What makes you feel attached to a character?

[JuJu_Be]

i have a theory that the way to make someone really get to know you character is to

-push your character to their limits
-see them at their best
-see them at their worst
-see them in every emotion

but thats just a theory XD please tell me what you think it take for you to go from knowing the existence of a character to knowing a character like an old friend

[nixxusnibelheim]

Empathy is something quite challenging to build but I believe the most important thing is to make your character somehow relatable.
The quickest way imo, is to show desire because we all want to get something in life, we also all have a reason, a meaning to this thing we need in our life.

I also believe that you have to challenge your characters, create a risk to get what they want. More than a physical harm, your story need an emotional stake and that can be shown when characters are pushed to their limits where raws emotions reveal their true nature.

There is also a lot of things to consider to create empathy but it would take too long to write haha !

[LuuPetitek]

Yes, all that you mentioned are true and it all combine into one - the character must feel real. I don't like Mary Sues or characters that are plastic or don't have any personality. If you can feel the character, feel their emotions, know that they have positive and negative characteristics you can get attached to them

[indagold]

I feel people address the typical hero archetype a lot but you can also feel attached to some of the most inhumane irredeemable piles of shit if you can write them a certain way. Sure you may not agree with what they do but their determination, charm and emotions may make you root for them or connect in other ways.

southpark accomplished that pretty well. Who doesn't hate love Cartman.

[miesmud]

I feel more attached to characters when they look interesting or cute :') I know it's bad, but I can't help it haha.

[ikigaispace]

Agree with @nixxusnibelheim!
The readers should empathize with all of them and understand why they act the way they do.
You should show the reasons behind his/her behavior without forcing it. Make them realistic and human (Making Myer-Briggs's personalities quizzes like if you were the character and then investigating it helps A LOT).

Also keeping them consistent, I get annoyed with characters that are supposed to be "realistic" or "relatable" with drastic humor changes every 2 panels, overreacting and acting like "Nobody understands my suffering...!" then becoming again cheerful and optimistic.

The character can have a weak point in his/her personality, and when get involved a conflict, it forces him/her to evolve so they're able to overcome the conflict.
Like John Truby says: the character is not a machine it must be like a plant; organic and trying to grow naturally along the story's development~

[Vanesalisa]

their like your children , you made them and love them at their in best and worst. you're their parent

[Cherry_sama]

Personally, I find it very hard to hate a character if they make me genuinely laugh at least once. It has happened, by the way, but that's because it did a lot of other things wrong (like the characters). Humour's a starting point, I think.

[NickRowler]

I think having a level of realism helps attach us to a character. You might relate to a character who is sad about losing something special because you the reader might have also experienced something similar. That is probably why people get so attached to protagonists in romances. The drive for love, longing for someone, relationships, etc. is something that many people experience.

Tho I think people also get attached to a character because they think they are cute, cool, or sexy. Which is less relating to a character and more admiring them.

[Alli]

Something a lot of creators tend to overlook is humor. If a character can make you laugh it creates an instant sense of attachment. Think about the characters in books or movies that made you cry. I can almost guarantee they made you laugh first.

[phen]

To kind of expand on what @indagold and @NickRowler have observed about characters, I also most often than not find the "underdog" trope the one people continuously fall back on. We love to root for the bad guy. How many times have you thought, "I love this awful character but in reality, I would HATE them sooo much."

It's a reflection of an ideal and more a personal note than anything. Inhibitions can be overlooked in fantasy settings (even if they're a pretty strong parallel to reality) and it's refreshing, it's a nice change of pace to connect and become attached to a character we would otherwise never tolerate in our life.

Personally, I love the jerks, the terrifyingly shy, the obnoxiously oblivious characters in stories that portray them as just so. This is their behaviour, not much to explain why, it's just how they are. It's charming and unique and just sheer fun.

[thischickdoesart]

In a nutshell I can get attached to characters based on how they react. I can get just as attached to a villain based on how they handle themselves at a crossroads. And to be perfectly clear, it's not whether they take one road over another but HOW they take that road. Chances are there is a compelling, plot point behind that reaction.

[AnnaLandin]

To be honest, I care most about characters who have something to lose. Characters who have something they care about, and who have to work to keep it. Whether that something is large or small, I like characters who care. It helps me care about them, and it means they'll always have a motivation to do what they do.

[rmdooley]

Attachment is formed with characters that I can root for. Either their personality or their arc brings out support for them as a reader

I can appreciate characters that I would like to see fail, be thwarted, and find them enjoyable to read about but attachment is established when a character embodies or works towards something I would like to see accomplished

[shazzbaa]

Here's one really specific detail I found interesting -- it was a comparison made in Story by Robert McKee that's rung true for me:
The difference between a character who is comedic versus a character who is sympathetic is whether or not they're aware of their own shortcomings.

The characters that we're meant to laugh at are the characters who don't know or think that they're doing anything weird or wrong. The wacky sidekick who just won't leave the hero alone is funny when he seems oblivious to how obnoxious he is, and we laugh when the hero says ".....oh no," when the sidekick shows up. But take that exact same character dynamic and make the wacky sidekick aware of his flaws -- he knows he came on too strong, he knows when he's messed up, he knows the hero's frustrated with him but he's trying to do better -- and suddenly we side with the sidekick, and we don't laugh as much at the hero's exasperation -- in fact, the hero seems like a big jerk, now.

I've used this a LOT in my writing; introduce a character who tries to play off his problems and pretend they aren't there, and you have a character who's really easy to not take seriously. Reveal that the character is genuinely frustrated, afraid, or upset about their own flaws, and suddenly they become much more sympathetic.