Creating Lovable and Enduring Characters

Its every writer’s dream to create  lovable and enduring characters: a protagonist or supporting characters readers accept into their life and follow his or her literary journey.  These characters  find instant acceptance, they immediately   befriend a legion of  readers eager to  get to know them better and follow them through the pages.

Several things help to create Lovable and Enduring  characters. Here are a few of my thoughts:

1. A Lovable character  has to  Believable. Such a  character must be  as realistic as it’s possible. Then there is an instant  connection  between the reader and character. He or she has to belong to  a world the readers can identify. He or she has to have a real set of problems, much like the problems that haunt us.

2.  A Imperfect Character  who has several  flaws  and  shortcomings  endears himself to the readers. Perfect characters or characters with very few flaws have an artificiality about them. We have an instant dislike for these superior than thou creatures. We love people  who are as flawed as us.

3. A character  who is not afraid  of  Failure is one every reader will love. This character will sacrifice everything to win the conflict, a lot like Harry Potter. This character intensifies the tension with his or her determined attitude to plough through, inspite of the odds stacking up against him/her.

 4. A character not scared to show his or her Emotions. Afterall when a reader is following you page after page, they need to see you  warts and all. They need to see your joys as well as sorrows, your fears as well as strengths, your worries and concerns.   

 5. A character who encounters both Success and Failure is one readers identify with. Isn’t life all about the  highs and lows. The lows the protagonist undergoes makes us rejoice when he or she experiences a high. If a character keeps tasting failure without a bite of success, then the readers label him or her as a loser. And if the character only meets with success, then he is labeled as an overachiever, and the readers somewhere start resenting him.  

6. A character who has  several Inner Demons to conquer. This is as realistic as it can get and also becomes a mirror image of  all  of us.  Life is all about conquering fears. We have as many inner conflicts to overcome as  external conflicts to battle. And our fights with our inner demons is a constant one.

7. A character who arouses our Sympathy and wriggles his/her way into a corner of our heart forges a  bond : albeit a bond of sympathy. James (James and the Giant peach), Mathilda, poor Harry Potter  mistreated by his uncle and aunt, and bullied by his cousin, all wormed their way into our hearts.

8. A character who is slightly Mysterious; has several layers to his personality which have not yet been revealed, wins over anytime. The motives of such characters are not revealed immediately. The intrigued reader  is curious to know more about the character and sticks on despite the plot slackening in places.

What do you think goes into creating lovable and enduring characters? Which trait in a character appeals to you the most? How do you go all go about creating a well rounded character, a character readers will love? We all are eagerly awaiting your tips to perfect our own characters.

Do Characters make a Story?

Recently I read a book  where I was  captured by the  story and the descriptions. The main character: an old man from whose point of view the book was written did not appeal to me much. His weak bladder courtesy his prostrate problems, his  nostalgia  over his wife (he was  a widower), his problems with his children ; who he felt  were cold and indifferent to his needs, were all regular affairs.

But what kept me hooked was the style of the narrative: the story moved from person to person,  where after the main character meets a person, the story then starts tracking the new entrant’s life: past and current.

The descriptions  in the book were amazing. The writer’s eye for detail was mindblowing. I am always fascinated with writing that encapsulates sensory details.

The main character’s  run of the mill problems :common occurrences of old age  were incorporated seamlessly  into the story;  at no point did I feel that the author was bombarding me with information. Infact, I felt  that I had become the old man’s confidante and he was confiding   his problems, little by little, to me.

That’s one thing I love about descriptions which gently creep in on the reader taking him or  her by surprise. It’s something I am trying to work at. I found both : the story and the story telling technique unique, though the main character did not  evoke any emotion from me: I  didn’t love him, nor did I  hate him, and neither did I sympathize with him, I just loved his story and had to read on, to know what happened next.

This got me thinking that I have become partial to the story, more than the  main character. I feel a good story will make even a weak character look appealing, the opposite is true of a not so good story, which will make the character look spineless.

To be able to create a world where a  strong character  is captured in a powerful story is what writing is all about. I feel stories make characters, and characters just enhance and take the story forward. I just go by my feeling when I have read a book. If I have liked a story, then even a not so great character gets my vote, but if the story has failed to strike a chord with me, then, however great the character, I  wouldn’t root for it.

What do you look for when you read? Do you tilt towards the story, or do you lean towards strong characters.  What do you think is important;  the main character  or the story? What would you concentrate on while writing your own stories: Character or Plot. Please share with us.

                 

Promises to Myself

I always make resolutions  only to break them in the next few days. Every new year I decide to eat less desserts, chocolates and Ice-creams and junk food (my weaknesses). The next day I would have binged and eaten the week’s share of these goodies. My exercise regimen after the initial burst of enthusiasm goes for a toss. So do my good intentions to be  a better daughter, sister, friend, aunt and confidante as I end up fighting accusations that I have not returned phone calls and ended up canceling outings.

But the promises I make to my parents and loved ones are sacrosanct. I never break them as that would be tantamount to hurting them, breaking their hearts, letting them down and shattering  their implicit faith and trust in me.

Last year I chartered two new territories: I started teaching Creative Writing  in college and started blogging. Both brought me in touch with wonderful people and enriched my growth as a writer. 

This year  I have decided to do away with resolutions, which I  am anyways unable to keep. So it will be a waste of time even making them. But I have made several promises to myself. I hope I don’t let myself down.

1. I will try  to read  few books every month.

2. I  will try to read atleast one book in my genre every month.

3. I will try to read a few classics every few months.

4. I will do some mental workout. Try Flash Fiction and Micro Fiction. It’s a wonderful way to sharpen my writing skills and polish my editing  skills.

5. I will work on creating  unusual characters and pay a lot of attention to creating wonderful settings.

6. I will spend few days before starting a new WIP, on brainstorming about it.

7. I will work on that query letter and start sending out my manuscripts to publishers.

8. I will read atleast two writing Craft Books this year.

9. I will critique other  writers’ stories, picture book, first few chapters or Query Letters. Last year I critiqued 9. This year I want to do more. As critiquing is a wonderful  way of learning and helping someone.

10. I will write daily. However busy my schedule is, I am trying to write atleast a page daily.

11. I will read a few pages daily.

12.  I will try to keep in touch with all my loved ones.

13.  I will try to attend a  writing workshop or conference this year.

 What  are the promises  you have made to yourself where writing is concerned? Would you care to share it with us? I am sure we can help you  stay on your track by regularly motivating you.