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Here’s one that comes from the Wattpad forums (or “Clubs,” but whatever. It’s a forum). How to make your character likeable. And this seems like something that a lot of beginning writers get hung up on. Nobody’s going to like your story unless your character is likeable, right? Well, not necessarily.

And because it’s late, I’m going to bring up the same examples that I brought up in the thread: Draco Malfoy and Severus Snape. Draco was an odious little brat, but that didn’t stop people from falling in love with him. Snape was an abusive ass, and look at his legions of Snapewives. Neither of these characters can be considered likeable by the traditional mindset. Yet, they’re both incredibly popular. Even Dolores Umbridge has fans, and nobody liked her.

But you don’t have to like a person to sympathise with them. Some of my favourite characters are wholly unlikeable dickheads. If I knew these people in reality, they would be everything I hate about a person. I was watching Tremors with a friend the other day, and we both expressed our undying love for Burt Gummer. If I knew this man in real life, I would do everything in my power to avoid him. But as a character? He’s an absolute riot. He’s a paranoid anarchist gun-nut living as off-grid as possible. He shoots giant worms with an elephant gun and blows them up with pipe bombs. There’s a reason he wound up carrying the entire franchise, despite only being a side character in the first movie.

So, obviously the trick to enjoyable characters isn’t necessarily to make them likeable. In fact, the most likeable characters tend to be the most bland and uninteresting. You spend so much time making sure the character can’t possibly upset or offend anybody that they have no character at all. No outstanding skills, no obvious flaws. They’re not loud, but they’re not completely shy. Just perfectly middle ground in every way. So how do you dig yourself out of the trap of the white bread and mayonnaise character? You ask yourself questions. The first thing I do when I get a new character idea is I interview them. Some of the answers come naturally as part of the initial idea. Others, I really have to think about.

But these aren’t the questions you get on most of those “character development” sheets. We don’t care about eye colour, or height, or their favourite food. Those questions don’t tell you anything about how the character actually sees the world. They tell you how you see the character. If you really want to get to know this being you’ve created in your head, you should ask these questions (or questions like these), adjusting as necessary to suit the character:

Were their parents strict, or did they let the character come and go, and do as they pleased?
Was the character raised with both parents, or just one (or away from their parents entirely)?
What is their relationship like with their extended family, if the extended family is in the picture? (If the extended family is not in the picture, why?)
What size high school did they attend?
How diverse is their social group?
Are there any childhood fears they never got over? / Are there any adult fears they’ve developed.
How did the character’s parents pick their name?
What were their parents’ political and religious leanings like when the character lived at home?
Did the parents grow up in the same place the character did?
What were the parents’ attitudes toward grades and extra-curricular activities?
How open were the parents regarding their own relationship, and subjects like sex?
How open were the parents regarding finances?
Did the parents do all of the cooking, or was the character expected to help?
What were the parents’ attitudes on the character’s appearance in high school?
What were the parents’ attitudes toward the character’s friends in high school?
How did the character’s parents resolve conflicts? (eg, Did they discuss, or did they shout?)
How did the parents react if something expensive or difficult to replace was accidentally broken?
How did the parents react when the character was injured?
What were the parents’ attitudes toward beer and pot when the character was in high school?
At what age was the character allowed to start going out with friends, without telling the parents every last detail of where they were going and what they were planning on doing?

Now, these questions may seem random, because most of them are about the parents. But your parents’ attitudes and behaviour toward you strongly inform and impact the sort of person you grow up to become. So rather than trying to come up with things that a character might do or say, take a step backwards and think about why the character might do or say that. Of course, these questions won’t fit every character. If they don’t, substitute details as necessary. Obviously, a character from a high fantasy novel isn’t going to find many of these questions relevant until you change a few things. A modern character who grew up in the foster care system might have ten different answers for each question. And if that’s the case, consider them. How confused and isolated does your character feel as a result? And some of these questions can be very culturally loaded, or completely irrelevant depending on when and where your character lives.

But if you’re stuck and don’t know what to do with Boring Nobody McGee, ask yourself these questions, and see where the answers take you. You might find some character quirks hiding beneath all the filler fluff the other character development sheets left you with. And don’t stop at 20. Keep asking yourself more questions, until the answers come as naturally as if you were answering them for yourself.

Description
body div#devskin0 hr { }

Here’s one that comes from the Wattpad forums (or “Clubs,” but whatever. It’s a forum). How to make your character likeable. And this seems like something that a lot of beginning writers get hung up on. Nobody’s going to like your story unless your character is likeable, right? Well, not necessarily.

And because it’s late, I’m going to bring up the same examples that I brought up in the thread: Draco Malfoy and Severus Snape. Draco was an odious little brat, but that didn’t stop people from falling in love with him. Snape was an abusive ass, and look at his legions of Snapewives. Neither of these characters can be considered likeable by the traditional mindset. Yet, they’re both incredibly popular. Even Dolores Umbridge has fans, and nobody liked her.

But you don’t have to like a person to sympathise with them. Some of my favourite characters are wholly unlikeable dickheads. If I knew these people in reality, they would be everything I hate about a person. I was watching Tremors with a friend the other day, and we both expressed our undying love for Burt Gummer. If I knew this man in real life, I would do everything in my power to avoid him. But as a character? He’s an absolute riot. He’s a paranoid anarchist gun-nut living as off-grid as possible. He shoots giant worms with an elephant gun and blows them up with pipe bombs. There’s a reason he wound up carrying the entire franchise, despite only being a side character in the first movie.

So, obviously the trick to enjoyable characters isn’t necessarily to make them likeable. In fact, the most likeable characters tend to be the most bland and uninteresting. You spend so much time making sure the character can’t possibly upset or offend anybody that they have no character at all. No outstanding skills, no obvious flaws. They’re not loud, but they’re not completely shy. Just perfectly middle ground in every way. So how do you dig yourself out of the trap of the white bread and mayonnaise character? You ask yourself questions. The first thing I do when I get a new character idea is I interview them. Some of the answers come naturally as part of the initial idea. Others, I really have to think about.

But these aren’t the questions you get on most of those “character development” sheets. We don’t care about eye colour, or height, or their favourite food. Those questions don’t tell you anything about how the character actually sees the world. They tell you how you see the character. If you really want to get to know this being you’ve created in your head, you should ask these questions (or questions like these), adjusting as necessary to suit the character:

Were their parents strict, or did they let the character come and go, and do as they pleased?
Was the character raised with both parents, or just one (or away from their parents entirely)?
What is their relationship like with their extended family, if the extended family is in the picture? (If the extended family is not in the picture, why?)
What size high school did they attend?
How diverse is their social group?
Are there any childhood fears they never got over? / Are there any adult fears they’ve developed.
How did the character’s parents pick their name?
What were their parents’ political and religious leanings like when the character lived at home?
Did the parents grow up in the same place the character did?
What were the parents’ attitudes toward grades and extra-curricular activities?
How open were the parents regarding their own relationship, and subjects like sex?
How open were the parents regarding finances?
Did the parents do all of the cooking, or was the character expected to help?
What were the parents’ attitudes on the character’s appearance in high school?
What were the parents’ attitudes toward the character’s friends in high school?
How did the character’s parents resolve conflicts? (eg, Did they discuss, or did they shout?)
How did the parents react if something expensive or difficult to replace was accidentally broken?
How did the parents react when the character was injured?
What were the parents’ attitudes toward beer and pot when the character was in high school?
At what age was the character allowed to start going out with friends, without telling the parents every last detail of where they were going and what they were planning on doing?

Now, these questions may seem random, because most of them are about the parents. But your parents’ attitudes and behaviour toward you strongly inform and impact the sort of person you grow up to become. So rather than trying to come up with things that a character might do or say, take a step backwards and think about why the character might do or say that. Of course, these questions won’t fit every character. If they don’t, substitute details as necessary. Obviously, a character from a high fantasy novel isn’t going to find many of these questions relevant until you change a few things. A modern character who grew up in the foster care system might have ten different answers for each question. And if that’s the case, consider them. How confused and isolated does your character feel as a result? And some of these questions can be very culturally loaded, or completely irrelevant depending on when and where your character lives.

But if you’re stuck and don’t know what to do with Boring Nobody McGee, ask yourself these questions, and see where the answers take you. You might find some character quirks hiding beneath all the filler fluff the other character development sheets left you with. And don’t stop at 20. Keep asking yourself more questions, until the answers come as naturally as if you were answering them for yourself.