How to Write the Main Character of Your Novel
HelloOoOo everybody!
Welcome to the second episode of my course, How Writers Become Authors, a step-by-step guide to crafting your novel. Today, we're crafting our main character, or characters, that we’ll be following throughout the story. The main character, also known as the protagonist or the MC, is the leading character. They face the conflict of the novel, which we already cooked up in the first episode of this course. And ultimately, their actions and decisions drive the plot.
Crafting your main character correctly plays a huge role in the success of your novel, not only because your readers are stuck following this character around, but their story will also likely affect other aspects of your novel, like the theme or narration. In fact, it's very possible that the main character of your novel is the narrator, though that isn't always the case. But since we're handling the basics, let's just make sure that the main character is perfectly crafted for the premise you've created in part one of this course.
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Step 1: Character Profile
Now, when it comes to crafting any character of your novel, you want to make sure you have a full idea of their characterization and humanity. That's why I typically recommend creating a character profile. A character profile covers every facet of your character, including the basics, like:
Their age, gender, ethnicity, physical appearance, etc.
Lifestyle
Family
Occupation
Hometown
Personality
Strengths
Weaknesses
Beliefs
Fears
And more. If you want to learn more about crafting character profiles, I have an entire video on this topic. I also cover this in depth in both of my writing craft books, Shut Up and Write the Book and How to Write Romantasy.
Step 2: Character, Conflict, and Goal
Since we're talking about our main character, let’s assume the character profile is already complete. You want to craft your main character, or MC, so that they shine from the page and appropriately lead your story.
The next step is to make sure your conflict, or the premise of your story, directly affects the MC. The conflict isn't just appearing in the periphery of your MC's life; it's affecting them head-on, and they need to face it in order to move forward. One of my novels follows a dangerous gladiatorial tournament with only one winner. Surviving this tournament is a huge part of my story's conflict. That means my MC needs to be in this tournament. If he's just watching from the stands, that's not strong enough to carry the story forward.
You can see this in action in other famous works of literature. In The Handmaid's Tale, the MC is Offred. She's a handmaid who has been stripped of her humanity and individuality and is forced to bear children for the ruling elite. I mean, it's in the title, The Handmaid's Tale is literally her tale. Her conflict and point of view are required for this story to exist.
Step 3: Purpose
Ensuring the conflict directly affects the MC also ensures that they have a purpose or an agenda within this novel. They shouldn't just be going through the motions. They should have strong opinions about what they're going through, and maybe a goal or endgame in mind. The MC typically has a unique perspective, mindset, or experience that may be different from those of other characters within the novel.
This doesn't mean that you need to write the ultimate “pick me.” They don't need to declare that they're “not like the other characters, they're special." But something is setting them apart from the other characters, even if it's in a minor way. If you're writing a story about elves, it could be that this particular elf is the only one who wasn't born with magic. Or maybe you're writing the opposite kind of story. Maybe they're the most magical elf of all.
Step 4: Perspective
Their purpose doesn't have to be as overt as that. It could simply be that the MC is the only character who is willing to take a stand when some evil guy shows up. In the book Dumplin, what sets Willowdean apart is simply her body type. She's a self-proclaimed fat girl, and she's entering a beauty pageant where a very specific and very skinny body type is expected. If Dumplin was told through the perspective of one of the other contestants, it wouldn't work. Willowdean needed to be the MC due to her unique perspective.
Step 5: Flaws and Fears
The next step is to give your MC flaws or fears, or both, that will be tested by the conflict. An MC should never be perfect. It's not relatable or likable. Plus, it doesn't move the story forward. The conflict is supposed to be a challenge for the MC, and usually that's in part due to some flaws or fears that they're struggling with.
Does your MC struggle with their confidence? Maybe their issues with insecurity cause a huge blunder later in the novel.
On the flip side, is your character arrogant? Maybe their inflated ego makes them underestimate their conflict, and they have to face a harsh reality about their circumstances.
This is important because it makes the stakes of the conflict feel real. If the goal is easy to achieve, it's not interesting, nor is the story worth telling. It also helps to advance your MC's arc, which we'll discuss a little bit more later in this course.
Step 6: Likability
Lastly, you want to make your MC likable. And you can do this by ensuring that the character is at least one of these three things: sympathetic, relatable, or entertaining. If you can make them two or three of those things, all the better.
A sympathetic MC is one readers care about and root for. They understand why they're in whatever situation they're in, and they may even feel bad for them.
A relatable MC is one your readers can relate to. Maybe your MC has issues with their family, or they suck at dating. These are common issues, and a lot of your readers can probably relate to them.
An entertaining MC is one who has a unique and engaging voice. They have personality, they may have wit or charisma, and that's what keeps readers turning the page.
In order to make your MC likable, they need to have at least one of these traits. But like I said, if you could give them two or three, even better. But don't feel discouraged if you can't give your character all three traits. For example, there are plenty of stories that follow villains or horrible characters that aren't sympathetic and hopefully aren't relatable at all. But it's their entertaining, charismatic personalities that keep readers engaged even though they're terrible people.
Examples
Perfect examples of this are Alex from A Clockwork Orange and Joe from YOU. Both of these characters are unhinged, to say the least. But because their voices are entertaining to read, they make for compelling main characters, despite not being sympathetic or relatable. Of course, I'd argue most main characters, or at least more than half of main characters, aren't villains, which gives you better odds of hitting more than one of these three traits.
Your Turn
All right, it's your turn to create your main character, or main characters, that you'll be writing about. Please be conservative when dubbing a character an MC. Just because you enjoy them or like writing them doesn't mean they need to be a main character. While there are exceptions to the rule, I'd say the average novel doesn't need more than three main characters.
So that's all I've got for you today!
Get to creating your character profile. Then, after that, tackle these steps to make sure your MC shines on the page. I've got a worksheet here if you need extra help.
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