The True Nature of Sympathetic Characters

The rejection letter reads: Your characters aren't sympathetic enough.

"Why?" the writer wails. "I don't understand!"

Too often critiques point out a problem without suggesting a solution. Five successful authors provide their expert insights into how to craft sympathetic characters.

Sympathy Saboteurs

Writers sometimes mistake character suffering for struggling. Colleen Coble (Beyond a Doubt, W Publishing, 3/04) suggests that "dark and depressed and full of angst" doesn't necessarily equal memorable. "A dark, flawed character needs to realize she's in trouble and try to change, not wallow in self pity." But having a character throw a pity-party is only one way to steer the reader toward the nearest story exit.

Other things that undermine sympathy for a character:

* "Woe is I!" dialogue.

* Moral perfection.

* Snobbery.

* Scenes of "goodness" unrelated to the plot.

* Friends telling everyone how wonderful the character is.

* Backstory worthy of a Nobel Peace Prize.

* Backstory worthy of Jenny Jones.

It's okay for characters to whine, act selflessly, be snobbish, have loyal friends, be philanthropic, or use their past to excuse present actions--for a little while. That's how real people are. But, it's best if none of these things become the dominant impression of the character for more than a couple pages. By that time, the characters and the story should move on.

Everything should be relevant to the story as a whole. Lyn Cote (His Saving Grace, Love Inspired, 4/04) describes how she succeeded in showing off her heroine's good qualities while crafting the scene to contribute to the romantic plot. "The heroine in my LI slated for June 2004 is a schoolteacher. I show her in the classroom trying to keep the class behavior problem from 'acting out' by distracting him rather than scolding him. Which is very good because said behavior problem turns out to be the hero's son."

Vital Traits

Just a few ordinary traits are vital to creating sympathetic characters. The most important one is simply the will to get through. If the character refuses to quit even when he/she may desperately want to, then the reader won't be able to quit caring, either.

It's important that the character takes his own feelings seriously. Ideally, how the character feels about what's happening in the story telegraphs to the reader how to feel about the same events.

Inner weaknesses, or personality traits perceived by the character as weaknesses, are indispensable. Because everyone has weaknesses, understanding is assured for a character inwardly struggling. If we can understand what another person is going through, then we will sympathize with them. We actually sympathize more with reluctant characters, those who have to work to be good and who allow us to see the effort involved.

In the original draft of Beth White's upcoming Steeple Hill romantic suspense release, The Gatekeeper, the plot required the undercover hero to smoke, drink, and use some rough language. She says, "I got critiques saying 'need to like Jack more'... In the second draft, I used scenes written from his point of view to make it clear that the appearance of un-Christ like behavior causes him severe internal conflict."

The dynamic between sympathy and inner conflict is outlined in Hebrews 4:15 (KJV). For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Because Jesus shared the same feelings of weakness and assaults of temptation as we do, He can sympathize with us--even when we make wrong choices and fail.

Sympathy vs. Likableness

Some characters seem to make only wrong choices. The heroine in Covenant Child by Terri Blackstock isn't very likable. Kristin Billerbeck (What a Girl Wants, W Publishing, 2/04) says, "You want to slap her, but at the same time, you can completely understand her struggle."

One of the most famous heroines in fiction is a woman who lies, steals, cheats, and kills. Scarlett O'Hara is a person most women wouldn't want as their best friend, but readers still root for her to get her act together decades after the publication of Margaret Mitchell's classic, Gone with the Wind.

Cote says, "The secret of writing a sympathetic character is to know the [genre] boundaries of heroes and heroines. This is something new writers struggle with because of course real people do things that run counter to being a hero or heroine. So the new writer will say, 'But people do... whatever.' Yes, they do, but [genre] heroes don't."

Some characters aren't unlikable, just... "different," the label Billerbeck chooses to describe her heroines. A writer of Chick Lit--a genre known for uniquely independent, capable, and strong heroines--she says, "It's not what your heroine does; it's why she does it that makes her sympathetic. It's all motivation."

Inspirational romance author Terri Reed (Love Comes Home, Love Inspired, 2004) concurs, "Make sure that the heroine's feelings are motivated internally so that the reader can identify with her and understand her actions/reactions."

Show, Don't Tell—On the Inside

What do internal conflict and internal motivation look like on the page? Whatever the genre, the tools the writer uses are the same. When the reader sees the character thinking, feeling, and internally preparing to take corresponding action, the reader is more likely to sympathize and understand. That's emotional connection, and it's achieved primarily through internalization.

Internalization doesn't just tell about this change and growth going on inside the character. It shows change by depicting active struggle in her thoughts and/or emotions between what the character perceives as her weakness and her strength. It also shows through motivation the why behind all that thinking and feeling.

Motivation typically comes from backstory events in the distant or recent past. More accurately, motivation comes from how the character intellectually and emotionally reacts in the present to those past events.

For example: Let's say the heroine is spontaneous. She considers that her strength. She's also trusting. She thinks that's her weakness. Place her in a minor or major situation relevant to the plot and force her strength and weakness to collide. Then take advantage of the moment. Invest in a little internalization to show her internal struggle and what's motivating her.

Is it Fixable?

If you polish your manuscript to a high luster, and still hear that your main character(s) is unsympathetic, there's hope. It is fixable. One of the best things to do first may be nothing. When this happened to White, she says, "I didn't see anything wrong with the way my heroine thought and behaved... I couldn't really see it until I'd put the book down for a couple of months and went back to it. Then suddenly I 'saw' ways to mature her, and still gave her depths of character that were interesting. It really didn't take much to 'fix' her."

Cote asks: "What do you know about your heroine that you haven't included in your story? Why do you like her? Let us see that--don't just tell us."