Issues. We all have them in many forms. Some are contemporary. 'Can I pay the bills this month? Will my day job still be here next week?' and a rash of other problems facing us every day. Some have been with us since childhood such as relationships with parents, siblings and friends. Some we've added in our adult years with interactions between us and significant others and perhaps our careers.
We all have issues and deal with them in our own ways. But as writers, it's important our characters have issues. The most interesting protagonist has a history and it shouldn't be all silver spoons and rose beds. Past experiences mold people. These experiences may strengthen a person or instill them with their greatest weakness. Sometimes our characters are aware of the issues driving them and creating a great story for the reader. Perhaps our characters aren't aware of their motivations and the issues behind them. A writer can weave an complex tale and slowly reveal a character history. A character without issues, perfect and without fault, is boring.
Antagonist need a history too. They can't be totally evil. A great story has a complex bad guy with issues of his or her own.
Issues. Everyone has to have them, especially our characters. Did you ever read a book where the hero or heroine was too perfect? How about a bad guy too perfectly evil? Have you read a book where you've admired the weaving of a character's issues with the plot of the novel?
7 comments:
Preston and Child do that well with their character Pendergast.
Giving characters, both protagonist and antagonist, depth is the challenge of all writers. When it's done well...WOW!
I often think this character is just like so and so. When I think that I know the author has written someone I'm going to keep reading.
Great post. I read a book last year where one of the minor characters had issues and then at the end they all seemed to be forgotten - not resolved, just forgotten. Not good!
Ellie Garratt
I thought I'd never read the Harry Potter books. Not my genre, I thought. But then I got curious as to what all the fuse was about. I ended up reading all of them. Not just Harry, but all the characters, have their issues and they are are done so well.
I like your blog and look forward to reading more posts.
I struggled with giving my characters flaws before - I'm getting much better at this! It's fun to add in the backgrounds that cause their personality quirks! :)
Thanks for this great post - I've been having trouble with my MC . . and I think she needs a few issues to make her a little more human.
Post a Comment