CREATE CAPTIVATING CHARACTERS — PLANT A HEART-HOOK IN YOUR READERS By : Alice Orr
AUGUST , 2018
CREATE CAPTIVATING CHARACTERS — PLANT A HEART-HOOK IN YOUR READERS By : Alice Orr
Create captivating characters . This is what all writers want to do . No doubt about it . The doubt arrives when we come to the how . How do we create captivating characters to inhabit our stories ? How do you make them inhabit your story ?
Success for the storyteller is all about the characters you create . I ’ ve said that already in my last article , ― Tell Strong Stories .‖ This is especially true for the storyteller of commercial fiction . The writer who must attract readers in large numbers .
We must create captivating characters who possess the storytelling power to enthrall those readers . These characters captivate because our readers care about what happens to them . Before we explore how , specifically , to make that caring occur , let ’ s pin down the basics .
If you ’ re working on a novel now , where are you in that process ? Are you at the beginning ? If not , let ’ s imagine you are either at the beginning or near it . Let ’ s put beginner ’ s mind to work for us and start from scratch as we explore how to create captivating characters .
First of all , do you have a single , specific main character ? Most successful stories have one main character . A first among equals who gives the story focus . Reader interest and agent-editor interest
are best captured by a single , strong protagonist .
Have you named your single , strong protagonist ? Give your main character a name up front , when you begin creating the story . Naming gives characters substance and reality , especially in your own consciousness as their creator . Even though that character name may change later .
If you are not working on a novel now , choose a character from someone else ’ s story . Use that character for answering the questions to come in this post , or use the well-known captivating characters I suggest . Feel free to change that character from the original author ’ s version . My personal choice would be Scout Finch , daughter of Atticus Finch , in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee .
Why is a strong main character so important ? Because when we read about his joys , his hopes and dreams . When we witness his admirable qualities in practice , or sometimes the qualities we less readily relate to , as with Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby by F . Scott Fitzgerald , we recognize that this character has something important to lose .
We don ’ t want this strong main character to lose this important thing . The strength of his portrayal has invaded our imaginations . We identify with him as the valiant person we wish to be . We identify with what happens to him . We ’ ve been hooked in the heart because we care .
The more we care what happens to your character , the more solidly your story hook is set in us . You are succeeding most spectacularly as a storyteller when you create a character whom we will care about not just a little , but intensely . The way we care about , even weep for , Celie in The Color Purple by Alice Walker .
Make us care about your character , then make us care even more . Start by answering this question for your main character , or the character you are working with today . What , specifically rather than in general , makes us care about this character as she is currently portrayed ?
Now , what can you add to that portrayal to make us care even more about her ? You have created a character we already care about . We are emotionally tied to her fate . We hope for only good things to happen to her . To make us care even more , you must frustrate our hopes for her .
You must make bad things happen to this character we are growing to love . Circumstances must block her from what she needs . Circumstances that are scary for her must arise . Physically scary and emotionally scary obstacles must explode onto her path .
In other words , you must put your main character into trouble and danger . You must make her fate uncertain , preferably perilous . Put her on a roller coaster ride . Most crucial to your success
14
8