How do authors make their characters lovable?

Question

Obviously, not all characters are lovable. But the protagonist usually is, which is often what makes readers want to finish a novel. What strategies do author's use to make their audiences love their characters?

Answer 1

Give characters offbeat but charming physical characteristics that endear them to others. Make them undefeatable,
witty, wise, humorous or philosophical. Set up dialogue
with others to illicit unusual or brilliant responses. Make
them the underdog who wins out in the end, or give them
enemies to battle. Give them rags to riches scenarios
or conversely, riches to rags where they still survive with
dignity. Embue them with inate kindness within tough
exteriors. In all cases, showing that humanity is flawed
but that life is worth living. Deeply personalizing a
character at the beginning of a book is a concise and
voyeuristic view of someone that you wouldn't get in a
real life situation and immediately spurs you on to
know more about the character and the outcome of
his/her situation. It's all about challenges and solutions
and the paths one takes along the way. Everyone
wishes that they could keep their sense of humor
through adversity or figure out a unique solution to
a complicated problem. Reference Peter Falk,
Miss Marple, James Bond, etc. All with challenges
to face and all with personal lives that were unique and
interesting. The supporting characters are important
also as they provide the set-ups for the protagonist to
function within the story. So give heart, courage, kindness,
humor and flaws to the character and something to
overcome and you've got a good one.l

Answer 2

I'm a published writer. If you want to make your characters lovable...you obviously have to love them. If you do it will show in your writing. If not, that will also show. They don't have to have good character in order for the readers to love them. They can have the worse habits. But the key is to make you audience feel sorry for the character. Like Jim is the biggest *** but his mother died when her was but a small helpless child, which lead to a lot of unfortunate events. Even though Jim is an azz, deep down his a good person.
Now, there is also the well morale character.
The classic character is of course the good-natured one.
Always or more then likely to do the right thing.
I find that you don't want to make the character too good...because that obviously becomes boring. Knowing exactly how a character will react. As a matter of fact that is with any character you DO NOT want them to be too predictable. Always keep your audience guessing.
Well, that all...
If you would like to chat, I would love to help you out.
Good luck!

Answer 3

They work on the psychology of the character, making them very real. Often, showing some flaws can be very endearing, as the character is made vulnerable to the reader, but the author must be careful what types of flaws are exposed and in what light they are portrayed. I have read material where an author is trying to get a reader to love a character, but their portrayl of the character is robotic or inhuman. Think about the characters you love. You probably love them for their humanity. Of course, they have to have positive qualities about them, too. If they are just a dishonest jerk, then most people will want to see them get squashed.

Answer 4

That is a very good question and one that I have been studying quite a bit lately. After reading the Gabriel Allon series by Daniel Silva, I began to wonder just that. He takes this character who is an Israeli trained assasin and makes him into the most intriguing character I have ever met. Indeed, he makes him sexy. He does this by first giving him this interesting profession as a cover - he is a world renowned art restorer. Then he gives you a lot of background on the man, his family history, his likes and dislikes, a vivid description of the "greenest eyes anyone has ever seen", a physical description, descriptions of his clothing and on and on. The result is that despite the fact that you know this man is a cold blooded killer, you fall in love with him.

I studied this character quite carefully because I was working on a character that I wasnt sure was getting the sympathy vote from readers - even though he was a good guy. As the architect Mies Van de Rowe said "God is in the details". The more ways you find to tuck in endearing details, the more loveable your character becomes. Read some of the Allon books -- Mr.Silva does it in such a delicate subtle way that you do not even realize you are falling in love with this man. It is truly brilliant.

It comes from doing your homework - and a careful character study and analysis. You should know your characters so well that you would know how they would do mundane things ... that way you know how they will react in the situations in your story. Make detailed notes about your characters -- even pick out pictures from magazines, catalogs etc that you think are what he or she looks like. Then tuck in those details. When doing the physical description give them that one little memorable characteristics - the greenest eyes anyone has ever seen - that sticks in your reader's mind like a claw. It will work to make readers really CARE about your character.

Hope that helps. It helped me. I learn something from everything I read - though sometimes its things NOT to do. When you read something memorable, at the end, sit and analyze your feelings and discover what the author did to make you feel that way. Then start using it in your own work. Pax - C.

Answer 5

I'm not an author, but as an avid reader, I can tell you something about what attracts me to a character.
First, the character has to have qualities that are admirable. Most good protagonists are poeple who always try, no matter the costs to themselves, to do the right thing. They don't back down in the face of insurmountable odds. They love, something...maybe its family, maybe a pet, something. they are faithful.
Most of the time, when you really "love" a character in book its because they are in some kind of trouble, or someone is giving them a hard time, and instead of tucking tail, or bemoaning their fate, they take the situation in hand and TRY to do something about it, while not compromising their own strong morals.

Answer 6

Showing, not telling...a secret amateurs don't know about. If you imagine a character, lovable or not, then every word he/she says, every reaction of the other characters, and almost every action will reveal your character's personality. It's more difficult to do this than you might think; you don't go about it by describing someone as lovable or nasty or stupid...you put the character in a situation where his own words and behavior show the reader everything there is to know about him.

Answer 7

if the author loves the character, the audience will, too.

Answer 8

They have to feel real to me, with layers and depth and flaws to go with their likable qualities. One dimensional characters will ruin a story every time!! And bad dialog! I hate bad dialog.

Answer 9

A lot of detail and if its realistic put a lot of details but hint them in like, but because joe was only 8 and had red hair, people didnt like him. or something like that.