How to Develop Your Main Character
Three questions when building a main character and how to write a character arc.
The two building blocks of good fiction are plot structure and character development. Writing a compelling main character (MC) is important because if your reader feels like your protagonist (protagonist means your leading character; there can be multiple) is one-dimensional or boring, they may not bother finishing your book.
The three basic questions in main character writing are:
Who is your MC?
What does your MC want?
What is keeping them from getting it?
Who is Your Main Character?
Your main character is the reason people read your book, and however you build them, they need to be well-defined and behave in consistent ways. When drafting your characters, consider their:
Age
Background
Habits and mannerisms
Occupation
Personality and beliefs
Physical description
Relationships
It helps to write out character sheets and ask yourself questions about every aspect of your character’s life. There are some great resources that can help with this, like The Mother of All Character Questionnaires by Johnn Four. While it’s originally for building D&D characters, it works for any kind of character development.
Remember, though, that your main character needs flaws because nobody is perfect. On the flip side of this, if they’re unlikable with all the flaws in the world, they need a redeeming quality that lets the reader sympathize with them.
What Does Your Main Character Want?
Readers root for a character who desperately wants something because we, as humans, desperately want things. This is how you get readers invested in your character’s story. The want stimulates empathy from your reader because they want your MC to get it (whatever it is) just as badly as your MC wants it.
A relatively new concept that comes out of Millennials and Gen Z is a lack instead of a want. For example, your MC might be anxious or depressed with a lack of self-awareness or empathy.
What is Keeping Your Main Character From Getting It?
Whatever it is that’s keeping your main character from getting what they want creates tension and conflict and drives the plot forward. This could be the antagonist (the person who actively opposes the protagonist), a skill the MC needs to learn, the MC’s socioeconomic status, etc. The more obstacles standing in the way of your MC’s happiness, the better.
Whatever you do, don’t let your MC have what they want right off the bat. They don’t deserve it yet. They have to work for it and experience character growth before they can have it. Your job as the writer is to put as many roadblocks in their path as you can possibly think up.
Character Arcs
Every main character needs an arc. Basically, that means they need to be different from where they started. This change doesn’t have to be dramatic, though it certainly can be if you want. Your MC can do a complete 180-degree shift, or maybe they just turn a little to the left. Either way, they learn something and change just a bit.
Some character arcs to consider:
Getting what they wanted all along, but it isn’t what they thought.
Never getting what they wanted.
Never getting what they wanted but they don’t even want it anymore because they found something better or realized it was the wrong thing all along.
Dying along the way, though be wary of melodrama and other creative writing mistakes to avoid.
If you have questions or comments, I’d love to hear them. Send me a message or find me on social media.
