Allison Symes's Blog - Posts Tagged "character-attitude"
Character Attitudes
What hooks you into following a character’s story though to those magic words The End?
Something about the character has to draw you in and, for me, it is usually to do with their attitudes towards other characters, themselves, and life in general.
One of my favourite characters is Sam Vimes from Terry Pratchett’s wonderful Discworld series. Not only do I like following Sam through one novel I have loved watching that character develop over the series of Discworld novels he stars in - and boy does he develop.
That is a sign of a truly great character. They’re never static! And his attitude varies depending on who is dealing with but there’s never any doubt about him wanting to see justice done. (And doing his level best to ensure it is).
I also like characters who acknowledge their own shortcomings but overcome them. (Pride and Prejudice, anyone?).
A character who isn’t willing to change when it is clear change would bring them (a) happiness and (b) make them an all round better person is not a character that’s going to hold my interest for long.
Characters reflect us and what we know about life so a character’s attitude generally is something we will need to have understanding of, even if we don’t entirely agree with it.
Something about the character has to draw you in and, for me, it is usually to do with their attitudes towards other characters, themselves, and life in general.
One of my favourite characters is Sam Vimes from Terry Pratchett’s wonderful Discworld series. Not only do I like following Sam through one novel I have loved watching that character develop over the series of Discworld novels he stars in - and boy does he develop.
That is a sign of a truly great character. They’re never static! And his attitude varies depending on who is dealing with but there’s never any doubt about him wanting to see justice done. (And doing his level best to ensure it is).
I also like characters who acknowledge their own shortcomings but overcome them. (Pride and Prejudice, anyone?).
A character who isn’t willing to change when it is clear change would bring them (a) happiness and (b) make them an all round better person is not a character that’s going to hold my interest for long.
Characters reflect us and what we know about life so a character’s attitude generally is something we will need to have understanding of, even if we don’t entirely agree with it.
