We most likely all have done this. Grab a book off of the shelf, start reading it, and realize that the books premise might be interesting but the characters are not. I know it isn’t as rare an occurrence as it should be for me. And I almost have written on this topic before, but it came out a bit negative. In writing this topic, I want to help people create better characters for roll playing games and story ideas not talk about what I don’t like in a character.

What Are Some Pitfalls?

With all of that said, I do think that we need to start on a bit more negative side of things. We need to call out what can create these less interesting characters in a book. Then after that, I will talk about how they can be overcome.

The Mary Sue or Marty Stu

This is one of the more common tropes for new writers. The general idea is that the main character is perfect at anything they do. Jumping out of an helicopter with a bedsheet and parachuting to safety, that is completely absurd. But it’s been done in a book that I read. Every idea the character has is right and everyone else is always proven wrong, I watched a show that ended with a season that was completely full of that.

The Dullard

Similar to the Mary Sue or Marty Stu, the dullard is slightly different. While previous they might be good at everything, this one is just generic. It is meant to have that ultimate self insert into the character. They don’t really have any traits of their own, so that as you read them, they sound like you sound. The biggest issue with the dullard is they can often be overtaken in interest by side characters. And that causes an issue for the author, they either need to make the main character better and more interesting losing the self insertion or make the side characters worse weakening the whole story. I had seen side characters fall of a cliff in terms of depth and interest of writing in a series before because of this problem.

The Out of Place

This one I see more often in RPG’s. A person has an idea for a character that they want. And they really love the character. Maybe it has personal sentiment for them or something like that. And it is something they want to bring to the table in a book or a series. The character, however, doesn’t fit in with the world that is created. A grim dark setting isn’t going to have a crazy happy brightly colored character without people believing that character would be crazy. Or it could be a archetype character that just doesn’t quite fit. But it’s something that shows up in a books as well, and can sometimes be a dullard character who just doesn’t match the depth of the rest of the characters.

The Fixes

The Mary Sue or Marty Stu

This character is one of the easier ones to fix. Give that character a flaw, and a major flaw. Going back to the one example I gave, the character who jumped out of a helicopter, the author gave them a claustrophobia that kind of appeared out of nowhere, and then was fixed the page later. That doesn’t cut it. This really goes back to RPG’s in some ways and how you can learn from them for writing, but give your characters a “dump stat”.

What do I mean by a dump stat? In Dungeons and Dragons and other RPG’s you fairly often have six different stats. For Dungeons and Dragons that is strength, agility, constitution, intelligence, wisdom, and charisma. Most heroes in RPG’s will have stats that are 10 or higher in most of them. 10 is the common baseline for what everyone can do. But, a more interesting character will have a stat that is below average. So while a fighter might have 18 strength being well higher than the average, they might have a below average wisdom or charisma.

This idea can be taken into writing as well. Harry Dresden has a massive flaw when it comes to women. Now, is he a womanizer, not really, but his default is to always protect a woman. This, of course, gets him into trouble when that woman might be a vampire or just as dangerous as he is. He even knows he has that flaw, but out of a misplaced chivalry refuses to work on it. It is something that trips him up again and again, but makes him feel more human.

The Dullard

Honestly, it’s a similar fix to the Mary Sue and Marty Stu. Give them a flaw. But also give them depth of character. The self-insert character often lacks motivations in almost any way. Going back to Dungeons and Dragons, there is trick that can help with character creation that can also help with writing. There are four different character traits you fill in when creating a character.

• Personality Trait – Funny, serious, clueless. Give them one or two of these things. They are basically some role playing direction but also a common tone you can use for a character you are writing.
• Ideal – This is something that they hold up on a pedestal. For someone like Harry Dresden it could be that chivalry is not dead. Why you add this in, is because it always gives the character that goal or reference of what they hold most important.
• Bond – Who are they connected to. Going back to Harry Dresden, there is the White Council, his friends, and more. Find that one person or group of people who your character sees as important. The great thing about these characters is that you can then kill them to add in drama to your story, or at least put them in danger. But it could also be something like a bond to a religious organization or any organization as well.
• Flaw – Hey, we’re back to flaws. Give them something that they are bad at. For Harry Dresden that is that he doesn’t want to hurt a woman as that isn’t chivalrous or honorable. I talked about this a lot already, but it helps make your character feel more human and realistic than just an empty shell.

Now, these things don’t need to be explicitly stated in the story. But use them to create a more interesting and realistic character and get away from the dullard self-insertion main character. These characters will have longer staying power if you create them with depth. And this will give you a quick reference for a characters motivations when you get stuck as to what they would do, or what would make sense to do.

The Out of Place

This one is the hardest to fix. And, in my opinion, the simplest answer is save them. If you might just have that character in the wrong story. It might be that this great character is just meant to be in a totally different world and story. Take what I talk about above, create those traits, ideals, flaws, and bonds for that character, jot down some back story for them. When the time comes, when you have the right story, you’ll have that character in your back pocket who is ready to go. And who knows when that story will come to you, but don’t fret about it, it just means you have something already. Just because a character doesn’t fit doesn’t make you bad at writing, it just means that you had the right idea at the wrong time and the right time will come.

It’s Okay to Not Get it Perfect

Finally, it is okay to not get it perfect. If your character is a Mary Sue at some points, that is fine. If a character in a scene stands out like a sore thumb, that is fine. If your character ends up being a little but dull, that is fine. The only way to get better at writing is to write more. And sometimes you need a Marty Stu in your story, or you want someone who stands out, or it is meant as a fluff self-insertion story. My hope is that you leave more equipped to write a better variety of characters and deeper characters that will be memorable. While these aren’t hard and fast character writing rules, they are handy tools that are good to master so that you then know how, why, and where to break them.

What are some of your favorite characters in books, film, television, RPG’s, that have a lot of depth to them? What are some of the best examples out there?

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