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The main character is the one who tells the story. We see
the world through his or her eyes. This person does not necessarily have to be
the hero. Sometimes by having a different character tell the story of the hero
(also called the protagonist), we get a more nuanced understanding of the hero,
because we can see how other people view him or her. Anne Rice does this in Interview with the Vampire.
The main character, a vampire named Louis, tells us
the story, but the real hero, the one who makes things happen, is the vampire
called Lestat. You should always consider who is best fitted to tell the story;
it may not always be the most obvious person.
While the necessity of having an
interesting main character seems obvious, a character has to be more than
interesting for a reader to want to read about him or her. If it is a novel,
readers are making a commitment to spend a significant number of hours with
your characters. While the man who lives in an alley beside your apartment and
talks about the Mexican conspiracy to poison the local water system may be
interesting, would readers really want to spend a week with him? Probably not.
Main characters should be interesting, likable and sane. Readers should be able
to identify with them at least on some level. This doesn’t mean all your main
characters have to be good people, but you have to allow the reader to
understand why they behave as they do.
Just as most readers don’t want to
spend time with a crazy person, they also don’t want to spend time with a
perfect person. Even if you somehow managed to create a believable character
with no faults, most readers would be so annoyed with Mr. Perfect that they
would stop reading. Real humans have flaws; your characters should too.
Real
people are also complex and contradictory. They have warring desires and
internal conflict. They are brave in facing their personal villains, but also
scared of spiders. If you create characters with inconsistencies and layers,
their stories will be much more interesting to read. Which story would you
rather read about? An independent feminist woman who falls in love with an
unlikely man and becomes clingy and obsessive, or the meek woman with no
self-esteem who falls in love with a man and becomes clingy and obsessive?
Contradiction is what makes life interesting. Use it to your advantage.
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