Why Are We Following THEM?

Photo by Harvey Abayasari and edited by me

Currently Reading: Wench by Maxine Kaplan

So you have an idea. You have some fun plans for the characters. You have a setting and maybe even a plot. 

But why is the main character so boring?

It can be really easy to turn a main character, especially if they’re the ones narrating the story, into another version of yourself. This is good! Every character, but especially narrating characters, should have pieces of you. 

Buuuuuut what makes you interesting in a world of dragons or killer robots?

This is mostly about speculative fiction, or sci-fi and fantasy. It’s easy to make the side characters absolutely fascinating in order to give us more context about the world. You can make them very different from each other, and from yourself. 

And then the main character is you in different skin. 

This problem creates a mindset in readers that leads them to leave reviews like “I wanted to know more about (character)!” or “I cared so much more about (character) than (main character).” 

Intriguing characters is not a bad thing. Every character should have enough of a story to tell that they could be the narrator of the book. But it gets to be a problem when the main character has none of the flavor of the side characters. They talk like you do, or they act like you hope you would. They have no flaws because they’re you, and you’re perfect, right?

Main characters should have the same level of passion as the villain, as the quirky side character. They should have all of their backstory to discover. They should get fun physical attributes; not all of them have to be Jane or John Doe. 

I think that a lot of this issue stems from a problem with relatability. As writers, we feel the need to write for a general audience. We think we need to write a main character who everyone can project onto. 

Yes! But also no!

Your main character doesn’t have to be similar to you. But they do have to be relatable, in that they struggle with similar things that the reader might. It may not look the same—having to kill a dragon is not the same as being stuck in traffic—but there is a connection between fantastical issues and real ones. Drawing that connection is what allows you to connect to your readers via your main character. 

Your main character should not be so relatable, however, that they become bland, similar to every other main character ever. 

I don’t have a perfect solution to this. I’m pointing it out because I’m tired of reading the same character over and over. 

Create new points of view! Have fun with it! Be unrelatable! Challenge! 

-Rachel, a boring character herself