Intelligent characters, who are not perfect, but learn from their mistakes instead of doing the same stupid thing over and over again. This also means they don't conveniently ignore some pretty obvious details in order to create conflict or make the plot go where it needs to. There are better, more interesting ways to create conflict.
Likeable characters. I'm not a fan of the antihero MC. This is personal preference, but I find that if I'm spending a whole book with this character I want to be able to like them.
A sense of humour doesn't go astray. This is not a must, but I do enjoy an MC who can make me laugh.Brave but not reckless. I've been reading a series where the MC screams everytime something bad happens. Sometimes they even do 'silent screaming'. How does a person silent scream? Not sure I understand how that works. At the other end of the spectrum, when a character continually runs into dangerous situations (and usually needs to be saved time and time again) I get equally frustrated. Characters who are at a mid point between the two have a good balance, I think.
I'm pretty sure that my own characters don't meet all of these criterea, but at least I have something to aim for.
What have I missed? Do you have any specific characteristics you love to see in the MC? Who are your favourite characters to read about?
Oh man, gotta love Rose! Great post :)
ReplyDeleteGreat list of character characteristics. I like characters who make me think and feel.
ReplyDeleteLove Love Love Rose. I like a female MC that doesn't wait to be rescued.
ReplyDeleteI like characters who have courage...rather than bravery.
ReplyDeleteI like male characters who can step up and be a hero, but who can also take a step back and let the girl do the butt-kicking without having their egos wrecked. I like characters who can feel fear all the way down to their bones but still do what they have to do anyway, rather than characters who are fearless. And I like characters who don't always win because they're stronger or smarter, but because they have more heart.
ReplyDeleteUnlike you I do like anti-heros - I loved Artemis Fowl instantly. I think it's because I like characters who are very intelligent, a bit unusual and flawed - and anti-heros are usually all these things. I like regular characters like that too.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with Girl Friday. I don't mind anti-heroes, and characters like Artemis Fowl, Cadel Piggott, and others are actually some of my favorites. I definitely agree with you on intelligent characters, though--I've run into plots where that made me go, "How could they have missed it?"
ReplyDeleteI love Eugenie Markham, Richelle Mead's other leading lady, if you like her other books I think you will love Eugenie ^.^
ReplyDeleteI'm so picky when it comes to MC's it seems to me that it is very hard to find an MC that I actually like, but when I do its true love. like Alanna from the Songs of the Lioness (really all of Tamora Pierces MC's) Katniss from the Hunger Games or Gemma from A great and Terrible Beauty.
Interesting! I tend to agree with you. Especially on the first point. A certain girl from a certain Vampire novel we may or may not have all heard of comes to mind . . .
ReplyDeleteIt drives me NUTS when I figure out what's going on, and the MC doesn't. For a few pages this can create tension, but it's cheap when that's the tension for the whole frickin book.
Couldn't agree more, Vicki!
ReplyDeleteShe's awesome, isn't she? Definitely capable of saving herself!
ReplyDeleteAgreed! She can kick butt any day.
ReplyDeleteI've heard a lot of people say they loved Alanna from the Songs of the Lioness. It's on my TBR pile. And I'll check out Richelle Mead's other series too :)
ReplyDeleteI agree -- I'm not a big antihero fan, but I'm an Artemis Fowl fangirl all the way. Lots of reasons for that, but he definitely ticks a lot of the boxes you've listed above. He never ignores pertinent information, the books have a sense of humour even if he doesn't, he's brave, not reckless, and you'd never catch him doing anything like silently screaming. He'd think it was a waste of time. He has a wonderful vulnerability, though, that softens off all his rough edges.
ReplyDeleteI haven't read the President's Daughter novels or the Tillerman Cycle. I'll have to check them out. Katniss I have mixed feelings about. I loved her in the first book, and mostly in the second book. In the third I often found myself growing angry at her.
ReplyDeleteWhen I sart asking "how could you have missed that" I know it's a lost cause. Maybe I just need to read a few more anti-heroes to find ones I can like :)
ReplyDeleteMy favorite literary characters embody a lot of the characteristics you've described. Meg Powers from Ellen Emerson White's President's Daughter novels, Dicey Tillerman from Cynthia Voigt's Tillerman Cycle, Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games (Suzanne Collins) are right there at the top of my list.
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