Monthly Archives: June 2013

Jun 15 2013

How To Make Your Character More Likable

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As I cruised the forums, I found a post that’s ongoing about how to make a character likable. It caused me to shake my head. Characters are people. What makes a person likable? Well here goes:

1. Personality

2. Flaws

3. Mindset

4. Actions

These are the same that allow us to differentiate between people we like and those we don’t like. And, in my opinion, we’re all assholes, it’s just whether we get along with them. There’s a great quote on that subject in Die Hard 2: Die Harder:

John McClane: Guess I was wrong about you. You’re not such an asshole after all.

Grant: Oh, you were right. I’m just your kind of asshole.

That sums us up as people. Each of us are arrogant (some more than others), calculating, self-centered, and insecure. It’s those qualities that not only differentiate each of us from others, but it’s also the thing that makes us human.

How many times have you read a novel and found the character to be flat and wooden or a straight up Mary Sue? It really turns you off to the book doesn’t it? That’s because the writer didn’t take time to develop the character and make them real. Now that doesn’t mean you need to give every ounce of back story either. Stephen King had a good quote on that:

“The most important things to remember about back story are that (a) everyone has a history and (b) most of it isn’t very interesting.”
― Stephen King, On Writing

The best way to make a likable character is to give them some quality that people can relate to. Even the ‘loner’ character can cause the reader to root for him or her. So, to put things in a nutshell, it’s making real, breathing characters. If you have a hard time doing that, than look at the people around you. What makes them who they are? How do they act? What do they believe in?

A likable character comes from another element writers need to do: be observant.

Happy writing.

Jun 14 2013

How Should A Writer Feel When Writing

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I’ve read a post about this on the forums and it got me thinking. Being a solitary endeavor, the emotions we feel while at the computer run the gambit from euphoria to deep depression. I tend to feel more euphoric, but there are times when I feel like throwing the computer through the window because I can’t seem to write something that I think is worth a crap. It is times like this that we reach the level of being a professional writer.

Why is that, you say? Well, a professional keeps going forwards, even if they hate what they’re doing, until the job’s completed. That’s what we have to do. I remember Steven King saying:

“Running a close second [as a writing lesson] was the realization that stopping a piece of work just because it’s hard, either emotionally or imaginatively, is a bad idea. Sometimes you have to go on when you don’t feel like it, and sometimes you’re doing good work when it feels like all you’re managing is to shovel shit from a sitting position.”

This is when you move from amateur writer to professional. That point where you feel like it’s pure shit that you’re putting on the screen but force yourself to continue. Now, how will you feel at this time? Frustrated, irritated and wondering if you’re worth a damn. And every last feeling is wrong. You see, I’m guilty of it too. I’m so afraid to send a manuscript off because I can never feel like it’s “right.”

That’s where another quote from King comes into play:

“you can, you should, and if you’re brave enough to start, you will.”

So, step off the ledge into the great beyond and don’t let your emotions hold you back.