Character

How to Make Your Characters More Active

How to Make Your Characters More Active

Let's talk about your protagonist: the one who showed up in your imagination when you were just minding your own business one day, dragged you through draft after draft of an ever-changing plot, trotted through your head when you were trying to sleep and told you everything they were thinking and feeling, and felt like they could be your friend if you met in real life.

But beta readers, agents, and editors aren't as captivated by this character as you are. Instead, they say vague things about your protagonist being passive.

What???

How to Motivate Your Reluctant Protagonist

A reluctant protagonist is a main character who doesn’t actively choose their objectives and behaviors. While they might fit very well into your brilliant plot, they also make it less compelling. Here are four ways for you to prevent and remedy reluctant protagonists. Choose what works best for you and your manuscript.

Scrutinize each action your protagonist takes.

Does it result from who the character is or wants to be, while responding naturally to the plot? If the idea for your plot arrived before you fleshed out your main character, don’t simply force the character through the plot’s paces. Imagine in detail the kind of person who would do what the plot demands. Accept that wherever your protagonist and plot diverge, either you must allow the character to change the plot or you must alter who the character is.

Jazz up your protagonist.

You may have developed a main character who is naturally fearful, skeptical, or hesitant—perhaps one who tends toward observation and introspection. Let’s be honest: it’s difficult to interest readers in a protagonist who exercises little power over their circumstances, and it’s difficult to develop a compelling plot around such a character. Consider making changes to this person’s nature. Otherwise, dig deep so you can find what makes this person tick—the thing that drives them to act—and bring that to the surface of the story.

Focus on who your protagonist is rather than who they are not.

If you and your readers know more about what your main character doesn’t do, doesn’t like, and doesn’t want than what they want, choose, and freely do, then you need to reframe this character in positive terms. Does the protagonist hate mint chocolate-chip ice cream because it led to her grandmother breaking her hip? Ask what kind of ice cream she does like (Neapolitan) and why (she likes the contrast of simple flavors). Explore the positive motivations (fierce love and loyalty) that would cause someone to swear off an ice-cream flavor after one childhood incident.

Remove explanations.

Try deleting any conversations or thought processes in which your protagonist must be convinced (or convince themselves) to do something. Notice if your plot and protagonist are stronger as a result. Perhaps your main character isn’t so reluctant after all! Is it possible that you are worried readers won’t take your plot seriously, and that’s why you’re trying to convince your character? Be bold! Tell your story—no holds barred.

Photo by Courtney Cook on Unsplash

The Reluctant Protagonist

The Reluctant Protagonist

May I introduce you to Dale, a reluctant protagonist? I can’t tell you much about him, but that doesn’t matter. He takes orders from his author, which means he’s guaranteed to stay well within the banks of the plot of that exciting book you’re reading!

If you’ve ever run across a reluctant protagonist, then you know the book doesn’t stay exciting for long. Once the reader catches on to the fact that the main character isn’t contributing anything to the plot, it’s impossible to stay engaged.

A reluctant protagonist doesn’t actively choose their objectives and behaviors. The result is a plot that seems to occur independently of them; they just happen to show up in it. This weakens both the plot and the character.

The reluctant protagonist has a few flavors.

The inexplicable participant

This type of protagonist opposes the actions required of them by the plot, but inexplicably does them anyway. For example, a heroine announces that she doesn’t eat mint chocolate-chip ice cream because, when she was a child, a carton of it melted on the kitchen counter and dripped onto the floor, causing her grandmother to slip and break her hip; in the next scene, without explanation, the character orders a scoop of mint chocolate chip at the ice-cream parlor.

The easily convinced

Some protagonists protest or resist the plot in some way but are then convinced (often on a weak pretext) to participate anyway. This happens more than once or twice, or it involves a major plot point. An example of this would be a protagonist announcing that she doesn’t eat strawberry ice cream because she is deathly allergic to strawberries. When the handsome scoop-meister behind the counter convinces her to try a taste anyway, she suffers a severe reaction and has to be rescued by her poisoner using the EpiPen in her purse. They start dating and live happily ever after.

The undesiring

This protagonist apparently doesn’t want anything at all. For no reason, she goes into an ice-cream parlor and orders a vanilla ice-cream cone with rainbow sprinkles. Another customer says that vanilla ice cream with rainbow sprinkles is his child’s favorite food and offers our heroine a babysitting job on the spot—which she accepts, though the reader has no idea whether she wants or even needs the job.