About two decades ago I attended a writing class where the teacher said the main character needs to be larger than life but also relatable. Since then, I’ve read numerous books on writing and they all say something similar. Main characters are the center of the narrative because essentially, the story wouldn’t happen without them. If Harry Potter wasn’t the ‘boy who lived’ and hadn’t been marked by Voldemort, then the books would have been very different. If Frodo had never received the ring of power from Bilbo, he would have lived a quiet life in the Shire.
At the start of every story there is something called the inciting incident. This propels the character into the initial conflict. The character then has a crisis of conscious where they usually resist what is being asked of them. And then a bigger conflict happens thrusting the unwilling participant into the storyline.
But there’s a delicate balance to all of this because no one wants to read about a character that’s too perfect; that becomes boring. The main character must have a human side, something that draws readers in, making them care about the character and root for the character’s victory.
When writing my characters and considering this human side, I pull from my own life or struggles I’ve seen others face. The character’s story doesn’t mirror another person’s life, but I try to draw in the human side by considering the emotions and thoughts. For example, in Hidden, Tully dealt with a lot of anxiety. Her anxiety stemmed from not knowing her true identity and that her real identity had been a secret her whole life. This is not my lived experience. However, when writing scenes where Tully faces anxiety, I considered moments in my own life where I felt anxiety and what that was like. I magnified those emotional reactions and responses for Tully. Throughout the story, Tully does learn the truth of her identity and the more she learns it, the less anxiety she has. One beta reader said it best: What Tully thought were flaws and a disease, were really her perfect design.
As humans, this is a struggle we face. When we’re young, we’re trying to figure out who we are and how we fit into this world. We can get caught in comparison traps. Or we try to change ourselves because society and people in our lives tells us it’s ‘wrong’. I’m a strong introvert and for years people tried to make me more extroverted. It is almost like society thinks introverts are bad and extroverts are good. Whatever. We’re just built differently. Introverts are not shy, but due to our unique chemical make-up, we approach life, people, and crowds differently. Introverts are amazing in one-on-one conversations and they like to dive deep when getting to know someone. Introverts are focused and highly social, we just do things differently than extroverts because we are designed differently.
Before this loses focus, back to the topic of humanizing main characters. My point is, by pulling on lived experiences people face, the writer creates a connectedness between the reader and the character. Consider some of your favorite main characters. What is it about these characters that you connected with?
K. M. Wray 