How to get your reader connected with your MC?

Discussion in 'Character Development' started by 33percent, Aug 17, 2018.

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  1. LastMindToSanity

    LastMindToSanity Contributor Contributor

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    Really, it'd work just to give them a goal that readers would want if they were in that situation. Or give them a reason for why they are the way they are.

    For Harry Potter, it was, at first, to escape his terrible life and become a cool wizard.

    For Katniss, it was to protect her sister, and escape the Games with her life.

    For the dad from To Kill a Mockingbird, it was to get justice for the black kid/guy (I forgot his age/name, as well as the dad's. I only remember Scout's name because it's a fun name... ATTICUS! The dad's name was Atticus!), even though he knew that it wasn't going to happen.

    Luke from the Percy Jackson books was an ass because he was spurned by his Godly dad and wanted to lash out because of it.

    Steve Rodgers cares about protecting people (I'm not actually sure about this, but this is the impression I got from him) because he was once someone who needed protection, and knows what it feels like to be weak.

    Lori from the Walking Dead chose to move on from her husband because she thought he was dead, and didn't want to spend the rest of her life alone.

    As DK said above, it's not about agreeing with, or even liking, the character. All it takes is understanding them for a connection to occur. I mean, the classic "Asshole with a Tragic Past" is a good example of this. Even though we can see that they're an ass, we can understand why they're an ass, and we suddenly care about them to some degree (Even if it's just caring that they aren't dead yet.). It's why, when an author wants to make readers care about a villain, they give them tragedy. Because, as long as we, as humans, can understand why someone is the way they are or why they do what they do, we care about them more than we used to.
     
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  2. Bone2pick

    Bone2pick Conspicuously Conventional Contributor

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    @DK3654 As I tried to make clear, I'm not just speaking to Oscar Leigh. In my experience relatability, or seeing oneself in a character, is often promoted as the gold standard for protagonist investment. I happen to disagree with that.
     
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  3. Oscar Leigh

    Oscar Leigh Contributor Contributor

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    Well, you don't have to like him to relate to him. But by making some sense of understanding you make the character more compelling than if you feel disconnected from him as a protagonist.
     
  4. Oscar Leigh

    Oscar Leigh Contributor Contributor

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    I would argue that that sort of understanding is a form of relatability.
     
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  5. Bone2pick

    Bone2pick Conspicuously Conventional Contributor

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    Well, if I felt disconnected towards a protagonist then by definition I wouldn't have much investment in them. I'm making a distinction between the protagonists who I can strongly relate to, who I can imagine myself struggling against their same conflicts; versus characters who I can't relate to at all, but who I find fascinating and worth my time. Holden versus Alex in my case.
     
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  6. DK3654

    DK3654 Almost a Productive Member of Society Contributor

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    I would say that such understanding provides some amount of relatability, and that characters you can relate to are easier to understand, but it's not the same thing.
    Strong relatibility requires strong similarity to oneself, but strong understanding only requires a more moderate similarity.
     
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  7. exweedfarmer

    exweedfarmer Banned Contributor

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    I think this is just flippin' brilliant! Really.
     
  8. Carriage Return

    Carriage Return Member

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    Last edited: Dec 31, 2018
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  9. DK3654

    DK3654 Almost a Productive Member of Society Contributor

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    But how do you build investment? Why do we invest in characters, and why some more than others?
    My argument is, a key factor is our understanding of the characters. Characters we don't understand are more likely to seem artificial and inhuman, seem unimportant and undeserving, seem villainous for doing the same actions.
    Another factor is stakes. Characters that have goals up for contention provide us an easier way to root for them, when they have something to lose and something to gain.
    And of course, there is always exposure to the character (which is related to understanding).
     
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  10. Carriage Return

    Carriage Return Member

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    Last edited: Dec 31, 2018
  11. BayView

    BayView Huh. Interesting. Contributor

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    I don't really agree with this as a general approach that is going to apply to everyone. I accept that it works for you, but for some of us there's no point writing a first draft that doesn't at least attempt to include all the elements we want in the finished piece. My first drafts are very close to the finished version of my projects.
     
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  12. Bone2pick

    Bone2pick Conspicuously Conventional Contributor

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    That's the million dollar question, isn't it? @Carriage Return believes protagonist investment merely requires a fully developed character. I can't say with any certainty that they're wrong, but my intuitions suggest there's more to it than that.

    I guess I need to know what "fully developed" entails? Because a character can earn my investment incredibly quick—think flash fiction. After all, how much character development can and need be done in 500 or less words?
     
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  13. Carriage Return

    Carriage Return Member

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    Last edited: Dec 31, 2018
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  14. BayView

    BayView Huh. Interesting. Contributor

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    I think it's pretty difficult to have a single character with whom all readers will connect, and that suggests to me that there has to be some element of commonality between the reader and the character.

    In high school we read The Stone Angel, which is a lovely, compelling story of a 90-year-old woman looking back at her life as she struggles to accept her impending death. Really well-written and critically acclaimed, etc. I don't think there was a kid in the class who didn't hate every page of it. We just had no way to access this character, no entry point through which we could crawl into the story. I've read it since, as an adult, and really enjoyed it, but as a kid, there was just nothing there for me.

    I don't think we need to be identical to the characters we read about; we may not even need to have much in common at all. But we need a way in. Even a character like Alex in Clockwork Orange is softened with his love of classical music - a reader may not enjoy classical music herself, but she can see a hint of redemption, a tin suggestion that there's something worth sympathizing with in this boy. And later, as he is victimized, it's easier to sympathize with him on a larger scale. But I know quite a few people who were completely unable to draw any connection to him, and as a result the story failed to affect them.

    So I wouldn't worry about trying to write a character that everyone can identify with. Figure out your likely audience, if you can, and figure out how they'll make the connection.
     
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  15. Bone2pick

    Bone2pick Conspicuously Conventional Contributor

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    That's the unspoken ingredient that I needed to hear—reader subjectivity. Because just saying a fully developed character will elicit investment triggered my alarm bells. I thought to myself, it's still not guaranteed.
     
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  16. Bone2pick

    Bone2pick Conspicuously Conventional Contributor

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    That's never been my experience. Even as a boy I loved Driving Miss Daisy.
     
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  17. BayView

    BayView Huh. Interesting. Contributor

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    What did you love about it?
     
  18. Bone2pick

    Bone2pick Conspicuously Conventional Contributor

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    Do you want a thorough breakdown of the things I loved in the film or will a sentence or two explanation suffice?
     
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  19. BayView

    BayView Huh. Interesting. Contributor

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    Well, we're talking about the characters, so... can you identify why you connected to those characters?
     
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  20. peachalulu

    peachalulu Member Reviewer Contributor

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    Some readers don't really need to be too invested in the mc. I just finished reading In the Deep Woods. I thought the mc was an idiot. Her best friend was the stereotypical loud and obnoxious character that can get on my nerves (specifically because the writer didn't do anything new with her) and the rest of the characters with the exception of Flo were ho-hum. For the rave reviews I was expecting something short of brilliant but it was just an okay thriller.

    I think the best thing a writer can do is simply orient the reader. Everything needs to go into the scene like ingredients in a stew -- The place needs to hold relevance to the character, the character needs to interact with the setting, the character needs to want something, there should be a tone signaling the mood. And once all these details meld it won't matter if your mc is as unlikable as Humbert Humbert because you're drawn into the story. You might not even care if he dies but you're still reading because the writer has caught you with his goals and conflict.

    There's no magic ingredient that connects your reader to the mc. The only thing that can create a disconnect is when the readers don't know why your character is doing what they're doing. And for me that's a missing ingredient problem you've dropped the ball on showing what your mc wants or you haven't properly set up the mood. Motivation and personality needs to be embedded early on so that your reader can go -- oh, okay he's a hot head most normal people don't behave like this but the mc does.
    Also a disconnect can happen when the writer inserts stuff on the character than don't jive with the character or they pick weak conflict. I found someone broke the belief of their character, being a tough female cop, by writing in that everyone was against her becoming one -- like the story took place in 1918 instead of 2018. The liberated woman conflict seemed hugely dated and an easy grab. Also the cop made a rather strange comment which spoke more of the climate of the times than what a cop would actually believe. Pulled me right out of the story.
     
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  21. Mckk

    Mckk Member Supporter Contributor

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    Oh, same here. I edit as I go and my drafts are quite close to being polished. If I'm honest, the OP sounds inexperienced and I do not believe he would be able to write anything that's marketable at his particular skill stage - all just my assumptions based on this thread, so I could be wildly wrong. Basically, while I believe in getting your draft as perfect as you can make it, a perfect draft of a 9 year old is not gonna be as good as the perfect draft of a 20 year old, whose draft is still not gonna be quite as perfect a draft as the perfect draft from Stephen King. You get what I mean? Neither the 9 year old's perfect draft nor the 20 year old's perfect draft, perfect though they are for their particular skill level, would be publishable. Now you should always be aiming for publishable quality of course - it's how we push ourselves and learn and get there - but when you're starting out and that's where I assumed the OP was, I think there's a place for "just writing for fun". Even when you get good, I still think there's a place for "just fun" writing.

    You're a published writer, so I'd say you're in a different league to most of us - basically you're not in danger (or less so anyway) of stalling and never finishing anything in the process of getting something as close to perfect as possible. The same can't be said of most (usually unpublished) writers.
     
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  22. BayView

    BayView Huh. Interesting. Contributor

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    Maybe some readers don't need to be invested in the MC, or maybe some readers got invested in the MC even though you didn't. Right? I mean, we all have different taste in real people--there's no one who's actually beloved by every single person she comes in contact with. We all have different taste in movie stars and favourite musicians and the rest of it. I think it's very, very likely that we also have different taste in fictional characters. So this MC didn't work for you, but may have worked for others.
     
  23. peachalulu

    peachalulu Member Reviewer Contributor

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    That was my point. The book's a bestseller -- other people loved it, other people probably connected with the characters. I didn't need to connect with the characters to even finish reading it. I went on further to say that this is why there is no formula for a reader character connection. A lot of details are subjective.
     
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  24. Bone2pick

    Bone2pick Conspicuously Conventional Contributor

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    I enjoyed their (Miss Daisy & Hoke) personalities. They were both strong in their own ways. Miss Daisy was headstrong, but more often not, she was proven wise throughout the film. Hoke was a model of composure. Both were funny, again, in their respective way. Despite their differences they developed respect for one another, and later, genuine friendship.

    They both grew, though I'd argue Miss Daisy grew the most. And that was heartwarming watch—the reminder that an old dog can learn new tricks. That you'll never stop growing on this world, no matter your age, unless you want to.
     
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  25. BayView

    BayView Huh. Interesting. Contributor

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    So for the way I'm looking at it, I'd say you were able to connect with them through humour? And because they valued friendship, which I assume you do as well? And because you value wisdom and composure, and they demonstrated these qualities?

    I'm not saying that age is an instant disqualifier - I think younger readers can certainly connect with older characters. But I think we need some way in. We need something that speaks to us and opens our minds so we can accept the other aspects of the characters.
     
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