I think we can all agree that our love for a particular story has to do with waaaay more than just the plot. Don’t get me wrong, everyone loves a fast-paced, intricate, well-planned plot. After all, if there ISN’T a good plot, then the story will stink…
…no matter how awesome the characters themselves are.
But this doesn’t change the fact that being able to connect with characters is something awesome and extremely special. Great characters make stories meaningful to us in a personal way; great characters make stories memorable; they can even change the way we view life or ourselves.
Having unique but relatable characters in your story is something every writer should strive for.
I am therefore proud to share that my series, back when it used to be called The Golden Lands, has been praised for having characters that are both human but morally-inspiring. Nowadays, it can be hard to find characters that can be both.
If a character is too “human”, perhaps they lack the ability to inspire us to be better. If a character is too upright or saintly, everyone rolls their eyes and thinks, “This is unrealistic.”
How do my characters fit into both categories?
John Hedekira is the main character of my series. Throughout the series, John struggles with feelings of vengeance towards his enemies, anger towards his friends, confusion within himself and towards his family, and emotional insecurity about his (lack of) parents. Sometimes he’ll make a poor decision when it comes to intense moral dilemmas, acting off of his gut instead of what’s right.
But John is also very brave. And he stands up for others when they can’t. He wants to help to people, still possessing a sense of child-like (but not childish) sense of innocence and heroism that we all should have. He makes up for his wrongs and he exercises forgiveness and justice.
I remember having a conversation with my dad and older brother about the characters of Avatar: The Last Airbender. We decided that there was something extremely unique and humbling about the sense of heroism that Aang and Zuko and the other characters had. Why? Because they were just kids/teenagers.
I think that some people tend to brush off the pure, inspirational effect that kids can have on us. Avatar: The Last Airbender is an example of how younger characters are able to teach us some big lessons…and just because the lessons come from younger characters doesn’t make the lessons any less true.
I’m not saying that Elithius is like Avatar. Elithius is more mature and way darker on a number of levels. I’m simply drawing a comparison because both stories have young-adult characters.
Here’s what some people have said about the characters in my series:
“This is a well-paced story with compelling main characters and plenty of action”-Smashwords Review
“…John Hedekira and Faith Pinck are both realistic characters with depth, and the story is fast-paced and exciting…”-Smashwords Review
“…The characters are very realistic and the action scenes are amazing…”-Smashwords Review
“…John and Faith’s characters continue to become more developed, and the action scenes are brilliant…”-Smashwords Review
“…The book is well written. The characters, landscape, and especially fight scenes are artfully described by the author…”-Amazon Review
What do you think? What’s your opinion on character structuring?
The Golden Lands 
Great post! I agree, being able to relate to characters is how we can identify and fall in love with a story. My example is a book series made into a tv series call Pretty Little Liars. Yes I know it’s a teen drama but one of the main characters, Aria, I’ve found myself relating to whole heartedly. This makes me pay special attention to the decisions she makes and causing me to see qualities in myself that I can improve upon. It’s an awesome thing because you know that someone, somewhere can relate to you no matter how far fetched or weird you think your personality is.
-Luna 🙂
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I totally feel! Whenever I find a character that I relate to, I find myself studying everything they do, trying to decide what parts are good and what parts are bad. In a roundabout way, it’s almost like assessing yourself too!
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I love how you made an Elithius banner!! Great post, too!
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Thanks! I had made one before, but this one made more sense and looked better 😉
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Yes, I think the characters are important too! I find that when I write, I tend to put a little of myself into (at least) the protagonist of every story. Hesitant at every major decision? Check! Can’t stand injustice? Check! Hate spicy food? Check, but that was when I used to hate spicy food. 😀
I think it helps when I do that, because if I can relate to the protagonist, someone else (like me) will also relate to him / her. 🙂
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YESSS. That’s exactly what I do. To be honest, I think every writer has to put a little bit of himself or herself into their characters. It just slips in.
Anyway, I totally agree with what you’re saying!
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Having good character is essential. Without good characters, you have, no matter how eloquently written, nothing more than a forensic analysis of what happened. Yes, I’m deliberately drawing from James Cameron’s /Titanic/ for that analogy. It isn’t the events that make the story compelling, but the people involved.
Take Batman v. Superman for example. It was a decent movie from the notion of plot and such, but the characters were tired and flat rehashes of what we already knew to exist.
Without characters that evoke emotion within us, a story becomes nothing more than a sterile relaying of places and events.
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Sorry for being redundant, there. Didn”t quite realize it until after I posted.
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I didn’t think you were being redundant! As always, thanks for the deep and thought-provoking comments!
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Ahhh okay, I heard that a lot of people were bored with the characters of Batman V. Superman. I totally agree with you, characters are extremely important. Especially nowadays, stories are very character driven.
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