Wakeless River Blog

The protagonist in any story has quite the job—she’s the main character, and she’s up against some pretty stiff competition to win out in the end. She must overcome many obstacles, from evil doers to natural disasters to selfish friends, in order to achieve her dreams and goals. The tricky part of writing a good protagonist? Writing her so that she wins in the end! Luckily, there are plenty of tricks you can use when you write your next protagonist to ensure that she comes out on top and achieves her dreams—read on to learn how!

Like if You’re Likeable

One of the most common mistakes writers make is creating protagonists that are unlikeable. Sure, your character can be shy or flawed, but don’t go overboard. Readers need to root for your protagonist—to cheer for her on despite her flaws. Characters who do well have strong moral compasses and good hearts, even if they’re not always perfect at showing it. Think about what makes your character unique; what motivates her and sets her apart from others. Think about how she makes decisions and whether they make sense considering everything else you know about her personality. Then ask yourself: would I still root for my character? If not, try again until you get it right.

There is a strong difference between the classic protagonist and the anti-hero. In fact, it might be even more important that your protagonist isn’t an anti-hero than that she’s not unlikeable—because, at least in most genres, we spend little time with our protagonists. A lot of readers won’t get to know your main character well enough to dislike her if they can barely remember her name (which may very well be because you failed at hooking them in chapter one).

Yes, today’s readers demand compelling characters that go on unexpected journeys and sometimes break the rules; but they still want to root for those characters despite their flaws. They want likeable protagonists who win in the end… or at least learn something from their mistakes along the way.

Start With the Backstory

Figure out who your protagonist is and what their backstory is. Where are they from? Why did they leave home? What’s at stake for them in your story? How does that backstory impact how they will react to obstacles you throw at them later on in your plot? Answering these questions should give you some idea of where your character will start off.

Backstory should be more than the history of the character. It should be an unwound bundle of paths – both followed and unfollowed – that led the character to that place where the story proper starts. You want it to involve some kind of intense decision on his or her part that established their current philosophy, or at least had an enormous influence on it.

That decision can involve someone else or something else, but it’s still got to be your protagonist’s decision, not just something we dragged them into. They have to choose between a bunch of unsatisfying alternatives (or at least feel like they do) and pick one, then live with that choice until things change again… And speaking of making decisions, your protagonist has made another important choice: deciding what he wants in life before the story begins. You want him to care about something beyond himself by design.

Know Your Protagonist’s Goal

Make your protagonist more interesting by giving them a goal—and a real one. It’s important that your characters have tangible objectives that they can strive for, and it’s even better if those goals are in line with their backstory or motives. Your reader is more likely to keep reading when there’s something worth fighting for at stake. This goes back to making sure your character is believable- don’t just make them another shallow cutout meant only for plot. Give them depth, motivations, and desires. Motivations determine goals. If you know what motivates your character, you can figure out what they want more than anything else.

Goals are easy to see as accomplishments, but they can serve well in the shapes of objects and destinations as well. The goals that your character pursues throughout their journey should be their own—and not something you force on them for convenience’s sake. The success or failure of these objectives doesn’t have to define them (nor should it!). Having well-defined motivations gives us greater insight into who your characters are and what they want out of life. This is useful when you’re trying to win readers over.

Give Your Protagonist Flaws

Every protagonist is only as good as their flaws. Nobody wants to read about a perfect character, because perfect people are boring—there’s no struggle, no chance for growth. And that’s what readers want—they want your characters to grow and learn, and become better at whatever it is they do in your story. Give them something they need to overcome so they can reach their full potential by taking on challenges along the way.

Keep in mind that the goal that your character strives towards and the flaw that they overcome should be separate, but mirrored. So when you create your protagonist’s goal, it can look something like:

my main character, Bob, wants to quit his job because he is unhappy with how things are working out at work

This shows Bob’s motive or desire—what drives him. But that isn’t enough. To make it more interesting (and difficult) we add his flaw/what he needs to overcome:

but every time he thinks about quitting, fear of failure overcomes Bob

This creates an internal conflict within our main character. After all, if Bob knows he has only one shot at doing whatever it is he intends to do, then why would he allow himself to fail?

We now have two elements; motivator and obstacle. When these two elements collide, we have some conflict which will drive your story forward. Take note that even though these factors are one sentence, they should remain entirely separate from each other. The most memorable protagonists always have strong flaws—they’re humanized and flawed in ways we can relate to as readers—but while these characters are far from perfect, they still succeed by overcoming their challenges unexpectedly. It’s important not only for your main character to have flaws (and even weaknesses), but for them to overcome those problems!

Don’t Underestimate This Character

While protagonists might be in control of their fate, they can’t save themselves. They cannot defeat all of their enemies on their own and must trust others (which isn’t always easy) in order to reach success. In many stories, they even must sacrifice something big in order for there to be any hope at all of victory. Because of that, it’s easy for protagonists to get lost in action scenes or other plot points; they may feel like passive observers during tense moments rather than active participants with important goals that matter. However, it’s up to you—the writer—to keep readers connected to your protagonist by giving him an authentic voice and showing how he is actively trying to achieve his goals. Even if he does not know how things will work out in the end, he still needs his moment-by-moment victories because those victories make readers care about him. Remember: It won’t be enough for your protagonist just to survive—he needs to succeed!

In the same vein, the protagonist needs to be challenged. Don’t be afraid to put them through the ringer. If they have strong enough goals, you’ll write them through even the toughest of circumstances. Challenge your characters (and yourself) by forcing readers to ask whether your protagonist will survive or succeed—and how he’ll do it. As long as you’re taking him down interesting paths and making him work for it, readers won’t care if he starts out seeming weak. In fact, they might come to love your character more because he has overcome his weaknesses over time! Characters are more than their faults—they are their flaws and the resolve to overcome those struggles. That’s why protagonists need these victories—to show that they can grow from their problems and become something better than what got them into trouble in the first place!

Show, Don’t Tell

Showing is better than telling. Showing allows your audience to see, hear, smell, taste and touch your story. Telling is when you simply tell your audience what’s happening or how you want them to feel. Showing is better than telling. Showing allows your audience to see, hear, smell, taste and touch your story. Telling is when you simply tell your audience what’s happening or how you want them to feel. Audiences can become disconnected from stories that are told too much instead of shown. When trying to create protagonists that win in their end, show how they grow throughout their journey instead of just saying they do; it will be so much more powerful for readers if they can experience these character changes along with your protagonist. Of course, sometimes telling works well. The key is balance and knowing your genre.

With your reader’s imagination, you can do anything you want. But if you want to keep readers invested in your story, try not to tell them how your protagonist feels too much. This is where showing takes precedence over telling. You never want readers to feel like they are sitting in front of an old-timey radio. Instead, show them why each action and each emotion matters. Show what happens when emotions have adverse effects on those who hold them back. Most of all, make sure your protagonists win—even if it means winning through defeat—by allowing readers an opportunity to walk away with a sense of happiness after experiencing whatever conclusion your narrative offers.

Consider Using Archetypes

Most stories revolve around archetypes, familiar character types that resonate with readers. Archetypes allow authors to create believable and relatable characters by tapping into those stereotypes and resonances. Archetypes are essentially universal character traits that authors use again and again. By understanding archetypes, you can craft your protagonist around those tried-and-true character types. Once you understand what makes those characters work so well, it will be easier for you to make yours more sympathetic or understandable, whatever kind of character you need.

Choosing one archetype (or a few) will help focus your writing, especially if your story gets out of hand while outlining. Choose wisely, but don’t worry too much; they don’t have to be set in stone. If you need to change things later, make it happen. Just knowing what kind of character you need helps clarify what you should write and how that might end up looking on paper or screen. It gives you and your readers a solid foundation on which to build the ultimate definition of the character.

Share the Load

Your protagonist is not alone in being a character. Even though he or she may play an important role in your story, remember that supporting characters can make all the difference between an interesting book and something unforgettable. If you want readers rooting for your protagonist throughout their adventures, give them other reasons—not just their own survival—to feel compelled to read more. It’s easy to focus on your protagonist and make them into a flawless hero. In reality, no one is perfect; we all have flaws and weaknesses. And when you build side characters with those same qualities, it makes your protagonist look even better in comparison.

Companions and antagonists alike can help to shape your protagonist. After all, your hero can’t do everything alone—and though you might think she could, trust us: No one wants to read about that. It’s important to create allies for your protagonist who are just as well-written and developed as she is. How else will we have someone to identify with? Make sure you build a sound foundation of friendship between protagonists and that they grow individually. These should be people who stick by your character through thick and thin.

And then there are antagonists who, like any good villain worth his weight in arsenic, must serve as foils to your protagonist and clearly present obstacles she must overcome. Again, writing villains isn’t easy; an interesting foil for your heroic lead must be complex enough so readers understand his motivations (even if those motivations come from a place of pure evil) without feeling he’s too perfect or too powerful compared to our good guy protagonist. And what fun would reading about great triumphs be if there weren’t some worthy adversary standing in our character’s way? See our post about Creating Believable Antagonists for more information on building the mirror to your hero.

In the End, Win

If you’re writing fiction, there’s one thing you must never forget: your protagonist must win in the end. We may not always like that our protagonists win, but we have to respect their victories and our readers have to feel satisfied with their endings. Endings need to be appropriate for what came before. They shouldn’t feel tacked on or out of left field. A good ending should reflect what happened earlier in both character development and plot. Things don’t need to come full circle, but they need a resolution that is consistent with where things started.

The ending should match up nicely with how all those secondary characters turned out too; think about how the experience of having met your protagonist changed them. What kind of person do they turn out to be? Are they just continuing along with life after having had an encounter? Your choice has significant implications for plot resolution, and vice versa. The challenge is to tie things together at the end meaningfully while also creating interesting conclusions. That can inspire readers to keep turning pages without sacrificing narrative suspense or hurrying through any lingering details. It’s difficult, but it’s worth doing if you want satisfying endings every time (and who doesn’t?).

-R.E.