Day 22, #NaNoWriMo: All You Need Is Love

Every great book has a sympathetic main character. We care about the character and we want him or her to prevail. Readers need to like your POV character. Otherwise, they aren’t going to care how high your stakes are. Your readers will say, fine, throw the character off the cliff, I don’t give a damn.

But what if you’d like to write a character who isn’t traditionally sympathetic, who may, in fact, be unlikeable? Or maybe you want to build a multi-dimensional character who’s sympathetic, but also has realistic flaws and weaknesses? Can we, as readers, care about a messed-up POV character? And what about the character arch? Don’t we have to start out with a flawed human who develops and grows and becomes a less flawed human?

I would suggest that love may be the chief instrument to create a likable, yet flawed character. Show your character loving someone or show others loving your character. Think of the killer mafia man. We see him laughing with his grandson, plucking his grandson’s nose and saying he stole it. The grandson giggles and declares, “No, you didn’t, Paw-paw. It’s right here on my face!” The killer mafia man laughs and tussles his grandson’s hair, and he’s no longer the killer mafia man, but instead a charming grandpa who is loved and who we too can love. Tony Soprano is a perfect example of the lovable killer mafia man. In literature, consider Hunger Games; Katniss is a serious, and somewhat unlikeable character, but her love for her sister makes all of us sympathize with her plight.

You can also make your character more likable by showing the things he loves or whatever brings him joy. Think about your favorite characters in literature. What do they love? How about Charlie in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl? Charlie loves chocolate and he loves his grandpa, and his love for both ignites the story.

Find the love in your character’s life. Not only does it give something for your character to lose or to win, but it also gives readers a reason to root for him or her. Like the Beatles song says, all you need is love.