So You Want To/Make Interesting Characters: Difference between revisions
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* People commit two mistakes when adding a [[Dark and Troubled Past]] and a [[Freudian Excuse]]. One is that they treat it as if it's not there; the second is that they blow it out of importance when it ''is'' brought up. Acknowledge that a character that has gone through a life-changing event will be different from those around him. On the other hand, do not let it take the character over and have a strong effect decades after it had happened unless you plan to show the character as a severely traumatized individual.
* [[This Loser Is You]]: A character that's all flaws can sometimes be as annoying or even more so than [[Mary Sue|one with none]] that's the importance of balance.
* [[Designated Hero]]: There are two metrics of likeability that a character can be rated on. One is the question of whether other characters in the same work like them. This is important because the sum total of characters, as a whole, are the [[Author Avatar]]; if the character is liked or respected by (most of) the other characters, then we know that The Author wants ''The Reader'' to like that character too. The other metric, however, is whether The Reader does like that character. '''In general''', the answers to these two questions should always be the same; readers should like the characters you want them to, and dislike the characters you want them to. If the answers are ''different'', then something is very wrong with your ability as a writer. You need to spend some time questioning what virtues your characters are supposed to feature, what flaws your audience is finding in them, and how you got from one to the other.
The most basic tenet of Audience Reactions is this: '''The audience is always right'''. It doesn't matter what you were ''trying'' to do, it matters what you did. And, for good or ill, if the audience doesn't like what you did, they don't have to give you money anymore. And money is probably something you need if you want to continue making interesting characters. When in doubt, assume the audience knows their head from their ass, and adjust accordingly. This does not mean you have to completely change how you write characters, or which virtues and flaws you want to assign them; it means you have to step back, [[deconstruct]] those flaws and virtues, and ask yourself what makes a character sympathetic (or not), and why.
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