What makes a character interesting?

[PorcheJ]

Characters are the most important subjects in a story. They keep the story going and gets the readers hooked. We wonder, "What are their motives? Who are they? What's their conflict?" So many questions come to mind when we walk on the journey with said characters.

So! I've decided to create a topic for us creators to share. My question is: What makes a character interesting?

[GesuGesu]

something about them that is relatable no matter how out-there they are (guy goes around torturing people and cutting/raping women, but HE HAS DADDY ISSUES BAW)

OR

They have two traits that seem to work against each other (eg. smart and beautiful but acts like a total virgin in front of the other sex)

[shazzbaa]

One big thing is contradictions -- I think a lot of intriguing characters are those who want two things that are mutually exclusive. And not even necessarily in the Big Final Goals way, just in the things that would make them comfortable and happy. The easy example I always give is the shy character that really wants to help -- their motivations and fears are clear: this character really wants to help her friends; this character is really terrified of being put on the spot. But then when you bring those into conflict -- "you can help this person, but it would mean you have to step out and take the lead" -- you learn something really interesting about that character: what do you value more?

[NickRowler]

Personally, if you want to make a character interesting, you have to give them some sort of realistic flaw which they have to struggle with. However, they do not define themselves solely by that flaw.

I always felt a very weak type of character was the "smart guy/girl" whose flaw is more or less "everyone is not a smart as me" or "I am too smart". I feel if you want to make a genius character interesting you need to make them arrogant or narcissistic or maybe they have issues interacting with people or have them out of touch with society.

[alaingrey]

I feel like this is an aspect of storytelling that I totally don't have an answer for. I make a lot of characters, and some of them I like a lot, and some of them I develop a lot and yet never feel a 'spark' for, even if they're constructed in a way that should work.

For example, all last summer I was working on a short horror comic about a serial killer. I developed the character meticulously, but I needed him to kill someone. I drew this generic looking blond guy and put him in a leather jacket and decided a few other character traits for this victim, who's only role was to die. One of the traits I gave him was that he was in a punk band...

Flash forward to this year and I have a comic about a punk band, featuring Victim Guy as one of the main characters. He just felt like someone that needed his story told, and it's not neccessarily because he's got an exciting personality- he's grounded, calm and mature. snorefest! But I think he's a far more interesting character than a charming murderer.

I think sometimes the characters that undergo the most development to make them 'interesting' are the characters that are abhorrently uninteresting. I don't care about twisted motives or 'I can't figure what they're going to do next' or 'what witticism' (ok I lied, I like witticism)

I think making characters, and making a ton of them is the best way to kind of figure out what works, and what you as a writer write best. Even then, who knows if other people actually find said characters as interesting as you do...

[defineprog]

For me it's two major factors: a tangible personality, and the potential for growth. A great character needs a real human personality, someone who's not just a caricature of an archetype. The most popular characters are the ones people feel like they've gotten to know, and would probably like to spend time with in real life, because the writer took the time to give them goals/preferences/flaws/vices/etc to make them feel real. Next is the potential for growth, which is a bit easier to explain and achieve. Basically the character needs to be different by the end of their story than they were at the start, to some degree. Villains turned good are the easiest to do, and they're so popular because their character growth is so instantly noticeable. My personal form of character growth is to have them fail at something they really wanted, and learn a flaw/weakness they have, then overcome that and achieve their goal now that they are stronger/wiser. Idk hopefully that wasn't too vague lol.

[Michelle]

I like a character with compelling personality flaws, especially when they're in contrast to another quality. Like a good-hearted character whose gruffness gets in the way, or a determined character who gets easily carried away with achieving a goal.
It's especially rewarding when the source of a character's personality quirk is revealed through the story's development, and you get that "aha!" moment of understanding.
Most importantly, I want to see a character grow. It's boring to start with a virtually flawless character, or a character that's screwed-up beyond belief with no room for improvement.

[azureXtwilight]

Their interactions with other characters, mostly. And how they react unto things. Like I won't believe a character is actually a funny, fun loving guy before I actually see him interact with others. Can't believe they are caring as well if all I can see is them shooing other people off.

[joannekwan]

For me, it's really their personality. It has to click with me. I'm not gonna care about a character that I don't empathize in the slightest with.

[AnnaLandin]

Complexity and conflict.

One of the greatest mistakes you can make when creating a character is to sand down all the edges and make them as likeable as possible - essentially what you're doing is emptying them out, leaving a blank space for the reader to place themselves into, and it hardly ever works. All you're really left with his a hero or heroine who is bland and boring, and the reader sees no reason to care about what happens to them; they're not a person. They're a plot-convenience.

I care about characters because they're people; people who want things, people who don't want other things, people who are reluctant or enthusiastic or hard to get along with, or easy to get along with but who still have issues to deal with; people far from home on adventures, or people still at home and unwilling to leave it but forced by circumstance to do so anyway, etc., etc.

I don't want a blank slate to fill in on my own; I want to be told a story about someone defined.

So give your characters something to care about. Give them an old hurt they're still trying to get over; give them a reason to go somewhere. And try to center this on them, and not make it the cheap shot "hero wants to defeat villain because villain killed his parents/girlfriend/children/friends/dog" or whatever. Maybe the hero/ine wants to defeat the villain because the hero/ine wants to achieve something, and the villain wants to achieve something that is in conflict with that - maybe the hero/ine really likes independence, and the villain really likes organisation, and the two goals come into conflict.

[R.n.P]

Determination, strength and sense of humor

[niinasalmelin]

They have to be like onions, there has to be layers!

[Damatris]

Conflict is always something that seems to draw me in. They have traits that seem to work against each other and create interesting, ever changing status within them. It's really interesting to see what they value more and whether or not they actively try to make one of them dominant aspect of their personality. It gives room for character growth. I like seeing characters slowly change during the story.

Another one that compels me is flaws / sharp edges. Trying to make character likable is something I understand because we all want our dear characters to be well received but it also can make for a dull character. I don't want to be told to like a character or told how likable this person is. I want to form my own opinion. I want to see some flaws. I want to see some positive traits. I want to see characters wrestle with their traits. Sometimes less is more and sometimes dramatic changes are the way to go.

Just... multidimensional characters with wants and needs, flaws and positive traits. And preferably conflicts between those.

[Greg_Dickson]

@AnnaLandin I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing about a hero having a goal of defeating a villain that killed someone of value to them (it's only natural that they could feel this way), if you have the character branching out over the course of the story and caring about other things than just that goal. Yes, you could say a revenge story is rather bland, but I believe it's just one factor that gets the ball rolling, and the rest is about what the character goes through, throughout the story and discovers about themselves. To be honest, I do kind of tire of the revenge trope sometimes, but it really is all about what you do with it.

My main character actually goes through this trope, but I want to go off the beaten path, as she has a lot more to discover about herself rather than being fixated on one goal throughout the story without having any willingness to change or learn. When I first started my story, this was a plot device to fuel how she gets from point A to point B. Someone kills someone important to her, she defeats characters related to the problem one by one until she reaches the big bad. But then questions kept popping up. Who was she before all of this? How have the people before and after the incident shaped her? What does she learn from other characters and plot points, and how do they change her as a person? Is getting to this end goal really that easy? Can she really get from point A to point B that cleanly? Will she get exactly what she wanted from the start? Are fights/conflicts/relationships really going to be so cut and dry and what can I do to make them more interesting? What choices should she make that will show her strengths/weaknesses, and make her relatable?

You can take almost any kind of stereotype and flip them into something unique, and sometimes, people can start with fresh characters, but fail to develop them properly, which turns them into one big stereotype. I think ultimately, good characters require consistent attention. You can't just make one interesting character arc for them and then leave them at that. They don't have to have interesting things happen to them constantly, but their input to the situations around them and their presence alone should feel distinct and important. Give them their own ways of speaking and distinctive designs. Give them their own ways of bouncing dialogue off of the other characters, which can generate and solve problems, or just plain entertain the reader. And if you're going to make them a one-shot character, try to give them something of value so they stand out and are remembered after they're gone.

[maximumthemokona]

They must want something that is difficult, maybe impossible to obtain.

[Thesleepypencil]

With 7 billion people on the planet. Everyone is going to find different things interesting. Though all the same everyone will want characters that are more than one side. Characters with flaws and problems or quirks.

The most attractive thing to me as a character is when a character is KIND. From aang in the last air bender, to Rey and finn in the force awakens, to even Max in Mad max. These characters are extremely appealing to me. They are all different with different characters, and those other traits add to it. And with kind characters the story with constantly throw morally grey issues that they have to react to or evolve with and i find that so interesting to view

at the end of the day you give me a character who is unbridledly kind and I'll be all over that.

[kazukitakamura126]

What I think makes a characters is how the plot can make them evolve.

For example, you have a vengeful character who wants to kill the bad guy for taking the life of someone important to him/her. What would make them interesting is they discover that them and the bad guy are more relateable then they thought and starts to empathizes with them. Then when they finally meet and realize both their goals still clash they will still fight. However, the main character will fight the villian not because hatred but for honor. Another option would be that their is something bigger then the both of them and it turned out the important character that died was actually alive and planned to destroy them both. (I know this sounds cliche or convenient cop out but, if executed correctly can make for an interesting development)

If the story makes the character question their values and ultimately change to some degree you have written a good character. Well, this is just my opinion anyways.

[AnnaLandin]

I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing about a hero having a goal of defeating a villain that killed someone of value to them (it's only natural that they could feel this way), if you have the character branching out over the course of the story and caring about other things than just that goal.

Yeah, it's possible to do the revenge-plot well, but I've seen it handled badly so many times that I'm wary of it.

One thing that it often does is make secondary characters hollow and expendable, especially if you place the tragic event at the start of the story. You've barely had time to get to know these characters, and now suddenly one or more of them is dead simply to give your hero/ine some convenient tragedy to get upset about. There's no weight to it, and it's a very external motivation. It - and the entire adventure - is being thrust upon your character from the outside, and tells us very little about who they are on the inside. It's part of the whole blank-slate issue - if you remove the revenge, who are they?

I don't know - I just dislike seeing characters killed off for motivation. It feels cheap, and it hardly ever has the emotional weight that the creators intend.

I'm not saying characters should never die, but I dislike it being something that happens JUST to motivate the hero/ine. If you're going to kill the characters, at least let them have some agency in it - let them do a heroic self-sacrifice, or something. Let their death come at their crowning moment of glory, after we've gotten invested in them and their lives, and build up some of the hero/ine's motivation to defeat the villain before the death happens.

[isaacfriedman]

Give them the ability to change. That doesn't mean make them perfectly adaptable and have them behave differently in every situation; that means be consistent with how they behave and what their beliefs are, but if they are presented with sufficient stimulus or catalyst, they will react internally and change the way they think about the world and the way they act around other people. If they don't change under a great deal of stress of one kind or another, provide a reason that explains to the reader why they are so unphased by something so traumatic or straining, but don't just dump it on them then and there, build it up over the course of the "first act" or setup.

[keii4ii]

And just like onions, they make you cry (for joy or sorrow) as you get through those layers...

One thing I want to add to this discussion is that even when two people list the same thing (e.g. "believable flaws"), they can still have very different opinion about a given character. Person A might LOVE the character; person B might find them flat and uninteresting. I believe most people will agree with me on this, but it's still worth noting.