Creating Unforgettable Characters, Part 2: Your Primary Character(s)

Part one focused on getting to know the WHO of your character. Now that you know who your character is, it’s time to focus on WHY your character behaves the way they do. Your protagonist needs to be the strongest, most developed character in your story. How do you do that?

Let’s start with the backside of the worksheet from the first post in this series. You can find it here: https://docs.google.com/file/d/10VGR9cS_HI0s9cHduwB8lKH41CNx-kW3/edit?filetype=msword

You should fill out as much as needed of the first side of the character bio sheet for all your named characters by the time you finish writing your story. However, knowing more information at the start will make it easier to determine how your characters will act and react. Completing both sides of the worksheet is ideal for your protagonist(s) and major secondary roles. In addition to your primary, or main, character(s), each secondary character needs to be a fully formed person. We’ll talk about these supporting roles in Part 3.

The primary/main character/MC/protagonist/hero/heroine is going to take the reader on a journey. Sometimes it’s an actual journey; other times, it’s an internal one. Regardless of the plot, your MC is going to create and/or react to external forces that are going to force both an internal shift and external “new normal.” Other characters are along for the ride, supporting or antagonizing the MC’s goals. Understanding your character’s WHY will make the writing process easier and your characters feel more authentic.

The writer must be all-knowing

You are the god or goddess of the universe you create. You have all the power to create your world, the people in it, and their problems that need solving. But it all has to make sense, or the readers won’t take the story seriously.

Review both sides of the worksheet you filled out for your MC. Do you have a lot of blanks? By the end of your first draft, everything (and possibly more – this isn’t all-inclusive) should be filled out. The reader may never know most of this information, and that’s okay. The purpose is for YOU to know it. The more you know, the more developed your character will be.

Our backstories drive our actions

Human behavior is often predictable and influenced by the events in our lives.

We see the world through a lens that has been created by our experiences. Our upbringing, education, family dynamics and religious and political views, treatment and mistreatment, all shape us into who we are today. We have wounds that cause us to believe things about ourselves that are untrue, and a sensitivity to people and events that reinforce those misbeliefs. We must overcome them to move forward. This becomes our backstory.

It’s the same for the characters who live on our pages. As the author, it’s important to understand why your characters behave the way they do.

Consider giving your MC a signature item that can add dimension to their story and reaffirms their backstory. Several of my heroines wear necklaces that were given to them in circumstances that hold great significance. You can read more about such items in Anne Hawkinson’s post, “It’s All in the Details!”

Now that we know that backstory is important, let’s look at how it influences the journey your MC must travel.

The wound, misbeliefs, and the lies we tell ourselves

We are going all internal for this one! Right here is the heart of your MC—and the heart of the book. In my book, Love on the Edge, my hero, Matt, is an Army Ranger. He was unable to save the life of his best friend. It was his job to get his men out, and he failed. He was physically wounded and suffers from PTSD. He has triggers (sand, loud popping noises like fireworks, the smell of smoke, etc.).

Not being able to save his best friend is a dark moment, from which a wound is created. Matt’s wound is that he feels like he’s a failure. His misbelief is that he can’t be trusted to keep the people he’s responsible for safe. In his mind, he’s created a set of beliefs (lies) to that effect. He’s created boundaries based on those beliefs to never put himself into a position where he will fail others again. He needs to get to a place where he can allow those emotional walls to be broken down so he can heal and move forward.

So, what’s a writer to do?

Craft the healing process, taking the reader along for the ride!

In the opening scene, Matt is awakened in his apartment by the smell of smoke. Smoke being one of his triggers, he reacts, jumping out of bed to fight the adrenaline rush that is signaling him to stay alive. To calm his system, he goes for a run to cope. When he returns, his former colonel calls, asking him to guard his granddaughter. Matt can’t possibly do it; he failed in the field, and he’s barely keeping himself together.

My heroine, Lanie, is suffering from PTSD as well. Having been attacked by a stalker, her triggers are different, but Matt can understand her behavior and mental/emotional state because he’s lived it. Lanie’s upbringing and self-reliance wars with having to be taken care of, causing her to resist Matt’s protection at first.

The events that move the story forward help the reader get to know Matt and Lanie and force these two primary characters to confront and work through their wounds, which ultimately leads to the epiphanies identifying what they each want most. Foreshadowing leads to the Worst Nightmare coming true. By knowing the characters fears, dreams, skills, and weaknesses, the author knows how to help the characters fight and win the last battle that allows the happily-ever-after (if it’s a romance) or satisfying conclusion.

Goal, Motivation, and Conflict (GMC)

Each MC should have both and INTERNAL and EXTERNAL GMC.

Goals (internal and external) must be strong enough to make the reader care. GO DEEP. What made the bully mistreat another person? Likely, someone was mean to the bully. Hurt people hurt other people. Why won’t the mom let her kids swim in the ocean? Possibly she had a scary experience herself, or maybe someone close to her was eaten by a shark or swept away (all of this is backstory).

Internal vs. External

Internal goal and internal motivation inform the way your characters act and react. They aren’t always revealed right away. Matt wants nothing more than to be free of his PTSD. When he steps onto the beach, neither he or Lanie are prepared for the sudden onset of fear or his extreme reaction to his feet touching the sand. Only later do they realize his body and mind are reacting to what it thinks is the desert climate from his dark moment.

External goal and external motivation need to be strong enough to carry the reader through. If you are waiting to dramatically reveal the internal goals and motivation in a style like M. Night. Shyamalan (Filmmaker behind Sixth Sense, The Village, and Signs), you MUST provide hints/clues/foreshadowing along the way.

Conflict keeps the story moving. Man vs Man, Man vs World, Man vs Himself – one antagonist will be prominent in your story, but the more of these you use, the more interesting the story is for the reader. You want your readers to keep turning pages, so don’t make the journey too easy. Stuck in the saggy middle? Just add conflict! Brush up on “The 7 Types of Narrative Conflict.” in Arielle Haughee’s post.

Revisit your worksheet and throw in some fears, back the character into a corner, or choose to torture them internally or externally. The harder it is for them to overcome, the more satisfying the ending will be for the reader. This is where their wound and misbeliefs really come into play. Make their suffering unique to their situation. Sand, not an issue for Lanie, caused Matt huge struggles.

A few more examples

• In Die Hard, ONLY John McClane had the motivation to save the day. Though separated from his wife, he still loved her, and she was his children’s mother.
• Edmund Pevensie had to feel unloved and left out, to let the White Witch charm him, which set into motion the chain of events leading to the Battle of Narnia.
• Anne Shirley had to leave her beloved Green Gables to discover what she really wants and fulfill her destiny.
• Jesus had to be betrayed by Judas to set into motion the prophecy that he would sacrifice himself in perfect love for all of mankind.

Are you seeing a theme here? The way you create your characters dictates how you will strip them down, back them into a corner, take away what they love most, and sacrifice something – often themselves – and then make them overcome it to lead them to their (often happy) ending.

Previous Post

Creating Unforgettable Characters, Part 1: Who Are They?