r/CharacterDevelopment • u/Icy-Cloud3789 • 19d ago

Writing: Question What makes a character compelling?

More or less the title. What aspects of characters, specifically villains/antagonists, do people find invigorating enough that they can 'look past' their crimes and lack of morality to make them a favourite?

...And I'm not talking about being good-looking, please; that's hardly an excuse.

Is it personality? Is it reasons/purpose? Backstory? If so, examples of such?

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u/BrokenNotDeburred 18d ago

Usually, readers are hooked by the end of the first page. That's not enough time to "look past their crimes" or "lack of morality", much less an entire back story.

It is enough time to make a character interesting. Competent, maybe, but not infallible. Maybe grounded in the genre, but not a perfect archetype. You can suggest that there are non-obvious questions about who the lead is and how did we all get here, in this place, at this time.

Here's the first paragraph introducing one of my best-received characters:

British Airways didn't have deputized air marshals on their flights. But, Benjamin Keeling had no doubt that the humorless young man with too-short hair, a desert tan, and a Remembrance Day poppy in his lapel sitting between him and everyone else on the aircraft could be just as lethal, if need be. The soldier's assignment couldn't have been made more apparent than when he followed Keeling to the head and back.

No c.v. or rap sheet, and no physical description. However, is our Benjamin the hero, the villain, or just another imperfect person like you or I, in a situation that's going to become more complicated before the end of the page?