Think about the people you know.
Think about the ones you like. Think especially about the ones you like whom you might not think you would be so fond of if you read about them in a book.
There are people in this world that you might not agree with, might not even approve of, but you find yourself liking them in spite of yourself.
Now ask yourself, why?
The odds are that you can’t put your finger on the answer. One of my favourite people was also a favourite of a late friend of mine.
She saw this fellow as a rascal, not a ne’er do well, necessarily, but they certainly did not agree on everything, far from it.
And yet, if you asked her, she would have told you he was a good man and a good friend.
I agree
He and I are still friends. And we still disagree on lots of things.
So what makes me fond of him? He’s funny, and he’s quick of wit, but those aren’t the reasons.
He’s seen a lot of life. And it hasn’t always been fair to him. He’s had a long litany of health issues and he has pressed on in spite of them.
He’s been told!
He’s been given the opportunity to quit working, to be supported and to just take it easy.
But he will not. He says, convincingly, that if he quits he will die. And his work is challenging.
And so, though his work might well kill him some day, he has chosen to chance that rather than die lying about idly and deteriorating from lack of use.
As characters go …
… he definitely is one.
So when it comes to friends, he has many. He’s ornery, cantankerous, opinionated and grumpy. When we’re together we often argue. And he’s that way with many people, but most of them endure him willingly.
What’s the point?
Often you will find that people who endure adversity are rich characters of interest.
And if you’re creating characters for stories, you will do well to bear this in mind.
My mother and my grandmother often said, whenever I grumbled about my lot in life, that adversity builds character, and while I’m not sure it worked with me, I’ve seen enough examples of it in the real world to know that they were right.
Free advice
So my advice to you is, if you want your characters to be liked, forget about making them nice all the time. Instead, make them suffer.
Make them suffer and then make them survive that suffering. Make them pig-headed, mule stubborn, horses asses who are too contumacious or too angry or too obstinate to give in. Make them too stupid to know that they don’t have a chance.
And then …
And then make them conquer, exceed, surpass.
Make them endure when they should not.
Make them succeed.
And you will make them loved.
If, as my grandmother said, adversity builds character, then let it build yours.
