The art of choosing characters wisely starts with your protagonist (or your hero and heroine if you’re writing a romance). We’ve all asked the question “why me?” when something bad happens. Imagine that taken to the next level.
Why your protagonist? Or why your hero and heroine? What makes him or her the right character to tell this story? The importance of character choice cannot be stressed enough. Indeed, answering this question for your reader is integral to them investing in your story and turning every page until the end.
Connect with the character
Readers need to connect with the character immediately, and building that connection starts with action. Good questions to ask during this process include: What does the character do? How does he or she react to circumstances? Who is he or she? What’s his or her worldview? Asking these questions can help develop a great character. But is he or she the right character for the story?
Here are some examples that spring to mind of such characters:
- John McClane in Die Hard.
- Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy in Pride and Prejudice.
- Westley in The Princess Bride.
Think about it: could anyone else fill the shoes of these heroes? I don’t think so. These three examples epitomise memorable heroes who could not be better suited to their story. Putting any other character in their place just wouldn’t feel right. They’re not interchangeable. This is what you’re trying to achieve here.
Use your plot
When creating our own characters, sometimes it’s helpful to let the plot comes first. Let me give you an example from a Virginia Vaughan workshop I once attended. Someone had asked how the structure of a modern suspense could incorporate the “ordinary life” when the inciting incident needed to occur immediately. Virginia gave the example of a woman in a dark carpark. Every woman can connect with the fear of being in a dark carpark alone—and then there’s a noise. Your female protagonist, in this case, then shows her character if an armed assailant accosts her. The wrong female character—the wrong personality, for example—will repel the reader. No one will get past the Amazon first chapter preview. But the right character? I’ll want to read on.
The reason I gave the above scenario is to illustrate how the plot or conflict can help to shape your protagonist. If you want your heroine to save herself, ask why? How does that serve the story? Answer that, then give her a profession or experience that allows her to do that.
Next time…
Next time I will focus on the question of “why now?”. Stay tuned, and subscribe to my newsletter to receive updates and get the low down on what’s happening in my writing life.