3 Tips for Creating INSTANTLY LIKABLE Characters
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 20 ส.ค. 2024
- Want to write characters that your audience will instantly connect with? Use these 3 practical tips.
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A great tip I’ve heard, is by an author who showed me that to write a likeable and conflicted character, they need to have a desire, something they think will bring them true happiness but they have a fear that stops them from going after it.
Their desire and fear come from a lie the character believes about themselves or the world. It’s a great way to create a conflicted character.
Yeah that's a great tip. KM Weiland covers that in-depth in her Creating Character Arcs book. Gotta have internal conflict
to make likable characters i was taught by my teacher to give the character a motivation that ties into the characters ideologies even if it is a lie.instead of decisions that just make sense or decisions that just justifies actions.the character needs a motive for change wrong or right not a reason to kill a person he hates
That's rock-solid advice. Connecting motive to ideology is advanced stuff, you had a great teacher
@@WriterBrandonMcNulty he was a person who helped me fix up a lot of plot holes and problems in my story.he has a really great understanding of writing
@@potatomanboooi3105 Hell yeah. Do you still keep in touch? Might want to keep him in mind as a beta reader
@@WriterBrandonMcNulty he is a beta reader,he is one of my friends.he mostly taught me how to write
@@potatomanboooi3105 Drop his name, potatomanboooi!
The best compliment was from a creative (female), who read this script of mine (I am male) and was like "You nailed the female characters!!!"
Observe and understand the connections in-between characters. And project that to short, snappy dialogue. Or long sighs or such. Depending on the scene.
Congrats on that haha, it must have felt awesome! I'll keep this in mind
@@jopiluis3382 Oh it sure felt awesome! And the script was a twisted thriller with characters who do not-so-nice things (it almost go to lampooning-level). And it wouldn't pass the Bechdel-Test, but she deemed that the female characters felt realistic and some of the character's banter kinda sounded like her and her girlfriends talking.
On another note: check out "Lady Bird" (2017). The dialogue between the titular character and her mom is incredible. In one scene the script goes from a loud shout match to just switching to "Oh this sweater looks nice" or something in that realm totally killing this fight between them. And that felt so on point for the characters and that was simply since the fleshed out characters, the brilliant dialogue and of course great acting by Ronan and Metcalf. (Metcalf deserved that Oscar imho)
@@jopiluis3382 Here's a short video essay about "Lady Bird" that gives you some very valid points on how to make your writing AWESOME!
th-cam.com/video/eZL9ZPKfB6s/w-d-xo.html&ab_channel=TheTake
How did you manage that
2 more thing I would add to the list are:
4. Do not make your character a moral machine. A character that is constructed as a opinion device feels more like an AI generated voice; realistic enough but blunt and fake.
5. Don't make stagnant characters. Likable characters that don't change become boring.
I character that I sure wish I had come up with is Aizen-taichou from the Bleach manga. In my opinion, one of the best villains? in storytelling. Sociopathy, intellect and style. At some points he was written a bit cheesy but his themes and motives are one of a kind.
Aizen is one the best examples in anime of a villain that doesnt need complex motivations and backstory or grey morals to be a good villain.
Number 4 can be great if properly executed.
In my experience, a great way to create warmth in a character is to give them a sense of humour.
That’s some good advice, I’m writing a story of a clone who is disliked because he had major problems in the breeding tube and was almost terminated. But then is thus disliked by his creators and the people he has to work with because he was a big neusance to his cloners. He has high blood pressure which is undesired costing more money for the cloners.
Envy, or admire?
I think just about every guy admires and respects a lot of things about Batman, mostly his ability to come out on top no matter what you throw at him. That doesn't mean that we want his life; we just admire things about him.
Hmm maybe it's more so the desire of an aspect of his charachter, tho I don't imagine most people would like to watch their parents killed infront of them most however would envy his sense of bravery and competence
All your videos are awesome, not too long, to the point, focused on a specific, and interesting topic, well presented. It's top class. It helps me with my first script. Would you consider reviewing early script drafts for a fee? :)
Who is one character you envy and wish you could be for a day? Let us know!
i'm not really sure who i would like to be for a day
The guy from Berserk?
@@WriterBrandonMcNulty i wouldn't say him.i would go for a character like musashi miyamoto from vagabond.lots of the lessons that were taught in vagabond stick to me like glue.but guts from berserk is also an amazing character.
@@WriterBrandonMcNulty yeah, the bad guy :)))
The Doctor, Aragorn, Ethan Hunt. Sorry that's three.
I accidentally used this technique, but I did it to give myself closure. I have a lot of childhood trauma, but I never fought back against those who gave it to me, and it’s too late now because I haven’t had contact with them in years. My protagonist is a pacifist, but just by calling one of the people who gave _her_ trauma an asshole, she gave me immense inner peace.
#1 is very bad if misused. Many writers, instead of doing it right - _"establish a likeable character, then use this sympathy trick to make them more relatable"_ - go for _"just make a loser character, this will totally make them relatable!"_
And without #3 nothing will work. It's same as making your character _interesting._ Interesting character is one that has something that can rouse interest. Literally.
So true that part about envy. Have to say James Bond is one of my envy characters 😊
Same here--I want that swagger haha
@@WriterBrandonMcNulty oh yeah👍😋
Ian Fleming said that James Bond was never meant to be likeable. And if you look at it coldly, he's not very likeable: he's snobbish, arrogant and a womanizer. You wouldn't like to meet him, but you sure wished you could be him!
Characters I envy and wish I could be for a day: any of the leads in "Person of Interest."
Really like the point about Envy, that's a really interesting point
I should say, that sounds more like jealousy than envy. Jealousy means you want to be like someone else. Envy means you wish tragedy to befall them. Jealousy can have a good aspect. Envy is just all bad. Sounds you’re suggesting to make characters so cool that the reader / viewer is jealous of them.
I think it's envy. Jealousy is the fear of losing someone or something you have. Envy is wishing to have something that belongs to someone else.
Well, most readers actually want some sort of tragedy to befall the characters - or there would be no story at all.
Yeah I agree with ludovico his definition is absolutely correct.
This is correct
@@RobertFBeershmm thats a good point but id say most people also want it all to be resolved at the end so idk if id interprit that so much as wanting tragedy to fall on them so much as I would wanting to see then overcome tragedy
Cool! Now I really need to add a characters motivation and goals so that they won't be too bland. 😎👍
Yep.you can make a great story but no one will really like a character with no reason to push forward
Yep, sympathy/empathy/envy will only win the audience over do so long. Gotta add depth!
To answer your audience question: Amos Burton from the expanse. There’s something about a fearless brave homocidal psychopath desperately trying to use his evil talents for good. And he doesn’t trust himself because he knows he’s evil so he relies on the moral judgment of james holden and naomi instead. Such a masterly written character
If I could be a character for just one day? Phil from Groundhog Day
Being Phil for 1 day would last 80 years 😂
I think u need to make separate videos of these three. Make an in depth tips and advice how to sympathize and empathize character
Oddly enough, ENVY doesn't seem to be the right word. Rather the audience needs to ADMIRE a character that the writer wants to be likable. So, give them something to admire.
top-rated content; thanks Brandon :)
Thanks! Let me know if there's ever a specific topic you'd like me to cover
Love this channel
Thank you!
I don't really write my characters with 'good' or 'bad' in mind, i just write the characters to be who they are and interact, but at what point do you think a character's actions make them irredeemable? like, if a character's a r@pist or a p3dophile, that's easy for me to go "ah, irredeemable.", but in fiction, characters can do some rather horrific actions that don't have a real like comparison. so, what i'm trying to ask is if you'd make a video on at what point a character, whether hero or villain or neither, stops being redeemable :)
Of all the characters I could possibly envy, Hannibal Lecter ranks pretty much at the bottom. Katniss, though, I definitely envy her archery skills. Show me an archer and I'm already hooked.
I never noticed before, but I just realized that Hannibal rhymes with cannibal. Did some research, and turns out it's a real name, not fictionalized for the story.
We envy Paul Allen because he has the best business card and reservation at Dorsia.
The slightly bent head could be an effect of scoliosis 😅
Man I wish I could be Baldwin IV of Jerusalem. He's the goat.
Have you ever thought of doing a video where you critique your viewers writings?? As in read a first page or so of their manuscript and give them tips/advice for anything you see off-putting about it or let them know if they're going in the right direction or not??
As for a character I'd be for a day.. im not really sure. I'd probably say the Hulk or something 🤣
Love the Hulk. Would love to romp around destroying stuff haha.
As for that video idea... I've thought about doing something like that, but it might cause issues. Like if I did the video and somebody got angry at me for being too harsh... or a year later they might demand that I take the video down because they no longer want their work appearing in public. Not sure...have you seen other TH-camrs do something similar?
@@WriterBrandonMcNulty I have not seen it done to my knowledge, but the comments sections of other peoples videos asking for this type of video has alot of thumbs up, i guess though with them not wanting negative feed back or something they just dont want to do it, which makes sense.
Theres only 1 person who i know that has the option to do it But its if you're a patreon to that channel
@@PuppetMaster-Blade Hmm... I'll think about it. Might throw out a Tuesday video where I request writing samples, then take a few and work with those. I'll need to think about it though
Carrie White from the Stephen King novel is one of my envy characters.
I wish I could be Lady Bryren from The Ravenwood Saga. She's so cool.
I would be Jean Grey w/ Phoenix Force for one day. Or if she is busy that day or whatever I’ll take Professor X in his highest telepathic form.
Well I do envy the green lantern, since I was a kid I wish I had a ring just like his
I always wished I could be Spider-Man. That’s the character I always envied
Making an audience feel sorry for a character is dangerous territory as that can easily slip into pity, and that's often not a positive relationship to have with a character as it can breed contempt if it's not handled very carefully.
This explain terrible people that people like, in Stories like Rick and Morty lol
I wish I could be Glenn Rhee for a day
The second you mentioned envy, I thought Harry Potter. I’m a 32 year old frickin’ adult and I still want to go to Hogwarts and go on magic adventures. And who wouldn’t want to be Superman for a day? For whatever reason? That helps a ton, thanks Brandon!
Actually, I don't see Batman, Bond or Indiana Jones as very likable characters.
You're in the minority, Mr Akshually. 😅
Great video, thanks! My hero envy would probably go to Tony Stark. I'd love to be that brilliant and confident, all the while oozing sex appeal.
Great pick. That's WHY the MCU took off--because Stark/Downey Jr. was so charismatic and enviable
I wish I could be Rick Grimes from The Walking Dead
Have you read the comics?
@@WriterBrandonMcNulty yeah I have
@@DiffurrFox I loved the comics version of Rick. Such a dynamic character
@@WriterBrandonMcNulty yeah really iconic
The easy one is any character who can fly or use magic... but I'd like to be Wolverine for a day to see what it feels like to be utterly destroyed and rebuilt by my own healing factor =)
Harry Potter - you watch him with pity at first and later on with envy.