Characters are one of the most important aspects of your story. They’re the “vessels” your reader will inhabit while exploring your world, and often the narrators guiding them through.
A likable character is the reason readers want to know if the couple in that romance book will end up together, if the teenage protagonist will fulfill their destiny, and if the villain who pulls at our heartstrings (because we understand their wounds enough to care) will get the happy ending.
What this article is about:
Author’s note ✍
When I was fantasizing about my book, I had this idea of a really cool character. They were going to be powerful, smart, and charismatic. And why wouldn’t they be? I created them with a lot of care (pure bias).
But as I was organizing ideas and writing the first scene, I came to realize that they were very uninteresting. That they didn’t really evoke any tension. And that maybe I needed to put more of their internal world on the page. Something the reader could relate to.
What actually makes a character likable?
A character is likable when they feel real. Like their own person.
The advice may sound simple. But this is the reason why many authors tell you to base your characters off someone you know in real life.
Because they’re real. This makes it easier to predict how they’ll act in different scenarios.
You won’t be wondering if a proud character should beg for their life when the stakes are high. You know them well enough. Their internal logic won’t allow it. And even if they do, it has to feel earned. Something must’ve changed throughout the story to make them beg.
Don’t fall into the trap of making them do or say something just as a plot device, which… leads me to the next thing.
Likable as a person vs. likable as a character
A likable character is very different from a likable person.
When it comes to people, we have standards. We want to be around someone who is nice, warm, and generally doesn’t commit crimes or murder people. (It’s difficult to like those kinds of people, at least for me).
A character can do all of that and still be likable. Because in fiction, a character doesn’t need to be entirely good for readers to root for them, or entirely evil for readers to hate them.
I don’t like characters that are infinitely noble and good, or characters that are evil and incorrigible. I find them boring, even flat. It’s difficult to care about them because they don’t feel real.
If anything, this could be one of the reasons why the “good guys” feel insufferable and the “bad guys” are uninteresting.
I’ve come to realize that for a character to feel real, they need to have these three things:
Coherence because you don’t want them to “act out of character”
Clear motivation because you have to make them want something
Agency because they need to end up where their actions lead them
Now, let’s bring Cersei Lannister into the discussion.
She’s not a person you’d like to know in real life. But she’s a really likable character. She’s cunning. She’s cruel. She surprises you. And she makes you feel things, whether that is anger, pity, respect, or even understanding.
We understand what she wants, the decisions she makes to get it, and the ways she pivots while we can confidently say “that’s Cersei Lannister.”
She, or well, the author, makes you care about her… in a very complex way. Even when you know that what she’s doing is wrong. But nonetheless, you enjoy her company because you know that when she’s on, something interesting will happen.
Likability and caring: what’s the deal?
When you create a character that feels real, your reader will start caring about them and the things they want to achieve.
Many writers make the mistake of creating characters that are… good. Just that. They can do no wrong. And if they do, it’s often because they were forced into it, but deeply regret it.
This could still work in a few cases, when it serves the story (not as a plot device), but most of the time agency is lacking. The reader may pivot their attention since there’s nothing interesting going on with the character.
Caring comes after you create a real character. We care about this character getting what they deserve, be that good or bad. We like that they have flaws, vulnerabilities, or maybe people they care about, because it makes them more relatable.
Your reader not caring about your character can affect your book’s success. When the super evil character that you keep insisting is super evil dies, and nobody feels relief, maybe they were a plot device with a high body count.
My likability matrix for characters
Now, not all characters need to be deeply layered. Sometimes that doesn’t serve the story you want to tell.
I know I’ve spent most of the article saying that they do, in fact, need to be. But there are different kinds of stories. We have character-driven and plot-driven stories (to make this simple).
That’s why I came up with this matrix you see below:
(Yep, this image was AI-generated)
Likable character, high story stakes: this is the sweet spot. If you like the characters and the stakes are high, you’re not just invested in the outcome of the story; you’re scared of what may happen to the characters.
Likable character, low story stakes: this usually corresponds to a character-driven story. Outside forces or stakes are low, but internal stakes are high. Tension is psychological rather than situational, and you want to know if the character will forgive themselves, change, or let someone in.
“Unlikable” character, high story stakes: “Unlikable” is in quotes because it’s not like characters are unlikable exactly; they just don’t need charm. When the story is plot-driven, and you create something that is gripping enough, the reader’s need to know what happens next overrides their need to like the character.
“Unlikable” character, low story stakes: DNF territory. There’s nothing to root for. The plot is uninteresting, and you don’t care about the characters. This is a quadrant you don’t want to end in.
Generally, you’d like to have a balance between having likable characters and an interesting plot. But a story can still work with at least one of those.
The important thing here is: give something to the reader. Give them a reason to turn the next page of your story until the end. Be that by plot alone or by creating compelling characters that make the reader want to spend time with them.
And scene
If you made it this far, you’re probably one of those readers who 100% read their book. So, thank you for bearing with me until the end :)
If you found this article helpful (either as a writer or a lurker), consider following along as I figure out how to actually write that book.
And if there’s a writing topic you’d like me to write about, drop it in the comments.
What makes your characters likable? Or are you writing a plot-driven story?
Take care and keep writing. ✍️
Another great article. I figured out a while ago that "nice" doesn't guarantee likable in a character, and it was a surprise at the time. Readers kept saying they liked O'Malley, but he's a terrible person. Violent, bad tempered, a murderer, arrogant, often mean to the main protagonist. He's not "nice" and definitely not someone you would want to meet in real life, but whenever he shows up on the page, readers can be sure that something non-boring is going to happen.
Thank you for the article! Great point that a story works best with likable characters and a gripping plot, but a story can still work even if it only has one of those elements. Great point about characters becoming likeable when they feel real, too. (My favorite characters from fiction feel viscerally real.)
Although, I think a character feels real when it feels like he/she could be a real person, so I think writers should try to exercise caution with likability as a person vs. likability as a character. If "likeable" means interesting or well-written (like what's in the term "villains readers love to hate"), that's probably not problematic.
But if it means trying to make a villainous character likeable in and of themselves, that runs the risk of inadvertently saying it's all right to be evil if there's some agreeable quality in the person being evil. That's one reason I don't like writing or reading "sympathetic villains," because it usually blurs the line between right and wrong, and says readers should feel sorry for someone who chose evil because of what happened to them (incidentally, I notice those kinds of villains usually end up hurting people who had nothing to do with what happened to them).
I think that could be harmful to readers in abusive situations where they're already predisposed to think they have to excuse or cover up their abusers' harming them because maybe their abusers are only doing it because of something that happened to them. I think it's also insulting to readers who have survived bad things themselves and chosen to do good instead of evil. Whether or not writers intend for readers to translate what they read into their thoughts on real things, it can happen, so I think caution is in order when writing a "likable" villain.
Thank you for the article!