10 Ways to Write an Effective Main Character
A main character can make or break any story. You can craft a fantastic world and plan a fantastic plot, but if your main character isn’t who they need to be, everything could fall apart or fall flat.
1. Give Them Realistic Flaws
Every person is flawed, and your main character should be no different. A character without flaws is one that’s hardly relatable to the average reader. Having a character that’s too powerful and perfect can alienate your readers. But not all flaws are created equally, either. It is important to have realistic flaws that people can relate to.
2. Make Them Relatable
Speaking of relatability, your character should be relatable in other ways. Even if your main character is a robot or an alien, your reader should be able to understand their motivations and reasoning—even if they disagree with their choices.
3. Give Them a Goal
Every character should have a goal, even if it’s to maintain the status quo. Most goals boil down to human’s base instincts: survival, protection, etc. For example, Katniss Everdeen’s entire goal in the first Hunger Games book is to survive the games after joining to protect her sister. Tony Stark’s goal in the first Iron Man is to right the wrongs his weapons have caused after he discovers where they’ve been going.
4. Give Them Strong Motivation
We all have something that drives us. Our inner motivation that pushes us to accomplish what we desire, to reach our goals. Having a strong and understandable motivation can not only propel your plot forward but endear your reader to them. Even if we, the reader, don’t agree with their choices, we should at least be able to understand them.
5. Develop Their Backstory
It’s one thing to say “my character doesn’t like people” and another to actually show why and how your character doesn’t like people. Things don’t happen in a vacuum. People act the way they do for a reason. Developing your character’s backstory is not only a great way to introduce a character, but to set up for their future in your story. Story Genius by Lisa Cron has some great exercises on building your character’s backstory to make them feel more rounded.
6. Interiority
Interiority is how close we are to your character. Aka, when we’re inside their head. Creating this interiority gives us a unique insight into your character’s thought process so we can follow along. Having this interiority can create a connection between reader and character.
7. Challenge Your Character
A story isn’t entertaining unless we see a character struggle. A tale where the hero gets everything they want without having to work for it isn’t really a story at all. Create challenges that are unique to your character’s personality and stop them from accomplishing their goal at every turn, up until the last moment (and sometimes, even then you can sweep the rug out from under them).
8. Give Them Potential
Every person has the capacity for good and evil. Characters are no different. Your character should start somewhere they have room to grow from. If your character already has everything they’ve ever wanted, and they know exactly who they are, there’s no real room for growth. The real story comes when the foundations of what they think they know are tested.
9. Write From Experience
Writing from experience can mean a lot of things. In this case, it means writing from emotions you know. Writing what you’ve experienced or translating what you’ve felt into a character can make the emotions feel more real and relatable.
10. Give Them Agency
We’ve all read a book where it feels like the main character just goes along for the ride and things happen around them. Giving your character agency means they drive the story instead of being a passenger. This includes making decisions (usually in pursuit of their goal) that lead them through the story.
Creating a strong protagonist will make your story that much stronger. Need help developing your characters or your story? Reach out for a manuscript evaluation!