What promotes a character to Main Character?

Sentosa · Aug 30, 2010

I was happily writing away today, when over a cup of coffee, this question occurred to me for no other reason than it just came out of the blue.

I have one MC, and at the moment I'm happy with that because things seem to be going OK. I know it's possible that if the story becomes increasingly complex, I might just have to add 1 or more MCs. I'm sure if I reach that point, one or more of my characters will push themselves forward.

I've read several novels where well into the novel (or even a series) a new MC has popped up.

Of course, all the characters in my story are important -- hopely, even essential. Otherwise they wouldn't be there, would they? They'll have to be essential to survive my 1st rewrite.

I'm sure there are no rules about when a C becomes a MC. But I was wondering if anyone has thoughts on this.

PS I searched for this but found nothing useful.

Bookewyrme · Aug 30, 2010

Hrm. My gut reaction would be that if a character begins to drive a plot or sub-plot then they become an MC. Also, perhaps if the story follows their POV? So, in multiple 3rd, with 3 POV characters, then those 3 characters would be the MCs. Perhaps some combination of those two really, since characters have been known to drive certain elements of a plot without being really a MC, and characters can certainly be POV characters and not be the MC. But I think if a character is a POV character and drives the plot then they definitely would qualify as an MC. Undoubtedly there's exceptions somewhere, though.

Anyway, just my first reaction.

Steam&Ink · Aug 30, 2010

Hi Sentosa

Well, what would you say if you were asked the following questions about your novel:
Whose story is it?
Who is telling the story/having it unfold about them?
Who is so essential to the story that if you removed him/her, there would no longer be a story?

(You have to be honest about these questions and not overly generous to your secondary characters just because you like them!)

A charcter is only a main character if you would choose them in answer to all those questions, not just some.

So, you should have isolated one MC or two at the most, I should think. There are no hard-and-fast rules, naturally, and occasionally there are books with several MCs - these are often told with a roving first person POV (such as each character gets a chapter each) - but even then the reader would probably be able to choose one or two main characters.

Of course it goes without saying (but I'm saying it anyway) that just because a character has a first person POV section, or is really meaningful in the story, does not make him/her a main character. They're probably the antagonist or a really active secondary character.

Hope that helps a little!

Linda Adams · Aug 30, 2010

The main character is the character the revolves around. He's the guy with the responsibility to solve the problem in the story--and the one who, if he fails, might have a huge disaster on his hands. I call him the primary main character because there can be other main characters--but only one character the story follows.

Danthia · Aug 30, 2010

steampunkette said:
Who is so essential to the story that if you removed him/her, there would no longer be a story?

This. You can have important characters, and strong characters, but there is usually someone who is so critical to the story that without them there would be no story. That's your MC.

It's easy to let secondary characters waylay a plot, so be wary when you start adding subplots. Rule of thumb, if that subplot doesn't connect to and enhance your core conflict in some way, you probably don't need it. I know I've had books that developed into chaos because I kept trying to tell every character's story.

Essential characters are not the same as main characters or protagonists. In my book, the little sister is an essential character, because without her, the story couldn't happen. But she's not a major character. My protag's best friend is a major character, and the story would be very different without her, but it would still happen if I got rid of her.

You have to look beyond what you have in the plot so far. You have to look at the core conflict driving your novel. If the character can be removed and the story still works (even if you'd have to come up with totally new ways for something to happen) then they're not "essential."

I guess essential characters are critical to the story, not the plot. Plot can change, but the story is constant.

So if a character becomes just as critical to the story as your protag, (not just some element of the plot) then they could become a main character.

TheAspiringOne · Aug 30, 2010

steampunkette said:
Well, what would you say if you were asked the following questions about your novel:
Whose story is it?
Who is telling the story/having it unfold about them?
Who is so essential to the story that if you removed him/her, there would no longer be a story?

I think these are fantastic questions.

I really enjoy author team Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, because they tell their stories through the eyes of several characters. Even so, I would say that most of their novels still only have one or two MCs.

IMHO, when done correctly, telling a story in this way gives incredible depth that cannot be obtained from a single POV. However, when done incorrectly, it does nothing but confuse the story.

G.L. Douglas · Aug 30, 2010

As others have said, the MC is the one whose head the story is being told from. All other prominent characters cannot be written as having "thought" something, "wondering about" something, "wishing" something, "feeling" something, or "knowing" something, nor can their mind flash back or forward to anything, because then you are in their heads, and then the story is not being told from the MC's point of view.

As an example, a secondary character can't be written as "Susie knew her hero would show up." or "Susie thought it was about time for her hero to show up." or "Susie wondered when her hero would show up."

It has to be written as if the MC is telling it. "Susie would long remember the agonizing wait for her hero," or "For Susie, time was slipping away. When would her hero show up?"

I hope this helps. It was the hardest thing for me to find alternate ways of saying what I wanted to say while still making it come from the MC's head and not the secondary character's reactions.

Shadow_Ferret · Aug 30, 2010

A secondary character can only become a main character when voted so by a committee of his peers.

Gabriele Campbell · Aug 30, 2010

G.L. Douglas said:
As others have said, the MC is the one whose head the story is being told from. All other prominent characters cannot be written as having "thought" something, "wondering about" something, "wishing" something, "feeling" something, or "knowing" something, nor can their mind flash back or forward to anything, because then you are in their heads, and then the story is not being told from the MC's point of view.

As an example, a secondary character can't be written as "Susie knew her hero would show up." or "Susie thought it was about time for her hero to show up." or "Susie wondered when her hero would show up."

It has to be written as if the MC is telling it. "Susie would long remember the agonizing wait for her hero," or "For Susie, time was slipping away. When would her hero show up?"

I hope this helps. It was the hardest thing for me to find alternate ways of saying what I wanted to say while still making it come from the MC's head and not the secondary character's reactions.

Sorry, but that does ONLY work in single POV books. What if you have 30+ POVs like George Martin, or write in omniscient like I do? I could - theoretically - have 100 main characters that way, because I can be in everyone's head.

But I only have four true MCs - maybe 5, that depends on how the plot strand of Ruarc Adair develops.

You can also have a narrator that is not the MC but has the POV. I think the real MC in Bernard Cornwell's Warlord books is King Arthur, despite the story being told from the POV of Derfel.

No, MC = POV doesn't work as explanation.

whimsical rabbit · Aug 30, 2010

Danthia said:
This. You can have important characters, and strong characters, but there is usually someone who is so critical to the story that without them there would be no story. That's your MC.

It's easy to let secondary characters waylay a plot, so be wary when you start adding subplots. Rule of thumb, if that subplot doesn't connect to and enhance your core conflict in some way, you probably don't need it. I know I've had books that developed into chaos because I kept trying to tell every character's story.

Essential characters are not the same as main characters or protagonists. In my book, the little sister is an essential character, because without her, the story couldn't happen. But she's not a major character. My protag's best friend is a major character, and the story would be very different without her, but it would still happen if I got rid of her.

You have to look beyond what you have in the plot so far. You have to look at the core conflict driving your novel. If the character can be removed and the story still works (even if you'd have to come up with totally new ways for something to happen) then they're not "essential."

I guess essential characters are critical to the story, not the plot. Plot can change, but the story is constant.

So if a character becomes just as critical to the story as your protag, (not just some element of the plot) then they could become a main character.

Exactly this.

DeleyanLee · Aug 30, 2010

The main character(s) is the individual(s) the story focuses on, whose choices and actions shape the tale. It has nothing to do with POV, really.

AceTachyon · Aug 30, 2010

Shadow_Ferret said:
A secondary character can only become a main character when voted so by a committee of his peers.

I thought it was a 2-year apprenticeship.

Or is that just to Journeyman Character status?

It's probably something like 5,000 XP...

kuwisdelu · Aug 30, 2010

I wouldn't suggest promoting too many characters. You have to pay each main character 10% of your royalties. (Poor Tolkien.)

Raindrop · Aug 30, 2010

kuwisdelu said:
I wouldn't suggest promoting too many characters. You have to pay each main character 10% of your royalties. (Poor Tolkien.)

*shoots a couple of characters dead.*
Sorry guys, I have a lifestyle to maintain.

elindsen · Aug 30, 2010

voice and importance

Greeble · Aug 30, 2010

It's the character who makes the most things explode.

Steam&Ink · Aug 30, 2010

Gabriele Campbell said:
No, MC = POV doesn't work as explanation.

Quite true.
I'm currently reading 44 Scotland Street by the fabulous Alexander McCall Smith, and that story is told in 3rd person limited POV, roving between the heads of... *counts on fingers*... at least eight characters so far!
But I can without a doubt put my finger on the MC. Not only does she get (slightly) more POV time, but it is her story.
The story begins with her moving into 44 Scotland Street, and all the other characters are more or less connected to her new life in Edinburgh. The story unfolds about her, and everything that happens has some effect (whether direct or indirect) on her story. If she wasn't in the story, it would simply be a book of unrelated anecdotes with no common thread to bind them.

TheWordQueen · Aug 30, 2010

Does the main character move the plot forward in any way? Is it your goal that readers identify with your character? How big a role does he / she play in the story? Whose point of view are you writing the story from? These questions should help...

Camilla Delvalle · Aug 30, 2010

I use to think about the main character in a scene as the one who has the initiative. The one who wants to do something and who meets opposition to the action. This is not always true of course. Sometimes the antagonist is more active. And sometimes the main character is someone who is suffering from abuse or something and who is not very active.

Anyway, when I have to chose between different POV characters who is to own a chapter I try to give the chapter to the character who has the initiative. E.g. I just wrote a chapter where a woman was on trial. In the end of the chapter she was sentenced to death. In the next chapter I choose to give the POV to her brother instead, because he wants to do things to save her, while I expect her to mostly whine during that chapter.

Jamesaritchie · Aug 30, 2010

I usually have several main characters, but only one main protagonist, and only one main antagonist.

DeleyanLee · Aug 31, 2010

Jamesaritchie said:
I usually have several main characters, but only one main protagonist, and only one main antagonist.

Ditto, though I use the terms "hero" and "villain", but I have had as many as 15 POV characters in a single book.

Lyra Jean · Aug 31, 2010

I have over 400 characters but only 1 MC possibly 2 MC and at least 1 antagonist.

Yes, most of my characters are background. But I have to build them in or else I can't write it realistically.

JamieFord · Aug 31, 2010

The main character is the one with the most interesting problems.

S.J. · Aug 31, 2010

In addition to the above, I would say that a main character is a character who not only has a part to play in the outer world of the novel, but also completes some kind of inner emotional journey. Particularly when this emotional journey is integral to the plot/ending.

And explosions are important.

JimmyB27 · Aug 31, 2010

The main character is the one with the most at stake.

What promotes a character to Main Character?

Imagined half of it.

sekrit superhero

Soldier, Storyteller

Danthia

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Court Jester

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Bunned

Writing Anarchist

Odd person

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Zombie lovin'

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Dreaming of other times

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Two years old now.

giving resonant directions

Addict? I can quit whenever I want!

Hoopy frood