The Secret to Writing Likable Characters
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If you're a fiction writer, at some point you have probably wondered whether your characters are likable or not, and whether they are coming across as you intend. To help you assess your characters, in this article I will reveal the secret to writing likable characters and give tactical tips to ensure your characters are coming across effectively.
In an ideal situation, your characters should be realistic and authentic, meaning they have both good and bad traits, making them complex and layered. There should typically be at least one likable character in your story that your readers can latch onto and root for.
If there’s not a single character your reader cares about, you run the risk of them disengaging with your story entirely.
Defining a Likable Character
To get started, let's talk about the definition of a likable character. Making your characters likable does not mean making them less complex, less layered, or less realistic.
When talking about likable characters, sometimes the term “sympathetic characters” is used instead. This is because it all boils down to the character being someone that readers are going to care about and invest in.
The reader should feel for this character’s struggles and victories, and they are reading to see how they develop over the course of the narrative. Ask yourself: Will the reader care about what happens to this character or not?
Now, you as the author very much care about what happens to your characters. After all, you wrote them into the story for a reason. But you should also want the reader to care just as much as you do.
Keep in mind that the definition of a likable character does not require the reader identifying with the character through a shared trait. They don't even have to like the character on a personal level or think they are someone they would get along with if they were real. It's just about having the reader feel compelled to extend their empathy to that character and to their circumstances.
Which Characters Should Be Likable?
Now that we understand the definition of a likable character, let's talk about which characters in your novel should be likable.
I would argue that in the best novels, nearly all of the characters should be likable on some level. This includes antagonists and characters who have done terrible things. If you are interested in writing likable characters who are also complex and authentic, you need to extend sympathy toward even your worst, most villainous characters. By doing so, you will ensure you craft a realistic character and not a caricature. By showing multiple sides of an evil character, you will make the reader feel even more disappointed in their morally wrong actions.
But going back to the basics of writing likable characters, the most important thing is to ensure that your protagonist or your protagonists are likable. These are the characters the story is centering around, so if they aren’t likable, there’s little reason for a reader to care about the story.
There is nothing worse than writing an entire novel and getting feedback that the plot and setting were good, but the main character was too annoying or boring. Again, this can make or break your entire novel, so you want to make sure your protagonist inspires the reader to empathize with them.
This is especially critical if you are writing in first person perspective, because your entire manuscript is narrated in that character’s voice. There have been many times where I gave up on a first person novel because the narrating voice was too bland or too exaggerated, making it hard for me to engage with the story.
What’s Not Important
Before I reveal the secret to writing likable characters, I want to cover some things that are actually not important.
When thinking about writing likable characters, one of the first things that might immediately come to mind is making your character incredibly kind, a sort of goody two-shoes. They rarely do anything wrong, and when they do slip up, it’s an accident and they quickly reassert their selfless intentions.
Having a morally perfect character can actually do the opposite and make your character quite unlikable. As we know, humans are flawed. And your characters should reflect human nature and also contain flaws and imperfections. Having a perfect character can come across as annoying and unlikable to your readers, as they might find it more difficult to relate to their choices and actions.
Second, writing likable characters is not about making them a hero figure that comes in and saves everyone. You can certainly have a hero character, but they don’t have to be a triumphant, larger-than-life figure to be likable to readers.
Last, a likable character doesn’t have to be someone who's bubbly, enthusiastic, and in a good mood all of the time. This characterization can become caricatured very easily, and the character can come across as shallow or superficial. Plus, life isn’t always happy, so your likable characters also don’t have to be happy all the time.
The Secret to Writing Likable Characters
Now that we have defined what a likable character is and learned who these characters should be and what traits they shouldn’t have, I can delve into how to ensure a character is likable.
Remember that readers are reading to form a human connection. This is why we like to engage with stories, and this is why we like to read about people who are not ourselves. So writing a likable character comes down to one thing: making the character vulnerable to the reader.
If a character opens up to the reader and exposes their innermost desires, fears, concerns, and dreams, that is going to make the reader feel for them. Because we are seeing and understanding where your character comes from on a deep level, we will naturally connect with them and appreciate what they are going through and grappling with.
Now, there may be elements of the character we agree with and elements we disagree with. But, at the end of the day, if your character is truly likable, the reader will be able to extend empathy for that character regardless of whether they personally agree with them or not, because they will have a full understanding of their mindset, their perspective, and how they have come to be.
How to Write Likable Characters
Now it’s time to put this secret into practice. I want you to ask yourself a question about each of your characters: What are this character’s biggest vulnerabilities? Once you've identified those vulnerabilities, you can then make them clear in the story so the reader can pick up on them.
This may sound a bit conceptual, so here are some tactical things you can do to make your characters vulnerable and therefore likable in your stories.
The first is to have them be grappling with something that happened in their past. This could be a tragic or traumatic event, or it can be a small but persistent issue that continues to plague them. An example could be that they're struggling to get over a breakup, which affects their mood, worldview, and interactions in the present story.
The second is to show that character making a mistake and then owning up to it. Just like in real life, making a mistake exposes that character’s vulnerability, making them more relatable to the reader. We can connect with them as they overcome feelings of embarrassment or shame and own up to their mistake. An example would be if a wife admits to her husband that she has gambled away their retirement savings.
The third way to make your characters vulnerable in a story is to give them genuine motives, even if the things they do are questionable. This could be a struggling father stealing from a convenience store to feed his child. Again, he's in a vulnerable position, and the thing he does isn’t necessarily morally good. But we empathize with him because we understand his motives as a father.
The final way to make your characters vulnerable is to demonstrate a hardship they are facing in their life. This does not necessarily mean large-scale issues such as poverty or discrimination. It could be something like facing a mountain of student debt. Hardship always exposes our vulnerabilities, so having your characters deal with difficult times will help the reader connect with them.
I hope these tips helped get the wheels turning on writing likable characters in your story. Having nuanced and complex characters will always strengthen your story, no matter what the plot and premise are.
Thanks so much for reading and happy writing!