How to make a likeable non-orphan protagonist?

This is sort of a general question. I need to come up with some sort of interest factor for a main character I'm trying to create.

I have the main concept already in my head, the thing that makes him "special" and inherently interesting and pivotal to the plot and the book's setting.

But at the moment he's a bit of a blank canvas; the only interesting thing about him is that ability, and frankly I don't think it's enough.

I started out having him in a regular upper-middle-class suburban family, with a mom and a dad (which these days is getting to be a bit of an anomaly) and a decent home life.

But I realize maybe that's "against the rules"? It seems like any piece of children's fiction that I've read, the child is either an orphan, estranged from his or her parents, or living with stepparents or surrogate parents. In almost every case there are serious identity issues -- they are treated like crap, or they are mercilessly teased and undervalued by their family, or sometimes they are even servants and/or slaves.

All of these options are enormously cliche to me. Is there any way around this -- is it possible for the main character to have an ok home life? Or must there really be something right there, in the first chapter, that immediately makes the character likeable?

I was thinking back to the first Harry Potter book, and while not original in the slightest, the absurdity of Harry's domestic situation was an immediate hook, especially in relation to his cousin Dudley. Far from being subtle and nuanced, it was heavy-handed and sloppy, I thought, but nevertheless effective. You couldn't help but root for Harry right from the start.

I need something that would accomplish the same thing.

I thought about, for example, having one of the parents be disabled in some way, and have the main character be ashamed of that parent (and of course feel guilty and conflicted about that shame). But maybe that's a bit too subtle.

Maybe he can have a decent home life but some major source of conflict and tension at school? Something he can't bring to share with his parents and teachers?

Or, perhaps maybe his parents are just misguided, or there is a huge disparity between his perspective and theirs. Perhaps they are overprotective to a fault, because they lost a previous child to an accident, or a miscarriage, or something. And the restrictions they place on their child cause a debilitating resentment and an "escape mentality."

Any thoughts are appreciated. Oh, I should point out this would be for the, I don't know exactly, 9-13ish age bracket.

Thanks for your input.

About Harry, I think his background made him likeable at the start. The first chapter was amazingly effective and it put the reader into a state of empathetic elation when you finally found out what his Hogwarts letter contained. It represented not just something exciting and mysterious, but also a place where Harry could spread his wings and make a life for himself, free of the shackles from his Muggle life.

Later on, say by the second or third book, especially be the fourth, I began to hate Harry. He is totally unlikeable in every way. It's hard to get behind a character who seems to be the center of the universe, constantly, and from every possible angle.

So his parents died and he had a rough time with the Dursleys, so what? In the wizarding world, apart from Snape and Malfoy, he is a celebrity superstar, beloved by his house, amazing at the studly sport, constantly the center of plots to kill him (and yet he, having not much talent aside from choosing good friends, always escapes to great amazement and praise). He is practically worshipped by Hagrid and Dumbledore, and the major events in the magical world seem to be moved by people who either love Harry or hate him -- he is not unknown to anyone of importance. I mean, come on -- Mrs. Weasley is in the Order of the Phoenix? Ridiculous.


But anyway, getting back to the point, it would be nice to create an immediate empathy with the character right at the start. But if I want to avoid the absurdities that Rowling did not shy away from, maybe I have to be content with a gradual build-up of likeability.

Maybe mystery is enough to hook the reader at first?

One possibility that is growing on me is the parental strictness factor. My parents, bless them for their best intentions, made my childhood rather unpleasant and agonizing in many ways. What is worse than feeling you don't fit in because you CAN'T, is the feeling that you could easily fit in but are held back by parents sabotaging your every move.

Maybe that would fly?

Thanks. I've only read the Lives of Christopher Chant, but I did like her writing, somewhat.

Your post reminded me of another potential problem I'd like to run by you guys.

My character is going to be "pulled into" sort of a secret, underground society that functions, basically, while most normal people are asleep. I have chosen to have this society inextricably intertwined with the regular world, so for example, unlike Harry Potter, the character can't just "go off to boarding school" for an entire year and return only for 8 weeks in the summer.

Because the separation of these worlds is not total and absolute, it has many consequences. I think juggling the two lives will be a source of difficulty and tension. But the main focus of the story is going to be on the night-time activities and this underworld, and the problem I will have there is this: his family won't be part of that world.

Therefore I find myself reluctant to even work on developing his relationship with his family, because so much of the story will take place away from them and without their knowledge.

Then again, perhaps I can have his time WITH them be extremely restrictive to an unpleasant and debilitating degree. Maybe, even if they aren't horrible tyrants and still love their child, his home life will begin to feel like a prison, in contrast with his same-age compatriots in the underground world (who, for example, might have parents complicit in that world).

I realize this is all abstract, but what do you think?

And, reading it over, I realize it may be a little too close to Harry Potter anyway. It needs refinement. I can't have it black and white, "mom and dad you just don't understand" and him wanting to be gallivanting around with his friend on various adventures.

But it is quite realistic for children to sublimate all their hopes and dreams into a compartment that they believe will allow them to express themselves without restriction.

Whoa, you guys are really supportive. Do you mind if I continue posting in this thread? I won't resent anyone if they lose interest.

I can identify with the "wanting something of one's own" motivation. I only had a couple of younger brothers, but sometimes that's enough. And there are other dynamics that can push a child to want to be separate, even before adolescence hits (when that drive becomes overwhelming).

I think there really should be a sense that he needs to escape from something, before it actually happens. I am just a little wary of making a caricature out of the daytime world (school+family).

And to set the record straight, these worlds are not separate at all. They are the same world, but when I say "night-time world," I mean effectively a different life, with different teachers (and schooling), different friends, different responsibilities and adventures.

However, I recall now, with great horror, that Christopher Chant has some sort of magical ability whereby he can travel to alternate worlds in his dreams.

The reason this alarms me is that (at the moment) dreams figure heavily in my grand designs. Since I am writing about a subculture of insomniacs, or rather insomnolescents, I think there is a very obvious and natural association between sleep and dreams.

I don't plan to use dreams in the same way at all, though. Quite the contrary. And I hope what I plan is fairly original. But -- what does everyone think? Is it too much of a rip-off to use dreams as a main story concept? Would I be ripping off Diana Wynne-Jones as much as someone writing about a boy wizard would (these days) be plagiarising Rowling?

Niesta: guilt will figure prominently in the thematic structure of the book, I hope. Guilt that comes after the elation at being "gifted" subsides. I think as much as children like to compete with each other, they have a more heightened sense of disparity between themselves and their peers. Partially because children are not nearly as good as adults at hiding things like jealousy, bitterness, and insecurity.

On top of the guilt theme, I hope to work in the idea of the responsibility that is tied to being special. Perhaps even build up certain gifts as being a curse and a burden as much as a gift.

I agree, but I guess I should point out that Luke Skywalker doesn't completely fit in with that.

He does have a surrogate family, and never knew his parents. So maybe for him the hero psyche comes from his incomplete identity. But his Aunt and Uncle certainly didn't mistreat him and gave him as much love and care and trust as they could.

Then again, I guess the "not-knowing-real-parents" element was the real instigator of Luke's wanderlust, and his sense that the life he was leading wasn't good enough for him.

Not a problem.

a) I'm already an insomniac
b) my book is about insomniac children, or rather, children who NEVER sleep
c) thinking about child insomniacs somehow puts me to sleep