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Struggling characters, sympathetic characters
While sympathetic characters must have strength, they need more than just moral or physical perfection to get us, the reader, on board. For readers to truly identify with them, all characters need to struggle. (I doubt I need to clarify this, but just in case: struggling with how incredibly awesome s/he is doesn’t count.)
These struggles can (and should) be tied to the plot—the character should work against the antagonist, whether a person or an impersonal force. The antagonist, especially at the beginning, should actually win sometimes. Why? Well, for one thing, we’re cultured to side with the underdog, the Cinderella story, the strong person who has been wronged. As editor/author Alicia Rasley points out, quite frankly, “We sympathize with struggle.”
So what kind of struggles should we give them? Like I mentioned, they should be facing some sort of antagonist—and possibly losing. In her article “Sympathy without Saintliness,” Alicia uses the example of the famous heroine Scarlett O’Hara:
Whether we like Scarlett O’Hara or not (and we probably don’t early in the book), we sympathize with her when her impassioned declaration to Ashley (and his wussy rejection of her) turns out to be overheard by, of all people, the arrogant Rhett Butler. The anguish… the embarrassment! We know just how she feels, and somehow we feel even more because our sympathy is unwilling, because we don’t WANT to identify with this snotty little flirt. And we don’t identify with her… that is, until something bad happens to her that we can actually imagine happening to us.
The key is– we have to know what it’s like, or be able to imagine what it’s like, to be in this situation.
But there’s more. The character has to squirm. The character has to be in difficulty. The character has to care.
However, the most sympathetic characters aren’t saints struggling solely against (obviously evil) external antagonists—they also have internal conflict. Some of the greatest, most compelling characters are those that struggle against some part of them that doesn’t want to do what we all know they should—for reasons we know and understand (it’s hard, it risks life and limb, etc.).
But, as Alicia says, “it’s the STRUGGLE that makes the difference.”
Amen!
What kind of struggles do you give your characters? How do your favorite literary characters struggle? What do you struggle with in creating sympathetic characters? 
Photo by Kat Jackson
Posted in Technique
Tagged characterization, strength, struggles, sympathetic characters, sympathy
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Strong characters, sympathetic characters
All characters must have some strength. I’m sure you know that doesn’t mean they have to be able to benchpress a Beemer. Instead, there has to be some strength of character, some inner resource, some poise—something to show us why we would want to sympathize with, or look up to, or just flat out BE this person.
Kindness to small children and animals isn’t enough—just about anybody but the absolute worst psych- or sociopath is nice to his mother and his babies. Saving orphans from a burning building isn’t going to be enough on its own, either.
Then what does count? Something indomitable within the character. What makes him get up in the morning? What is her ultimate goal in life? What does he do when his wife is in danger and all hope of saving her is lost? How does she react when someone comes between her and the man she loves? What does he do (or want to do) when his boss/his mother/the woman he loves says, “Take a hike”?
The answer isn’t going to be the same for every character—but how many of us really want to read about someone who would answer “nothing” to any one of those questions? While we do understand someone who struggles, someone with a sad past, someone facing a difficult choice, letting your character just roll over and take it is intensely frustrating to a reader (hello book-hurling!).
In short, when it comes to sympathetic characters, no sad sacks need apply.
One of the greatest types of strength is the courage to go on in the face of adversity. And every main character should be facing adversity. Next week, we’ll take a look at making our characters struggle.
What kind of strengths do you like to see in characters? What kind of strengths do you give your characters? What are your favorite characters’ strengths?
Photo credit: Andrea Hernandez
Posted in Technique
Tagged characterization, strength, strong characters, struggles, sympathetic characters
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Creating sympathetic characters
Once upon a time, I wrote a novel where the main character wasn’t likeable. Well, she was—I liked her. But the way I’d written her made her come off as disdainful and arrogant—not qualities I really meant for her personality to convey. So I read everything I could on sympathetic characters and tried very hard to fix her. (One critique partner was adamant that I had not, but no one else objected.)
What does it mean to have a “sympathetic” character? It means that the reader can relate to him/her. The reader feels the things s/he feels, and the reader understands the difficulties that character is going through. (It doesn’t always mean, however, that the reader likes the character, though that can be helpful.)
It often seems like sympathizing with main characters (who aren’t villains or anti-heroes, at least) is automatic—but anyone who’s ever written an unsympathetic character quickly learns that it’s not. Sometimes we writers think we’re doing something avant-garde by creating someone as alienated/sarcastic/cruel/apathetic/distant as a “real” person—but most of the time, we learn that this “cutting-edge” technique has been tried before. Without success.
I didn’t really think I was being avant-garde or even cool when I created my unsympathetic character—I accidentally focused too much on characteristics or behaviors that made my trying-to-keep-her-cool character all but condescending.
Months after all my research to fix her, all that information suddenly crystallized. There are only two things that make a character sympathetic: strength and struggles. The character must have both in some form.
So this month, we’re going to be talking about strength, struggles and sympathy for characters!
Photo credit—Michal Zacharzewski
Posted in Technique
Tagged characterization, characters, sympathetic characters, sympathy
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