Symbols deepen what we, as readers, come to know and experience with a character.
But what makes us feel with and for her, or him [the protagonist]–cry with them, scream for them, die with them?
What ultimately moves and transforms us, the reader, along with the central character of a story, or novel?
Certainly obstacles and a great antagonist stoke the fires of us cheering on the protagonist.
But what brings us even closer to feeling, touching and being moved by the humanity, and vulnerability of a central character?
Certainly we want to see the strengths of a major character. Protagonists who fall victim to their circumstances engender little, if any, hope for ourselves, humanity and life at large.
Yet it is the ones who trudge forward, despite their flaws and past failures, their short comings and limitations of mind, spirit and physical body and surroundings, that claim our attention, and hold it for years to come.
When crafting our characters we must take care to give them not too shiny an edge or surface, that of Teflon, lest nothing sticks, not even the reader.
Characters that are rough around the edges, whose lives hold crevices and cracks provide hooks on which to hang their human shortcomings, and weaknesses.
They also provide grips and appendages for which our readers to grasp and latch on for the ride.
Points of identification.
This is what revealing the blemishes of our central characters provides for readers.
Incorporating those blemishes in the yarn of our protagonist’s strengths and personality in a way that draws the reader and does not repulse even the most timid is one of the central hallmarks of crafting the most engaging of fiction.
What are some of your characters’ shortcomings?
What registers for you as a personality flaw?
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We will return Monday, January 4, 2010.
Until then visit me at anjuelle floyd–the writing life