The Impact of Characters

[Louanne Learning]

What impact do you want your characters to have on your readers?

Do you want your readers to empathize with them? Relate to them? Understand them? Learn from them? Be moved by them? Be haunted by them? Or – what?

And how do you go about accomplishing that?

Can you think of a character in something you’ve read that had a lasting effect on you? Why do you think that was?

 

[Louanne Learning]

If I had to pick one primary goal, it would be to have readers understand my characters. I have created a wide variety of characters, some very unlike me. But paramount is to have their motivations understood. Maybe it’s in this way that the characters become relatable.

This all requires going right inside the characters’ heads.

Yeah, and having my characters haunt would be good, too.

I think that mostly requires connecting on an emotional level.

Probably the character from literature that made the biggest impact on me was Cathy from Wuthering Heights. The passion!

 

[Madman Starryteller]

Some of my characters are hopefully inspiring. Someone to follow or look up to.

Most of all I hope they are memorable. I mean years after one has read my works, they will hopefully remember my characters.

 

[Louanne Learning]

Most of all I hope they are memorable.

I agree. What elements do you think go into this?

 

[Madman Starryteller]

I agree. What elements do you think go into this?

It may differ from person to person, but for me, a character becomes memorable when they face and overcome great adversity in a believable manner.

 

[Louanne Learning]

when they face and overcome great adversity

This is so true! There must be something at stake for them. the higher the stakes, the greater the reader engagement.

I once read, too, that to write a character at the 3rd dimension requires they need to make a high-stakes decision that reveals the deepest part of their character.

 

[Naja Noir]

It depends on the specific story/character but more often than not, I want people to care about them. I want them to wonder if they survived. Or where they're at and what they're doing later on.

I think any emotion felt towards my characters is better than indifference though. I've read stories where I can't even remember character specifics because they were uninteresting to me in every way.

Many characters have had lasting effects on me for various reasons:

Macbeth. Winston Smith. Aomame. Guy Montag. Sherlock Holmes. Balram Halwai

A few have thoroughly changed my life though.

Mr Darcy (spoiled me, as no other man can compare to him).

Antoinette from The Wide Sargasso Sea. I never wanted to reach into a story more and rescue a character. I don't think it was that I particularly liked her, but never had a writer made me sick to my stomach with dread and depression like that. I'll never forget it.

Toru from The Wind Up Bird Chronicles. Wasn't my favorite Murakami book initially. However, I think of Toru a lot. Is he looking for his cat again? Sitting in a well somewhere? I don't know, but I want to.

Captain Nemo. Now him, I thoroughly hate. Horrified me and gave me the worst agita I've ever had while reading. Hard to forget that.

I got a character I wrote that I can't stop thinking about. I care about him deeply and wish to make right by him, one day I might. Until then, he'll haunt me.

 

[Louanne Learning]

I want people to care about them

omg, yes that is vital! For protagonists, and antagonists alike.

any emotion felt towards my characters is better than indifference though.

I think a reader needs to make a connection to a character in order to care about them

I care about him deeply and wish to make right by him

This has always been a big thing with me to - wanting to do right by my characters. I feel a real obligation to them. Maybe it's an obligation to the truth. I know that they are not real, but for the time they exist in my stories, they are very real indeed.

 

[Luxuria]

What impact do you want your characters to have on your readers?

Do you want your readers to empathize with them? Relate to them? Understand them? Learn from them? Be moved by them? Be haunted by them? Or – what?

And how do you go about accomplishing that?

Can you think of a character in something you’ve read that had a lasting effect on you? Why do you think that was?

I am not sure. I think that I want readers to like/love/hate/admire my characters. Each character is different.

Yes and no. I don't work to make characters likeable, but more than anything, I want the reader to understand the character. Why he did what he did or said. I want the reader to understand the WHY of my characters.

And yes, Haunted is a good word. I would love that.

I am not sure how I would 'go about' this. I just write characters I like and hope others like them, too.

I love a lot of anime characters, mainly villians. I think the bad guys in the stories are far more interesting and inspiring to me. Because they are more dimensional than the hero and I relate to some of their struggles. I also think they are just written better.

 

[Naomasa298]

What impact do you want your characters to have on your readers?

Do you want your readers to empathize with them? Relate to them? Understand them? Learn from them? Be moved by them? Be haunted by them? Or – what?

And how do you go about accomplishing that?

Can you think of a character in something you’ve read that had a lasting effect on you? Why do you think that was?

It differs from story to story.

Sometimes I want readers to emphasise with them.
Sometimes root for them.
Sometimes mourn for them.
Sometimes understand them.
And sometimes, to come to their own judgement about them.

For the last one, I don't tell them what to think. I just tell them what the character is thinking about how they justify what they're doing for themselves. Then it's up to the reader to decide what they think about it.

 

[Louanne Learning]

I don't work to make characters likeable, but more than anything, I want the reader to understand the character.

I think that may be a downfall if we want all our characters to be "likeable"

 

[Trish]

I don't actually write with thought towards whether or not anyone will like or dislike them. My only thought towards characterizations and growth and such is authenticity. I need it to feel authentic whether that means the reader is praying for them to burn or praying for them to get everything they desire.

 

[Luxuria]

I think that may be a downfall if we want all our characters to be "likeable"

Fair enough. But again, I feel that I write characters I enjoy writing. To me, they are my friends and I know my characters are not going to be everyone's cup of tea. So, I have always thought, 'why craft characters to please the reader? Why not craft characters I like, instead?' Because there is bound to be someone out there who likes my character choices.

 

[Louanne Learning]

authenticity.

This is a really important word. It's related to believability and truth.

 

[Naomasa298]

It depends on the type of story as well, IMO.

In one particular type of story I write, my characters and their reactions are deliberately unbelievable. But they are consistent *in context*. You aren't supposed to believe a real person would react like that, but that a character in that setting could and would. It's for reader enjoyment, rather than any particular deeper purpose.

In those stories, I write so that you will both like the character AND hope he gets what he deserves.

 

[Trish]

It depends on the type of story as well, IMO.

In one particular type of story I write, my characters and their reactions are deliberately unbelievable. But they are consistent *in context*. You aren't supposed to believe a real person would react like that, but that a character in that setting could and would. It's for reader enjoyment, rather than any particular deeper purpose.

In those stories, I write so that you will both like the character AND hope he gets what he deserves.

What kind of story?

Sorry, curiosity bug bit me and will not be denied.

 

[Naomasa298]

What kind of story?

Sorry, curiosity bug bit me and will not be denied.

There's only one at the moment (although there's a prototype prologue story I wrote as well), but it's a picaresque fantasy in the style of Jack Vance, and using his voice. The protagonist is a scammer and a clever rogue, who goes through life from one misadventure to another, often of his own making. He's clever, but not half as clever as he thinks he is, and he often gets scammed by even cleverer scammers. I've planned at as a potential series of connected short stories - it's the one I've posted in the Workshop.

 

[Trish]

There's only one at the moment (although there's a prototype prologue story I wrote as well), but it's a picaresque fantasy in the style of Jack Vance, and using his voice. The protagonist is a scammer and a clever rogue, who goes through life from one misadventure to another, often of his own making. He's clever, but not half as clever as he thinks he is, and he often gets scammed by even cleverer scammers. I've planned at as a potential series of connected short stories - it's the one I've posted in the Workshop.

So just likable rapscallion? Am I characterizing that right?

 

[Naomasa298]

So just likable rapscallion? Am I characterizing that right?

Pretty much, although you do kind of want his schemes to fail as well. But his character isn't "believable" in a realistic sense.

 

[JT Woody]

Do you want your readers to empathize with them? Relate to them? Understand them? Learn from them? Be moved by them? Be haunted by them? Or – what?

all of the above, actually. I want them to be different things to different people
I want them to make people think... about themselves, the world, other people, etc.

I dont write my characters with the intention of making my reader feel or think certain things about them and the story. I just write them and let them grow how they are supposed to. Ultimately, its up to the reader to assign whatever purpose or meaning they want to the character.

A great example was reading The Red Haired Woman by Orhan Pamuk.. In the book club I lead, we read this and each of us came to different conclusions and interpretations of the main character. we even had different character that we thought were the main character who was telling the story! it was so interestingly weird how we each resonated with different characters and how that shaped our reading and interpretation of the piece.

Most recently, I finished reading The Farm by Joanne Ramos. There were 3 POV characters which the book jumped around with, with 3 other side characters that were prominent but didnt have PV chapters. it was a frustrating read, not because of the POV jumps, but because each character had their reasons for doing certain things. some were relatable, some were unfortunate, some you understood they had no choice in the matter. so it was all empathy, relating, understanding, learning, and being haunted by them