Support for Indie Authors discussion

What kind of characters do you most enjoy writing (or reading for that matter)? What draws you to them?

I always love the Alpha types, male or female. I guess I prefer the strong-minded types.

Flawed, rebellious, clever, eccentrics. There's never a dull moment with them.

I like genre savy characters because make me think of how to do the story differently.

I like realistic characters and I like either strong, worldly masculine characters or feminine characters who are willing to get their hands dirty at need but still have a touch of innocence. I also like writing about dragons, ha ha.

Villains!! The darker, creepier, and eviler the better!!

It is super interesting to me to think about what could make someone turn evil, and how and why people hurt other people.

My favorite are the characters who feel real, no matter how fantastic the situation. They get nervous, crack jokes, screw up occasionally, and sometimes manage to do the right thing.

Confused characters with temper in certain situations. xD And crazy villains mwuhaha.

I like reading and writing the roles of the mentor, the old man or woman who has sage wisdom like Gandalf.

Dwayne wrote: "Flawed, rebellious, clever, eccentrics. There's never a dull moment with them."

Absolutely! I like character who are a bit conflicted, so they're not clear-cut 'goodies' or 'baddies' but something in between.

Alex wrote: "Christina wrote: "My favorite are the characters who feel real, no matter how fantastic the situation. They get nervous, crack jokes, screw up occasionally, and sometimes manage to do the right thi..."

This is my club! Both for reading and writing.

I'm definitely a fan of writing flawed characters, characters that break the fourth wall, people that screw up, people that are realistically human. Even when I'm writing fantasy, I like to make sure that the magical races have some humanity in them.

Destine wrote: "I'm definitely a fan of writing flawed characters, characters that break the fourth wall, people that screw up, people that are realistically human. Even when I'm writing fantasy, I like to make su..."

Same, even tho my mc is an alien. xD

My answer is not nearly as much fun as you guys! You guys have me laughing!

Heart. No matter my character's flaws or mistakes, the core of their decisions and actions are lead by the heart. Yeah, I can't think of one who hasn't been lead by their heart.

Robert wrote: "I like reading and writing the roles of the mentor, the old man or woman who has sage wisdom like Gandalf."

Sadly, those characters always seem to have a death count over their head. Even Big G died for a while.

I'd like to read a story where someone mentors the hero, and you think the mentor is going to die so the hero can take their place... but then the "hero" dies and the mentor is forced to take over as the main character. That would be great.

Destine wrote: "I'm definitely a fan of writing flawed characters, characters that break the fourth wall, people that screw up, people that are realistically human. Even when I'm writing fantasy, I like to make su..."

Yes. Wise cracking and fourth wall breaking are as much fun to write as they are to read.

I have the most fun writing combustible characters in equally combustible situations. It's no wonder there are more than a few cuss words in my stuff.

To read: anybody with a bit of humanity. I like bad girls and boys quite a lot too...

I like the quiet bloke at the back, who is scared witless, but is determined to survive.

Tony wrote: "I like the quiet bloke at the back, who is scared witless, but is determined to survive."

I watched a horror movie recently, As Above So Below (spoilers) in which one of the only survivors was the quiet, scared guy at the back... so quiet he barely had any lines in the entire movie! I'm not sure how much determination he showed though, I think the filmmakers just enjoyed having the "guy you forgot even existed" being one of the survivors. I like it when audience expectations are subverted so I approved.

My stories almost always have an independent-minded girl and sometimes a flawed male character. The two form a team/couple and seem to bring out the best in each other.

Chris wrote: "What kind of characters do you most enjoy writing (or reading for that matter)? What draws you to them?"

I like intelligent anti-hero types, the darker the better. Fun to read, fun to write.

Awesome thread :)

I like characters who show me the author's senses of humor and / or the sense of discovering their new world/dilemma along with the reader.

Christina wrote: "My favorite are the characters who feel real, no matter how fantastic the situation. They get nervous, crack jokes, screw up occasionally, and sometimes manage to do the right thing."

I like to read about any kind of characters, although I have a soft spot in my heart for characters with the qualities Christina mentioned (see above).

More specifically, I like a character that is well developed. It doesn't matter if male or female. I like to understand her or his reasons for doing something. Again, it doesn't matter if it makes me hate them or love them, but I need to react to the character one way or another. (I guess that would fit into feeling real.)

M.L. Roberts wrote: "I like characters who show me the author's senses of humor and / or the sense of discovering their new world/dilemma along with the reader."

Check. xD I agree. Even thoughts can be made interesting.

Bunny wrote: "Absolutely! I like character who are a bit conflicted, so they're not clear-cut 'goodies' or 'baddies' but something in between."

Same here. I never think of my characters as heroes or villains. They're just people doing their thing.

I like characters who have flaws. It gives them depth and realism. Shades of gray, not clear cut black or white. Something that breaks the stereotype of good or evil.

Underestimated Underdogs - either characters who start out at the bottom of the wrung and rise up to kick butt and take names, or the characters that push through and keep going despite having so much against them, and accomplish awesome things because of it.

I also like me some characters with a bit of sass.

Hah! Honestly? Crotchety old bastards.

I love all my characters! But every book has one or two of these old guys in their seventies who had extremely interesting lives and kicked a lot of ass and still can when pressed to it but prefer to stand back and snark, and are so loving and fiercely protective of their people. I adore them. They're so much FUN to write.

(The MOST fun is to then go back and write the earlier stories of those guys as younger men and how they got to be the people they ended up being, shaped by their relationships with *their* crotchety old bastard mentors.)

Characters that are tested in though times, going through their peaks and valleys, yet still maintaining self-worth to reach their objectives, are those that intrigue me the most.

I'm always drawn to the characters who bumble their way to success. It just seems more like how things really happen, even if the story is about zombies or aliens. They're fun to write, especially if they are self-aware.

Chris wrote: "What kind of characters do you most enjoy writing (or reading for that matter)? What draws you to them?"

I like to write about teenage characters because they are in the middle of the transition between being a child and being an adult. This makes them both complex and malleable. For this reason, I wrote my own superhero series about teenage superheroes.

Bunny wrote: "Dwayne wrote: "Flawed, rebellious, clever, eccentrics. There's never a dull moment with them."

Absolutely! I like character who are a bit conflicted, so they're not clear-cut 'goodies' or 'baddies..."

I agree. One of my characters did bad things before he became a superhero and he had grave doubts on his potential as a hero.

Cynthia wrote: "I like characters who have flaws. It gives them depth and realism. Shades of gray, not clear cut black or white. Something that breaks the stereotype of good or evil."

I am writing a fantasy book that revolves around that moral area.

Dwayne wrote: "Bunny wrote: "Absolutely! I like character who are a bit conflicted, so they're not clear-cut 'goodies' or 'baddies' but something in between."

Same here. I never think of my characters as heroes ..."

Sometimes I like to explore this area of character development while maintaining some classical elements at the same time. That way i can make my characters complex while keeping a good vs evil story simultaneously.

I like both writing and reading a character that has to make real and hard moral decisions. If a character is too "goody-goody", they're no fun. The plot stales and at that point it becomes a chore rather than fun.

I like Batman and Superman, but they lack the character to make the tough decisions that would ultimately spare Gotham/Metropolis the headaches caused by the villains over and over.

Yes, if Batman killed the Joker permanently, it may not make for good comics and it goes against Batman's moral character, but there comes a point that you just get tired of the same "moral high ground" trope and wonder how his character justifies not saving countless future people by just killing the Joker.

Beth wrote: "Hah! Honestly? Crotchety old bastards.

I love all my characters! But every book has one or two of these old guys in their seventies who had extremely interesting lives and kicked a lot of ass and..."

I am with you 100%! As a matter of fact, the main male lead in my stories IS a crotchety old bastard in the mainline novels, and I fill in his past in side stories and the like.

Short of that, and more to the point of the topic, I like writing just about any type of character. One of my main goals in my writing is to make even the most despicable prick of a bad guy relatable on a human level in some way, because I think that if an audience can identify with even one character, they're more likely to remember the story. It certainly works on me when I read/watch/play other people's work.

I don't have a preference for any kind of character ... as long as they work in the story being told and are not genre stereotypes.

For example, a friend of mine who doesn't read but plays lots of video games, asked me the other day why video game wizards always have to be old men who look like Gandalf: big gray beard, pointy hat, robe, staff, all that.

There are tons of those stereotypes out there. But they all end up doing something I hate: making the plot/action/character interactions totally predictable. The stereotypical High School bully/jock character will always be an arse, picking fights, and ultimately ends up being an insecure baby. Action hero stereotype is an innate parkour, martial arts, dual gun wielding, sword and hacking master able to eat live ammo for breakfast. Blah, blah, blah.

...And frankly, the snarky wise-cracking character can be one of those stereotypes too.

In the end, any character type will work if they are written correctly and help the story along.

...not that I can do that consistently myself. :(

I like characters that seem as if they are evil, but then the reader finds out the character's intentions are misunderstood and they are actually good.

Micah wrote: "There are tons of those stereotypes out there. But they all end up doing something I hate: making the plot/action/character interactions totally predictable."

Absolutely agreed. While I don't doubt that I fail at it myself from time to time, I feel like writers should at least make an effort to transcend stereotype roles, or else the characters come across more like placeholder objects than people.

I like characters that appear to be bumbling, pondering on information, even forgetful, but solves the problem in the end.

Strong women with a sense of purpose, regardless of what that purpose is. It can be either saving the galaxy (Jane) or running organised crime (Jojo). They can get things wrong (Regina), or get things horribly wrong (Naomi), but they have one thing in common. They all believe in what they are trying to do.

Sometimes the most fun of all can be had in writing a complete bumhole with no redeeming features.

*smiles a sinister smile*

My current character (a pompous psychopathic optimist) makes me laugh when I'm writing him. Mwaaa haaaa haaaa haaaa. So much fun to write about demented violent people.

As a villain myself, I can identify with their goals and motivations more easily and enjoy reflecting on the past and incorporating my own chaotic exploits into fictitious characters. :)

I like writing the comic relief characters the most. I find them a great way to add a little spice, especially in the slower sections.

R. wrote: "Strong women with a sense of purpose, regardless of what that purpose is. It can be either saving the galaxy (Jane) ...

Sadly. This Jane's only real purpose is getting bladdered....

Jane wrote: "R. wrote: "Strong women with a sense of purpose, regardless of what that purpose is. It can be either saving the galaxy (Jane) ...

Sadly. This Jane's only real purpose is getting bladdered...."

In the first Jane story (before the published novels) she does have the line, "If I hadn't had so much to drink I'd be really frightened now."

Now she's responsible for several million A$ worth of spaceship she tends to be rather responsibly sober and keep it down to a couple of sherries. Xerez was unfortunately nuked during the Long War, and the best sherry in my worldbuilding now comes from the Sarnia colony.

Not that I'm an obsessive worldbuilder...

Jane wrote: "Sometimes the most fun of all can be had in writing a complete bumhole with no redeeming features.

*smiles a sinister smile*"

Indeed. I love writing sociopathic villains. But I also love writing young women who've always been put down, then are thrust into a dire situation and find they're smarter and braver than they ever imagined.

For my fantasy book, I am thinking of a character who starts out as a naive idealist before turning into a battle-hardened conqueror and finally an astute and ruthless ruler.

I like writing combinations of characters - a strong one contrasted with a weak one, for example, because I enjoy the dialogue it elicits.

But my favourite character to write is my protagonist's father. I don't know where his personality came from but he's very spontaneous and wacky and he always spices up the dialogue and lightens up heavy moments.