What My Favorite Characters Taught Me About Writing

My life is slowly but surely starting to become consumed with Camp Nanowrimo and the madness that comes with it. That of course means that I’ve been thinking a lot about writing and - since I’m at the beginning of my novel - creating good characters.

One thing that always inspires me in that area is the characters I most love. When a writer makes you care for a character and become emotionally invested in their story, they’ve done something right. They’ve created a real person that you can relate to, and root for. And want to do no less. So I've been learning to study just why I love some of my favorite characters, and what that can teach me about how to write good ones.

Complicated is Good.

In other words, no one likes (or relates to) one-dimensional characters. A great character is complex. They have different motivations, which sometimes compete with each other. For example, my favorite character, Jane Eyre, was always committed to doing the right thing. But she also felt an obligation to care for Mr. Rochester, whom she'd fallen in love with. When those two motivations came to odds with each other, she was left with a difficult choice that defined the rest of the story. Few things are as exciting to readers than internal battles like that one.

Even Villains Can Promote Empathy.

Sometimes, we fall in love with "bad" characters. They're characters that so often do the wrong thing, but they've got some redeeming quality we admire, which is why we secretly root for them. That can be said of Regina (aka the Evil Queen) from Once Upon a Time. She killed and tortured others for years, but viewers know it was because she had been deeply hurt and lost her true love. Obviously that doesn't make her actions excusable, but it does mean that viewers were more likely to root for her to get back on the right foot and find love again.

Great Characters Drive the Story - the Story Doesn’t Drive Them.

The most successful characters are those that make the story their own. No matter where the plot goes, you can expect these kinds of characters to act consistently. That doesn’t mean they won’t surprise you, but it does mean their actions will make sense, in one way or another. I think one of the worst things a writer can do is be so focused on the plot that they make their characters act a certain way just to fit into it. One of my favorite examples of this is Katniss Everdeen. Throughout the Hunger Games series, Katniss was brave, but stubborn. She always chose to do what was right (or right in order to survive), no matter what the circumstances. I may not have always agreed with her decisions, but I definitely saw her as a very real and inspiring character.

These are just a few of the things my favorite characters have taught me. Fortunately for me, I've got quite a list of favorite characters, so I'm sure there's even more inspiring ideas to learn from.

Do you recognize any of these traits in your favorite characters?

#writing