It’s All About Character

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Sherry – I can’t believe it’s August 1st! The summer is flying by.

I was having a hard time coming up with a topic for this post. During a chat with Barb Goffman, she mentioned the Olympics. Which made me think about watching the US men’s gymnastics team. I confess, while I’ve often known the names of the women’s team members, I’ve never paid much attention to the men. I couldn’t tell you who was on the team or anything about them.

On Monday night, my daughter and I had the TV on and tuned to the Olympics. I wasn’t paying a great deal of attention but noticed the nerdy-looking guy with the glasses who seemed to be off in his own little world. I pointed him out to my daughter and asked if she knew who he was. She shrugged.

You probably all know this by now, but a bit later in the program we found out he’s Stephen Nedoroscik from Worcester, Massachusetts. (We always cheer for anyone from Massachusetts.) And that he only does the pommel horse. Interesting.

His big moment finally arrives. He goes up to the pommel horse with his glasses on. “Is he going to wear his glasses during his routine?” I asked and earned another shrug. But no, he whips them off and starts his routine.  As I heard someone say, he pommeled the heck out of that horse and clinched the bronze medal for Team USA. By Tuesday morning there were so many tweets and memes about him. He’s Clark Kent with his glasses on, but whips them off and becomes Superman. I saw him compared to Chris Evans in Captain America where before he’s this scrawny little guy and after a hero. Another tweet compared him to Spiderman.

No matter, it made me think of characters in fiction. Stephen is a great example of someone in the background of a story who is a bit overlooked. That person could be the investigator that solves the case or the bad guy who blends into the shadows. It’s an excellent example of why you need to add depth to your characters. All of us are multifaceted and our characters must be to connect with readers.

Jackson Lamb in the fabulous Slough House books by Mick Herron is an excellent example. He’s slovenly, farts, and scratches himself. He cruelly offers alcohol to the recovering alcoholic on his team. Jackson belittles all of his team members. But in the end when it’s most needed, he comes through for them. Not in a big hug/kumbaya moment, but in his scathing way. He’s compelling in his awfulness. And yes, as a reader you root for him while simultaneously wanting to slap him upside the head. I must add that all of Herron’s characters are multifaceted.

Eliza Bennett in Pride and Prejudice is another great example of a character with a lot of depth. To a point she follows the conventional norms of the day – she can needlepoint, play the piano, sing, etc. But she also goes for long walks, gets dirty, and most importantly, stands up for herself.

One of my favorite writing books on character is The Art of Character by David Corbett. There are lessons everywhere for writers – or I’m good at rationalizing taking time to watch the Olympics.

Writers: Any advice on character development? Everyone: Who is a favorite complex character?

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Published by Sherry Harris

Sherry Harris is the author of the Agatha Award nominated Sarah Winston Garage Sale Mystery series and the Chloe Jackson Sea Glass Mystery series.

23 Thoughts

  1. Such a good point, Sherry. Even bad guys can volunteer at the cat shelter or go contra dancing on Sunday nights! And even good characters, the ones you love and can’t wait to see win, can have a secret vice or terrible habit.

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  2. Nothing to add, Sherry. Good points all, and I’m off to stream Stephen Nedoroscik’s performance. Someone has to have it on YouTube! His only event? I didn’t know they could do that!

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  4. A great complex character who you both love and abhor for their actions both good and nightmarish is Londo Mollari from Babylon 5.

    Those who have seen the show will know what I’m talking about.

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    5. I didn’t see this before I commented, but I completely agree with you. I’d throw G’Kar in there as his counterpoint. And I still maintain that they are the main characters of the show.

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  5. Hello, Sherry! I’m currently reading my way through Mick Herron’s Slough House series, and you chose a perfect example of a multi-faceted character in Jackson Lamb. He is a horrible person, yet you know he’ll somehow save the day and his people with it. I can’t come up with anywhere near as good an example, but I am a great fan of Reginald Hill’s Dalziel and Pascoe police procedurals, which began with A CLUBBABLE WOMEN in 1970 and ended with MIDNIGHT FUGUE in 2009. Both characters grew increasingly complex as the series progressed, and neither was a straightforward hero.

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  6. I’m so with you on complex characters – they make stories so much more interesting! Jackson Lamb and Elizabeth Bennet are great examples. Thanks for the book rec.

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  7. Complex and compelling characters keep readers coming back, more so than plots and more than the mysteries themselves. I can think of many examples of current authors with incredible characters. Jackson Lamb in Heron’s series, obnoxious as he is, sure is a good example. So is Duncan Kinkaid, Deborah Crombie’s hunky British detective, who is just the opposite. I think Tom Jones, another character from my English Lit. classes, is also outrageously memorable!

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  8. I’m going to take my examples from TV. Specifically Babylon 5. All the characters on that show are great, multifaceted characters. But the two biggest for me are two of the aliens – Londo and G’Kar. I still maintain the show is actually about them, their relationship, and how they change over the course of the show. It’s a wonderful character study.

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  9. Every character is the hero of her own story – protagonist, antagonist, and even the secondary characters.

    Jay and Mark mentioned two of my favorites. Another is Red Reddington, a man who will kill you as soon as look at your – but he has a code.

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