by Stephanie Morrill
Many of us have heard the concept that you don’t want your main character to be perfect. They should have flaws, issues, and lies they believe.
Recently I read a book where the main character clearly wasn’t perfect … yet I felt as though I was being pushed into believing she was. This seemed like a strange sensation to experience, and I started hunting for what I felt was amiss. I could name a few flaws. I could name the lie she believed. What was going on?
It didn’t click with me right away but eventually I figured out that it wasn’t an issue with the development of the main character – it was an issue with the other characters in the cast.
In the book, every character who was “good” loved and supported the main character. They had honorable intentions toward her and did things to promote her best interest. While every character who was “bad” didn’t like the main character and worked against her.
- Who in my story does my main character consider good, and how could they do something to frustrate her plans?
- How could one of my antagonists help my main character? What would have to happen to motivate them to do that?
What about you? Have you developed the other characters in your story well or do you tend to focus too much on your main character?
If you haven’t voted for your favorite pitches yet, you have until Thursday at noon to do so. You can do that by clicking here. I forgot to mention that we had 140 pitches submitted to that contest and there were a bunch that we liked but not on the finalists list. You guys have such creative stories!