Memorable Characters

I think making a character seem real enough to empathize with requires a two-pronged approach.

One, the character needs to care about what's happening to them. They might be struggling with something fundamentally petty and unimportant, but it the character is convincingly distraught about it, the reader will empathize with their pain.

Two, you need the character's goals and/or actions to be something the reader can relate to, understand, and even approve of, given the character's circumstances.

For example, the character Dexter is a psychopathic serial killer, but the reader knows he (1) only targets evil people (and who can't relate to that?) and (2) Dexter is genuinely trying to be a good husband and dad, despite the fact he has no emotional capacity to be.

So Dexter, who is really quite an appalling creature, is empathizable because we can sort-of approve of his actions, and his struggles are both poignant and worthy.

In summary, make sure the audience thinks the character is a worthy person, and then make sure you show that the character cares very much about what's happening to them.

(i.e. If they're dying, show their pain and terror. If they got a paper cut and stained their shirt, show their crippling anxiety at having to give a presentation to the boss in a blood-stained shirt.)

My goal is to have a character who is as real to me as a flesh-and-blood person, then share that person with my readers... even the ugly bits. I don't think as much about the audience liking or disliking them, or what kind of reaction the character will garner. i just want them to feel fully fleshed out and real.

Readers have different taste. Some readers like complex characters and others like characters who are a bit simplier but real to them.

I doubt all readers will all like the same traits...

Forestqueen808 said:

I'm really wondering how people go about making their characters memorable?

Click to expand...

I generally start with people I know, and build a composite character to begin with. Then I let the character develop and come to life during the early part of the novel. This generally means going back and rewriting the early chapters once the first draft is done.

It sounds like an uneconomical way of doing things, but it works for me.

Lots of information about building a character here.

http://jodihenley.blogspot.com/2011/12/running-in-dark-organic-structure-for.html