and experiences will determine which positive, neutral, and negative traits emerge, and to what degree.
Character strengths aid us in fulfilling our needs and desires and encouraging self-growth, while weaknesses often hold us back.
In some situations, it’s difficult to tell a weakness from a strength, especially since flaws may form out of an understandable desire to keep us from being hurt.
Within a story, the protagonist’s strengths and weaknesses play important roles in their character arc, so it is critical for authors to know which traits are flaws and which are not.
Flaws are traits that damage or minimize relationships and do not consider the well-being of others. They are self-focused rather than other-focused. By this definition, jealousy belongs to the flaws. Jealous characters focus on their own wants and insecurities.
Positive attributes are traits that produce personal growth or help a character achieve goals through healthy means. They also enhance relationships and benefit others. Honorable, for instance, is easy to place on the positive side of the personality wheel. A person of noble character will always strive for success through ethical means, and his compassionate nature will lead him to nurture and improve his connections with others throughout his journey.