Creating Memorable Characters Everyone Will Love

Reading offers everyone a different experience.

Last week, a reader asked me how I go about creating memorable characters everyone loves. The simple answer I gave them was: I don’t.

When it comes to fiction’s greatest and most memorable characters, we all have our favourites. Among mine are Gatsby, Hamlet, Scarlet O’Hara, Rhett Butler, and Bella Swan. If you were to make your own list of memorable characters, it would no doubt look very different from mine, and there’s a reason for that… We all connect with character differently.

Every time we pick up a book and read, we bring to that experience our history and personal preferences. As we get to know characters, we unconsciously judge them just as we might people in real life. So if Rhett Butler or Scarlett O’Hara remind you of someone who once broke your heart, bitterness will taint the reading of them. On the other hand, if you’ve ever wondered whether it’s worth constantly fighting the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, sympathy will imbue your reading of Hamlet. So how can you write memorable characters that appeal to everyone?

You can’t!

Of course search the internet and you’ll find plenty of articles promising writers the secret to creating memorable characters. But how can there be any secret when there’s no hard and fast rules? In real life, the same behaviour can often be interpreted in different ways and it’s the same in fiction. That’s one of the reasons we have book clubs – to discuss our various interpretations of character. A character who inspires me might simply annoy you; a character who reads as strong to me might read as selfish to another reader.

So the real secret to creating memorable characters is to not worry about pleasing every reader. Even if you present your character in their best light, someone out there won’t like them. So I just try to be honest when I write my characters, show who they truly are, then leave it up to readers as to whether they approve or not. If they don’t, then I might tweak that character a little before they’re published – but it’s also important to remember that liked isn’t always the same as memorable. Real people have flaws, are complicated, and aren’t liked by everyone. Memorable characters ring true to this, with their complicated reasons and self-centred thoughts, and in that we as readers at least recognise something real.

Sure, memorable characters often do or say memorable things.

Yes, the way fellow characters react to them can make them seem larger than life.

Sometimes memorable characters confront adversity in admirable ways, or fight back when most of us would flee.

But none of that will resonate with readers unless they’re first shown the truth of that character, from inside a worldview that doesn’t fear judgment.

Okay, so sometimes I do more than just tweak 😉

So I ‘close the door’ when I write my characters and concentrate on illustrating the truth of that character for my readers, without worrying how well-liked they’ll be once that door is open – because painting a realistic picture of person with my words is, I believe, what great storytelling is all about.