Description:
What makes a character memorable?
It's more than just what they look like, who they are, or what they say.
Check out these six techniques for crafting memorable characters, which you can do before you even start writing the first draft!
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You are listening to The Novel Writing Podcast, Episode 167.
I'm your host, Colleen Mitchell. Grab a cup, cozy up, and let's get to writing!
Memorable characters come in all genres. They spring to mind when someone asks you to name your favorite characters or just ones that really stuck with you... whether they were heroes or villains or somewhere in between. They're the ones with unique personalities, impactful growth over the course of the book, and the ones in whom you can see bits of yourself.
Memorable characters are the ones who your English teacher called dynamic characters rather than flat characters. The dynamic ones are the ones that change over time, that have multiple facets and aren't just straight good or straight bad or just plain boring. They have depth and that depth is the foundation of what makes them memorable.
We don't remember Dolores Umbridge solely because of her love for cats and pink. We remember her because she made us feel deep, utter hatred for what she did in the Harry Potter books, and her obsession with cats and pink was a brilliant juxtaposition of things that are nice and pretty covering up a rotten, despicable human underneath.
That's what it means to be a memorable character.
They're relatable, have clear motivations, and have both strengths AND flaws.
How to Write Memorable Characters
There are several ways writers craft memorable characters, and sometimes we just do it by accident because the character springs to life in our heads and we just need to write to get them out. But if you find yourself struggling to write memorable, dynamic characters that readers love, start off by considering these six techniques:
1. Really get to know their backstory.
The reason we do what we do, and the reason characters do what they do, is because of backstory. We all have things that happened to us in the past that shaped our present, and the same is true for the characters we write. If we don't understand how those characters got to the story we're telling, they're unlikely to be strong or memorable. We don't have to unload that backstory on the readers, but as the authors we need to know it so that the characters' actions make sense. And sometimes, that backstory WILL make it out onto the page, and that's fun too. Two good examples of characters with memorable backstories are Harry Potter, whose backstory the entire wizarding world knew but Harry didn't until he met Hagrid, and Tony Stark, especially in the 2008 Ironman movie that kicked off Marvel's phase 1.
2. Give your character contrasting traits that are at odds with each other.
A good example is Thanos from the Marvel Avengers movies. If you haven't seen them, he's the big bad villain that all the Avengers movies worked toward all the way through Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. He's convinced that half of the universe has to disappear for there to be balance, and so commits genocide because of it, but he also demonstrates love and compassion for his adopted daughter Gamora. This isn't to say you need to give your character murderous behavior, just conflicting traits that make both the reader and other characters stop and think.
3. Give them faith in something bigger than themselves, or give them a struggle with faith.
We often overlook the spiritual side of our characters, but giving them a belief in something bigger than themselves can give impactful depth to their overall character and make them much more relatable to readers, especially if your audience is more faith-based than not. And it doesn't even have to be overt. It can be subtle, but enough for readers to realize there's something deeper going on.
4. Give them a sense of humor.
There are all sorts of senses of humor out there, which gives us as authors a veritable buffet of ways to go about it. One of my favorite character traits of Harry Potter that got lost when they made the books into movies was how sassy Harry was. There are plenty of examples in the books of Harry's sassy sense of humor that the filmmakers didn't use, and those moments could have connected viewers to Harry a lot more. I will say though that in the sixth movie, when they're burying Aragog the giant spider, that Harry's true sense of humor starts to peek out a bit, and it's probably one of my favorite moments in the whole film series. I gave my character Bethany Hawkins the strongest sense of humor out of all my MCs, and I get consistent feedback from readers that she's their favorite character.
5. Make sure they have flaws and opinions.
If they don't have flaws, that's one of the biggest indicators that your character is flat. We'll do a full episode in the future on what happens when characters DON'T have flaws, not the least of which is that perfect characters are boring. If a character doesn't have a flaw they have to work against, or work to fix, or don't even know they have, then their character arc doesn't go anywhere. And if they don't have opinions, especially strong opinions about things, then they're equally as boring because they end up rolling over for everything and agreeing with everyone, and it's really hard to root for a character who doesn't have anything they’re willing to stand up for.
6. Dig deep on their goals, motivations, and the conflict they have in the story.
We recently did a workshop inside our Coaching & Critique group on goals, motivation, and conflict, and it really helped our members dig deeper into their characters and understand more about where they were coming from. When you don't have a clear idea of what your character's goals are, what's motivating them, and what's getting in the way of them reaching those goals, then you're going to have characters that come across as pretty "meh" and uninteresting. When I did the exercise in our group call, I found out some interesting things about characters in a future series that I hadn't considered, just from noodling on some GMC questions.
The Role of Reader Feedback
Whether your characters are memorable actually might not be something you can determine as the author while you're writing them. Reader and peer feedback is what tells authors where our weak points are, and where we can improve, and that definitely includes character memorability. I had no idea that Bethany would be the top favorite character among readers of my series, but the fact that she is has actually made it more fun to write her chapters.
Final Thoughts
Crafting memorable characters is just one piece of the writing puzzle. In The 60 Day Novel Writing Challenge, you get daily guidance not only to develop your characters but to build a complete first draft. Visit the link in the description to learn more and join the challenge.
That's it for today's episode! Thanks for joining me, and remember, the first draft is supposed to be garbage.
Show Notes
Dive into the first episode of the Novel Writing Podcast with your host Colleen and her sometimes-guest Halie Fewkes Damewood! Here, we give you the gist of who we are, what we do, and what you can expect from this podcast.
What to do next…
Halie & Colleen are both authors! Find their books below:
Secrets of the Tally, by Halie Fewkes Damewood
The Chronicles of Talahm, by Colleen Mitchell
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