Writing Likable Characters

A good story needs at least one of two things: a good plot or good characters. Ideally you’d get both, but beggars can’t be choosers. Well, actually, they can…but they shouldn’t. For instance, if you’re panhandling outside Chipotle and I bring you a chicken burrito, I don’t want to hear any complaints about how you’re a vegetarian or gluten free.

Take my damned burrito and be thankful. Consequently, that is one of my more popular pick-up lines. It’s never worked, but it makes me giggle.

Anyways, we’re skidding out of control and getting dangerously off topic here, so let’s focus, yeah? Good, stop blowing bubbles with your spittle and listen up. We’ve talked previously about generating ideas for your stories (Don’t remember? Figures… click here), and I can’t comment on whether or not you’ll drudge up a great plot from that exercise, but you’ve got a start in the right direction so keep going and eventually you’ll stumble out of the wilderness.

Or atleast, that’s the hope.

So, let’s talk about writing good characters now and suss out what exactly that even means. The title of this post is “Writing Likable Characters” but that’s sort of misleading because characters don’t actually have to be likable. They can be despicable.

If we loathe them for all the right reasons. When done correctly, it sucks us into the story like we’re watching a train wreck of horrible, no hope of turning away. In this case, our characters is doing a good job, he’s a good character.

Some writers claim that there has to be something redeemable about your character, something the reader can latch onto, a source of similarity from which a sympathetic relationship can spawn. Those writers are absolutely….correct, to a point!

We’ll use Darth Vader here for a quick example. He starts off as this mass-murdering sociopath (a role he never really grows out of), but by the end of the original Star Wars trilogy we understand him a bit better, and ultimately we relate to him based on the sacrifice he makes to save Luke.

Conversely, the Joker, from the Batman series, is a mass-murdering sociopath who we, as the reader, have a hard time understanding and commiserating with. He’s a terrifying villain for precisely the same reasons that the Alien from Aliens is, it’s because they’re so foreign to us. So unrelatable.

That makes them great for the role they play in the story, but ultimately we don’t really care what happens to them. We aren’t invested in their story, and truth be told, we’re just rooting against them the majority of the time.

A quick counterpoint to that would be Two-Face, Harvey Dent, from the Batman universe, who is a mass-murdering sociopath, but with a back story we can sympathize with. Given the correct circumstances, it’s not so hard imagining any one of us becoming the horrible monster that is Two-Face.

Eh, maybe he’s got a point?

And that’s what you’re looking for in a good villain. A terrifying persona that we can empathize with. Those are the ones that really get under our skin. Think back to Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker; the majority of Luke’s struggle in the second movie is an internal one as he fights against what he could so easily become.

We all have monsters lurking inside of us, and I think this is the launching off point for writing a good, likable character. Even the good-guys have inner demons they’re constantly fighting against. When those demons are rooted in the real world, when they are issues any of us could struggle against, then we have a sympathetic character.

That right there is a huge take-away; you’re character needs to be sympathetic. If they aren’t, then they are probably a caricature, possibly of evil (the Joker), or they are boring.

Readers don’t want boring.

One of the most despicable characters of any story I’ve ever read is Gully Foyle from The Stars My Destination by Alfred Besser. This guy murders, rapes, and pillages. In general, he’s a horrible human being. A dubious starting point for any main character. Even worst, he’s unrepentant. He doesn’t even feel bad about what he is.

He is so consumed by a perceived injustice against his person that he will literally stop at nothing to have his revenge. As a reader we understand his single-minded focus, perhaps from a slightly removed position that makes it hard to relate to his actions, but we get it.

Now, the thing about Gully is that eventually he realizes the horror of his ways, grows a conscience, and seeks to make amends. Which is probably the most important aspect of writing a good, likable character: they need to grow.

If by the end of a story the main character hasn’t changed, hasn’t learned from their actions, then the reader will be upset, and deservedly so.

A famous writers, who’s name I can’t recall, once said that the story you’re writing should be the most important event in the life of your main character up to that point. If it’s not, then you’re telling the wrong story. With that in mind, if you reach the end of your story and your character hasn’t changed, or grown, in an appreciable way, then you’ve done something wrong.

Life changes us. Ignoring that fact is a surefire way to write a lame character.

How is your character growing as the story goes on? You need to ask yourself this question often, because in a lot of ways it’ll serve as an internal guide for your story.

Writing likable characters is not about them saying the right thing, or doing the right thing. As individuals we rarely say, or do, the right thing. But we try. And that’s an important takeaway, your character needs try. They try to do the right thing, and they fail. They try to do the wrong thing and they succeed. One way or another they are not static participants in the world you’ve created, pushed around by destiny’s broom.

They are active agents for change, which is what we as readers can relate too. We want to be agents of change in our own lives, but often that feels impossible. We’re stuck at our jobs, or tethered to the mistakes of our past, our families need us in a way that stifle our sense of self and individuality. These are real struggles we all encounter and can relate too.

So, take your characters and ground them in the familiar, root their struggles in the relatable, and then show how they resist. How they try to outgrow their circumstances.

Do they always succeed? No, that would be disingenuous. Sometimes they fail, and that can make for just as great of a story.

Alright, so get down to the comments and tell me, what are some of your favorite characters and why? Who are some of your least favorite characters and why?

Anthony