Compelling stories need compelling characters. As I've reworked, and re-titled, my novella The Odd-Job Wizard, I've discovered that this description is oddly deceptive. What makes a compelling character? Why is it so hard to pull off?
Starting writers focus on uniqueness, making sure the character's back story and physical description them stand out as much as possible. Hair color, physical traits, childhood events, mannerisms, and motives.
The narrative events show off these traits in some dramatic moment. The quipy retort to the antagonist. A display of physical power or moral character. The writer wants their precious brainchild to stand out in your mind, to be vibrant and memorable.
However, a unique character is not necessarily a compelling one.
Take the supernatural romance genre and the vampire lover character.
Edward Cullen from Twilight is unique, to the point that people have turned him into a bit of a joke. He's a vampire, who glitters in the sunlight. His big reveal in the clearing as been parodied so many ways. Edward's sparkles could have been replaced with any traits - glowing in the dark, turning into living stone, carefully hidden wings – yet functionally his role in the story is unchanged.
People don't read Twilight for him. They read it for Belle, the girl-next-door who stumbles into the mysterious and dangerous world of romance.
If unique details isn't the answer, many writers settle into the more 'meta' elements of character design. Archetypes and meta-tropes. These are all ways that the character acts within the narrative and how those interplay with the audiences expectations of stories.
The girl-next-door is unremarkable in a crowd, yet lives a complex life.
The rebel princess will not permit an other injustice, no matter life's pressure.
The wanderer grows with each adventure until they reach the story's end as an inspiring hero or a monstrous warning.
People often select narratives based on their preferred archetypes. Using these meta elements to signal to potential audiences is an intermediate storytelling skills. It's like like running. It's something that comes naturally to all of us, but gets better when it's a trained skill.
However, just using a compelling archetype doesn't guarantee a compelling character.
Consider the fairytale Cinderella. At its core, the story is that people who stay kind in spite of tragedy and abuse are beautiful and get recognized for that. I greatly enjoy that type of narrative. However, when ever a new 'Cinderella' story comes out my first instinct is 'Oh, not again.' Half the time, the protagonist makes me want to reach through the pages of the book and shake some sense into them.
Audiences can and will reject a character, even a unique take on a favored archetype. 'they're flat' 'they don't make sense' 'I just don't get them.' Audiences want to connect with characters emotionally. The missing ingredient is empathy.
Compelling characters are understandable and the audience empathizes with them. This is not to say they relate to the characters on a personal level and are rooting for them.
Game of Thrones by George Martin is popular because he is very good at drawing the readers emotions into the stories. Despite the series violence and constant killing off of audience favorites, people keep coming back to watch the characters. Their struggles and moral choices resonate, even if it's just to digust and outrage. (I personally have many issues with his works. However, I freely admit that Martin is a master at his craft.) Thoughts like 'he didn't deserve that', 'she got what was coming to her,' and such are all signs that the audience is empathizing with the characters.
For the audience to empathize, to have an emotional response, the storyteller has to make the character understandable. This is not the same as making the character have 'common experience' with the audience.
For example, nobody living has 'stood in ulfish thought beneath a tumtum tree.' Most of us have never touched a sword, much less made a vorpal one go snicker-snatck. On a factual level, we have little in common with the unnamed hero of The Jabberwocky.
However, what we do have in common is the act of having to face whatever horrible thing is haunting our lives. Of deciding 'enough is enough.' You beat the monster and go home to a brighter world. This is a universal experience. The whole poem builds to this moment by pulling at your sense of uncertainty, caution, and second guessing. You celebrate with the narrator 'Frabjous Day! Callooh-Callay.'
One of my biggest fears as I send queries is that Leon, the handyman wizard, isn't a compelling protagonist. I have finished with round of editing, and believe a nice blend of uniqueness and a stable core concept. What I worry about my ability to make readers 'care' about what he does and feels. Like we seen in the Jabberwocky poem, this comes down to your skill with language and pacing.
I've been designing and refining Leon for a few decades. In my head he is a rich, full character. However, the only way to know if he is compelling is to send him out, to face the real chance of rejection, criticism, and mockery.
As I pluck up the courage to send querie letters to agents,
