Sometimes it’s a quirk, sometimes it’s a wound we all share.
Most often it’s an attitude. Too many authors spend tons of time working up a
detailed history of the character’s life, but usually that’s a waste. A
character with an attitude is always more interesting than a character with a
history.
Think about the people you like to hang around with in real
life—those same traits are often present in fictional characters we like to
spend time with.
Just as in real life, we prefer people who are fun to be
around (rather than whiny and self-pitying), adventurous, engaging, vibrant,
unpredictable and ready to admit their mistakes rather than pretend they’re
better than everyone else. In his book Writing 21st Century Fiction, Donald
Maass suggests that we imagine creating characters that we would want to take
to prom. That’s good advice.
I also think it’s the inconsistencies rather than the
consistencies that make characters interesting. So, for example, if a character
is mature in every way, she’s boring, but if she’s intellectually mature but
also emotionally needy, she becomes a character who’s intriguing and
multi-layered.
New York Times Bestselling author Robert Dugoni suggests
that to create empathy in readers we give the character an undeserved
misfortune, put him in jeopardy, make them compassionate and nice, funny or
witty, make them powerful and altruistic.
Sometimes I’ve started watching a TV series and then just
abandoned it after an episode or two because, honestly, there just wasn’t
anyone I felt like I could cheer for, no one I wanted to spend time with. When
you’re creating characters, you need to create ones that people would rather
spend time with than do anything else. That’s the only way you’re going to be
able to grab their attention long enough for them to become engaged in your
book, and enthralled enough to stick with it.
Even if a character doesn’t always play by the rules or has
undesirable traits, if he’s someone intriguing and fun to be around, he’s going
to be the likeable character who will attract readers.
