If you’ve recently begun a short story or novel, you may be at the stage where you’re trying to flesh out your main character. After all, a compelling main character is what keeps readers reading from beginning to end. But to do that, you need to figure out how to make them empathetic and relatable enough that your reader will want to follow them.
But what makes a character “good”, exactly, and how do we go about writing them? Read on for everything you need to know.
What makes for a good character?
A good character is one who holds the reader’s interest from the beginning of a story to the end. This means that they’re three-dimensional, relatable, and believable as human beings. They have clear motivations and goals. Good characters have real flaws, fears, and desires that readers can empathize with and see reflected in themselves.
A relatable character doesn’t have to be a likeable character, but they should have an interesting personality. If your reader doesn’t care about your main character, they’re not going to care about your story. In any kind of narrative, writers should aim to create interesting characters with motivations that a reader can relate to.
Traits a good character should have
Good characters are ones whom the reader can believe in and invest in. Creating a realistic, engaging character is harder than it sounds—they can’t be too good, or they’ll feel inauthentic. They can’t be too bad, or the reader won’t care about what happens to them.
First, let’s look at some elements you should try to incorporate into every good character.
Authenticity
This means making your character feel like a real-life person on the page. They act and react in ways that we recognize from our own experiences or from what we’ve seen in the actions of those around us. A strong character should feel like someone we might run into just around the corner—or see in the mirror.
Even if your character is living in a fantasy world, they should still exhibit traits that make them human in the ways that matter.
Interesting characteristics
Fiction is a great place to explore new hobbies, occupations, and personalities. Giving your character a unique interest or skill set will help “hook” your reader. For example, maybe your main character is a circus performer, high-paid art therapist, or female explosives expert. These will fall outside most readers’ lived experiences, and so the reader will be curious to learn more.
You can also give your character unusual ways of handling emotions. For example, a character in the TV series Being Human deals with anxiety by finding things to count: matchsticks, ceiling tiles, hairs on his arm, to calm himself down. This unusual trait makes him memorable to viewers. How does your character manage stress, fear, anger, or joy? Challenge yourself to think outside the box.
Drive
Kurt Vonnegut famously said “Every character should want something, even if it’s just a glass of water.” Your character needs a personal goal to push them forward on their journey.
Even before the story really begins, your character might be driven to save up enough for a life-changing road trip, impress the girl next door, help provide for ageing parents, and so forth. Then, when things become shaken up (as they inevitably will), the character will need to reassess what matters most.
A key strength
Everyone is good at something. In speculative fiction, this might be a superpower or magical gift; in realist fiction, this might be something like compassion, a sixth sense for lies and deception, or a gift for bringing croaky old cars back to life. These key personality traits will become a part of the character’s identity, and help them in unexpected ways when they need it most.
A key weakness
Likewise, everyone has something that makes life more difficult than it needs to be. Your character might be gullible, hot headed, or have a hard time standing up for themselves. Like their strength, this weakness will become part of who they are and create challenges for them throughout the plot.
Complex psychology
The truth is that human beings are very messy. The challenge for us as writers is to convey this inherent messiness in a relatable way.
Psychology is the science of human behavior. It’s also the reason none of your characters will act exactly the same in every single circumstance—they’re different people with different ways of thinking. It’s your job to give each of them nuance and distinction through their unique mental and emotional makeup.
One of the most important ways to do this is by exploring the character’s backstory (more on that below). You can also convey psychology through your characters’ contrasting body language and speech mannerisms.
Humor
Even if your story isn’t overtly comedic in nature, the best characters are the ones who can make us smile. Whether it’s through their stubborn innocence or their superhuman ability to make sarcastic quips in the midst of battle (I’m looking at you, Spiderman). This does more than just playing for laughs; it shows that even when things seem darkest, the character never completely loses their sense of self.
Personal integrity
Another trait which exhibits a sense of self is integrity. This means that a compelling character holds themself to a moral code—although that code can vary from one person to another. For example, one character might do bad things but draw a line at murder, while another might hurt bad people but vow to protect children. Other moral codes can involve never telling a lie, or following the constraints of the law.
Courage
Good characters are able to draw on inner courage when needed. This isn’t quite the same thing as bravery; bravery refers to a lack of fear, while courage refers to the ability to overcome fear. Courageous people can be afraid, but are able to manage it and prioritize what’s important.
In real life, people display courage all the time. It doesn’t have to be in response to an epic battle; it happens when people face everyday fears in their workplace, families, or society. A courageous main character can play a pivotal role in helping readers find their own courage when they need it.
How to write a well-developed main character
Even if your character is someone you’d love to have as a best friend, they’re not going to do much for your reader if they’re one-dimensional and unconvincing. Here are some important steps to make sure you create a strong character that readers will want to follow.
Make your character flawed
It may seem counterintuitive, but pristine, saintly characters don’t tend to be that interesting on the page. They’re also not particularly realistic.
Try to give your character some subtle personality flaws that make them seem like a real person. Often these flaws will be extensions of their strengths. For example, a character with a strong sense of compassion might also be very gullible. Or, they might not handle stressful situations very well.
Make your character relatable
Look for ways to make your character someone your readers can empathize with. This is especially important if you’re writing fantasy, sci-fi, or historical fiction—in other words, worlds that will be unfamiliar to your reader. Give them real-world problems, worries, and goals.
If you’re writing contemporary fiction, a helpful way to do this is through cultural interests or motifs. If you’re writing secondary world fiction, you can do this by giving your character struggles and attributes that are universally human.
Give your character a nuanced backstory
We are all a product of our experiences, and strong characters are no different. Take some time to consider what happened to your character before the events of your story. What was their childhood like? Did they grow up in poverty, or in great wealth? What sort of ethics or cultural framework were they raised with? What made them the person they are today?
These questions are what gives a character depth and motivates their character development over the course of the story.
Exploring your character’s backstory will make them more complex than if they simply sprang up out of the earth.
Give your character personal agency
The worst kind of characters are the ones who let themselves get ferried along by the plot, accepting the roles they’re given and never taking action of their own. A strong character should have a will of their own and a mind that’s intelligent enough to question when something is wrong.
Often a character will be forced to wait and react for the first act of the story as they’re thrown into unfamiliar circumstances. However, they’ll soon begin making active choices as they find their footing and the stakes grow higher.
To create a character that readers will invest in, be sure to give them personal agency and will.
Give your character something to fight for
This is also known as the “stakes.” What’s at stake for your character as they go on this journey? What are they working towards, and what do they have to lose if they fail? This could be something like financial stability, the safety of a loved one, social justice, and so forth.
The dynamic created between this potential risk and reward, and the character’s actions between them, is what gives your character tension and momentum.
Send your character on a journey
Every good story is inherently about change. This means that your character needs to get moving, either literally or figuratively—externally or internally. Without change, there’s no story.
The way your plot develops will force your character to adapt to new circumstances, face their greatest fears, discover their hidden strengths, learn, grow, and challenge themselves in ways they never imagined. This might happen by going on a literal journey, like Bilbo Baggins does in The Hobbit; or, it can be a more subtle sort of journey, like entering a new workplace or relationship.
By experiencing new challenges and testing themselves in new ways, your character will show your readers what they’re really made of.
Avoid character inconsistencies
Nothing pulls a reader out of a story like an “out of character” moment. This is when a character does something that doesn’t quite match who they’ve been so far.
This isn’t to say that a character can’t change (change, as we saw above, is actually very important). But, the reader needs to see their internal journey and understand where this change came from. If a selfish, narcissistic character suddenly risks their life for their new found family, the reader’s not going to buy it. Likewise, a kind and compassionate character shouldn’t betray someone in a callous way just because it’s necessary for the plot.
To make these shifts work, the character’s internal journey needs to be slow and convincing. If a change of perspective happens too rapidly, it will feel inconsistent to the reader.
Give your character a dynamic arc
A dynamic character arc means that your character undergoes an internal shift from beginning to end. For instance, they might initially only be concerned with personal gain, and then they develop into someone who invests in the well-being of others. Or, they might begin as someone who runs from conflict and grows into a courageous hero.
In other words, your character doesn’t need to be morally upstanding or well-adjusted the whole time; sometimes they only need to arrive in a good place by the end of the story. These journeys can be particularly powerful in showing readers that they have the capacity for growth, too.
Examples of good characters in literature and film
To see how this looks in practice, here are a few examples of three-dimensional characters that exhibit the traits we looked at above.
Eleanor Oliphant, from Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, by Gail Honeyman
The lead character of the novel Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine is kindhearted and loyal, though her confusing behavior (Eleanor is strongly cued as neurodivergent) make connecting with others difficult. The close narration allows the reader to see Eleanor’s inner self, even though the other characters in the novel can’t at first. Through her experiences, she grows into a more empathetic and understanding person.
Emma Swan, from Once Upon a Time
The protagonist of the fairy tale-inspired TV series Once Upon a Time is a classic hero. She’s noble, courageous (a personality trait which often manifests as self sacrifice), and sees the best in others.
That’s not to say she’s devoid of any negative traits—she also has severe trust issues and responses to a childhood filled with trauma. Throughout the series, she goes on a dynamic journey of acceptance and of opening up to others. Her leadership and relatability make her a figure that viewers want to follow.
Oliver Marks, from If We Were Villains, by M. L. Rio
The protagonist of M. L. Rio’s Shakespearean murder mystery is considered “the good one” of his cast of colleagues. Later he calls this into question by saying, “Everyone called me good, but what they really meant was naïve.” This encourages the reader to consider what being “good” really means. Throughout the novel Oliver is both naïve and good, embodying the positive traits that are dwindling among his group of friends.
Although Oliver does some morally questionable things in the novel, he does them out of loyalty and love. This makes him a complex character that readers can sympathize with, even as they watch his downfall.
A good, believable character will connect with your reader
A critical component of any engaging story is a protagonist that your reader can empathize with and look up to. If a character is too good, they may alienate your very human audience. But if they’re trying their best to do good in difficult circumstances, the characters you write will make your reader believe in the best parts of themself. And isn’t this the responsibility of any writer?
Remember: strong, capable characters make for strong, capable readers.
