Building Characters to Love

I think that a character who wants something negative is inherently less interesting than a character who wants something positive. That is, a character who wants something like—not what my parents tell me to do, or not what the school or government tells me to do—is less interesting than a character with a goal like—saving my sister (Katniss Everdeen) or becoming a Jedi.

By the same token, when I fall in love with a character, it’s more because I find that character interesting and unique than it is because that character is noble, self-sacrificing, and heroic. Noble, self-sacrificing, and heroic are great traits for a character, don’t get me wrong. But I also want a character who loves the feel of her fingers on the piano keyboard when she’s playing Chopin, or a character who hates chocolate, or a character who loves dancing in the rain with her best friend in the dark, when the moon is out.

I’d rather read about a character who isn’t heroic, but is specific than about a character who is heroic, but feels like an everyday hero, just connecting the dots to supposed reader expectations.

Tell a story about a character you know intimately. Tell about a character who has weaknesses and isn’t always loveable. Make me fall in love with a person who I will never, ever meet in any other book or in real life, either. Make me hate you for that, as a writer, for wanting to meet someone I will never meet.