by: Charlotte

Ah, characters. A wide array of figures and features, flaws and triumphs, all packed neatly into a fleshy human package ready to play their part of a story. If implemented correctly, even a minor character will have a memorable impact on the story as it progresses.

You are their god, in a manner of speaking. The writer controls the destinies and ends of the characters, to the delight or horror of their fans depending on the sort of writer you are.

Much as how a story cannot operate without a setting, there is no story if there are no characters in it. Regardless of a character being a protagonist, antagonist, flat character, dynamic, or a one-scene side character, everyone should contribute to the progression of a plot. Even if their contribution is minor, a character must have an effect on the plot.

Both in and out of story, a character plays a particular role in the overall story. Anyone familiar with media is certainly familiar with the archetypes. The protagonist. The rival. The antagonist. The love interest. The mentor. The composition of characters can vary based on the story, and can vary greatly in terms of numbers (in fact, a few stories, such as the movie All Is Lost, get away with only really using one character)

Every good story has a driving force, and that is most commonly delivered through the protagonist, the central character. The protagonist does not necessarily need to be the story’s hero, morals may not necessarily play into the character (and in fact, may even be a villain), but a protagonist needs to be the central character. The story’s conflict would not necessarily be related to them, but it does impact them and their actions, such as the typical knight going on a journey to slay a dragon for fame, or money, or women, or what have you.

Within the basic archetypes of characters, there are massive variations in what such a character can be like, as long as they contribute their role. Personalities and flaws can range from innocently docile and guiltless, to quirky and empty-minded, to brutish and malicious. The limit is only on the creator. Often times, the more strange and unusual a character is, the more people are drawn to it. Nowadays, people feel less likely to enjoy the chivalrous knights and damsels of the past, preferring a more complex character with more varied thoughts, feelings, and interests.

A major facet of every character, as important as their personality, is their flaws. In the real world, you will never meet a person that is not flawed in some way. This is a trait that carries over to fiction. This is a subject I am personally very vehement about. Your character, no matter the role, must be flawed in some significant way. There is almost nothing more boring than a character who lacks any sort of fault and can handle any situation thrown at them without issue. Almost equally as irritating is a character introduced with irrelevant flaws only noted as an argument that the character isn’t perfect. In the apocalypse with people struggling for survival, being bad at dancing or math isn’t a serious problem. Things like narcissism would lead a character to argue over leadership with their fellow survivors, or a fear of darkness would lead to poor actions out of their fear. When boiled down, flaws lead to bad choices. Choices are what bring the plot along, and a character cannot make the right decision every time. Overcoming character flaws throughout a narrative serves as a way of developing your characters, and also making them more interesting in how they manage to overcome said flaws.

On the other end of the spectrum, a character should not be completely useless, nor be immensely overpowered. As mentioned before, every character needs to have a purpose. Even comic relief characters serve a purpose in providing humor (and many times also supply a more human aspect to a story). Simply put, if a character does nothing of use and provides nothing, they do not deserve to exist. In the same vein, if a character is too powerful, then no other characters need to exist. This is why incredibly overpowered characters are so maligned. If a character is capable of overcoming every scenario singlehandedly, there is no need for other characters to assist in the conflict. In addition, if a character begins in the story already at the height of their skill, there is no place for them to grow or develop through the narrative, leaving them static and bland for the entirety of the story, and thus uninteresting.

There is no ‘perfect’ way to write a character. If there was, everyone would basically be the same. That’s not how the world is. There are merely guidelines, and even they can be lenient if implemented in a unique or interesting way. A character needs to able able to grow over time though, physically, psychologically, or both. And regardless of what happens through the story, nobody can ever be perfect.