I have found that it helps to show a character succeed at getting something they want (no matter how big or small), fail at getting something they want (also no matter how big or small), showing how the character reacts to the success or failure and being capable of being happy or sad about literally anything. The happiness/sadness demonstrations don't have to tie into the success/failure reaction, but they can. The purpose of the success/failure demonstrates that they are capable of either or and are not perfect as a mary-sue/gary-stu or an anti mary-sue/gary-stu, that that their achievements are worth hoping for because they will be grateful when they get them (unless you want a character who thinks nothing is good enough then this is a time to show it) like how in-turn that failures will effect them and how they handle setbacks. Even if a character is very good at getting things they want/need or is like Kobeni and can't breathe without failing, knowing either or is possible in any capacity and how they react helps a lot. In turn, showing that they are capable of feeling happiness or sadness shows that it matters to them when their source of happiness is taken from them and that negative things impact them. Obviously super depressed characters won't be sunshine and rainbows, just that the reader can hope for them to achieve something positive because a positive thing will have an impact on them just as how a negative thing can impact them. The thing that brings them any happiness doesn't have to be big either and it doesn't really have to bring them overwhelming joy, just that it effects them when it's gone. If a character doesn't care about losing a certain umbrella for example and has no reaction to it being lost or damaged, why should we care that it's gone or care how the character reacts? But if that umbrella is a huge source of joy to them for whatever reason, then you bet I'm gonna cry with them if it gets lost or damaged!
I agree with all of these points! Showing these moments of success or faliure is very important for character development, and also making the audience care about them. Those moments also help the character to feel more believable. 😊
First video I've seen of this channel at time of writing, and I have to say, I really enjoyed it. May sound weird, but it feels like much of modern media (mainly in the Western hemisphere, and here I'm also talking about live-action content) is in DIRE need of this lesson on creating likeable characters. Many of the current-day shows (at least the more prominent ones) seem to have a problem in that the writers completely fail to make their characters likeable. If we are to take the Tips you mentioned as the gold standard when writing likeable characters, I've noticed that the writers for many of these shows: - Don't make any effort to follow these rules - Or if they actually DO make an effort, they fumble it badly In particular, I've noticed that the writers for many of these series tend to completely disregard Tip 3 "Make them reflect on their mistakes" (instead writing their characters so that they always believe they are in the right even when confronted with evidence to the contrary) and Tip 6 "Show their vulnerable side" (instead making their characters all strong all the time because of some arbitrary reason eg: the writers/showrunners' beliefs that those people aren't allowed to have any weaknesses). I guess the reason I keep yammering on about these things is that, once I watched your video, one of my initial reactions was "Why do so many writers in mainstream media not understand these basic principles and concepts?!"
I think characters that I find likeable are characters that often try and achieve their goals in spite of their setbacks I.e. a timid heroine going out of her way to spend time with the guy she likes or a weak villain pulling off an unexpected power play against his more stronger adversaries. Characters that are written on purpose to be very unlikeable are also in my opinion, markers of good writing. Stories can get really interesting when there's a character you love to hate in it.
Once again, you've been a source of valuable insight, on a subject I need all the help I can get on (anything to do with writing). I also plan to get a a LOT of use out of that template you mentioned. So thanks . . . twice over!!! As always, you're the best!
I’m writing an isekai where this guy named Haruto gets transported into a world of furries and falls in love with a bunny girl named Miko Miko is the quiet, shy and a bit of a tsundere type but she always sees the good in everyone, she also gets anxious easily and when she does she bites her nails a lot Haruto has a hard time communicating with people and is very socially awkward when he gets really excited he tends to act out but he will do everything he can to keep Miko safe because Miko is the only one who accepts him for who he is and she was the first person to show him kindness and make him feel happy
For my own plots, I am not concerned with making the characters likeable, since they are all executioners, including the main character, or are tasked with brainwashing the next generation into becoming executioners. The main character is...quirky and is someone you root for because you feel sorry for them, but is also very flawed: he's a coward, he's sneaky and he's deceitful, even if those traits are powered by a good cause (not being forced to kill people). He's also very intelligent, to the point of being able to pull this stunt: he'll fake helping a classmate to do corpse trafficking, denounce part of them to the police in a way they'll know it's him, when they beat him up for revenge he purposefully doesn't defend himself so he could then tell one of his teachers about it, all of this just to help a friend of his in financial trouble, because said friend birches kids to round off his expenses. He's also the kind of kid who can hide his identity in a boarding school of all places at age 13 only. And he doesn't show any remorse nor sadism when his former bullies get into trouble and get the birching of their lives for it. When those who beated up the MC confront the MC about the correction, and ask him if he wanted revenge for what they did. MC-kun just laughs out loud, because the thought of it is absolutely ridiculous to him, and he just did so because it was the easiest and surest way to help out his friend. And again, his issue isn't that he lacks empathy, but rather that he has loved ones to protect, and their lives are more valuable to him than the lives of strangers. That doesn't mean he completely lacks compassion towards them, and actually feels remorse because of what's he's forced to do. Remorse which is sometimes bordering even on insanity.
To make a likeable jerk, you have to balance out their 'meaness' with likeable traits. For example, a character might be rude but they might also be comical. They might genuinely care about others, but they might not know how to show it. Or they might do mean things, but they might be very dramatic in their approach, making it interesting to read about. Basically, in order to make a likeable jerk, it's all about balancing their traits. 😊
How do i write a manga that stays consistent with it's genre? In a lot of longer running stories I've seen, they almost always change their genre here and there. One part of it may be more comedy focused, another may be more horror focus, another one could be light-hearted etc. Basically what i mean is a story that doesn't start light-hearted and gets darker and gloomy as it goes on, but rather it starts dark and stays dark or a fun light-hearted story that stays light-hearted
I think it's important to not only focus on the genre, but the target audience. You can keep that profile in mind as you write, and it can help you to remain consistent! For example, if your target audience was children and your genre is comedy, if you keep in mind that the audience is for children, it can be easier to remain consistent because you know who will be reading it. For some longer running series, when the target audience starts to grow up, those series sometimes change a bit to match up with the target audience. So I think it's all about the genre and the audience in order to keep things consistent. 😊
Hi, it been a while since I commented on your channel and I have questions about introducing backstory. Can I make it in the first place? My MC beings like a normal day with her family and working in restaurant with her best friend , except she meets her future husband for the first time, years later she married and have daughter. When her daughter is 1 year old, a rain of fire crushed her homeland and flee with him. She saw the death of her parents, her best friend and others. She survived but her husband and her daughter didn’t. Leading her to crush. Many years later she meets little girl from different world and have adventure with her, she noticed the other world has magic power and hoping it’s not power of fire but sadly she got and breaks down. Should I make it like that or maybe when little girl asked her for why doesn’t want that power and then she tells her backstory?
That sounds like an interesting and intense backstory! I think it's really up to you on how you present it, but in my opinion, I think it would be good to slowly reveal it over the story. As the story progresses, show her memories of the past, which will introduce it to the audience. I think a slow introduction of the backstory, rather than showing it all at once, would make it more intense. Then when you have her meet the little girl in the other world, the audience already knows the backstory of the main character. 😊
Hi, thank you for this amazing video. Can you kindly help me? My mc is 14 years old, she is kind, cheerful, good at reading people, brave. But I can't decide on her weakness. If you have any suggestion let me know, pretty please. Thank you.
Can you give a bit more context? Just so far, there's very little to work off of. What is the world she's in, what is the society she's a part of like? Are there any special rules regarding that world (like is there magic/superpowers/something similar)? Just the only things that I can think of presently that might be a weakness for your MC based on what you've listed so far are: - If she's kind, then maybe the society she's in considers that a glaring weakness. Maybe she's in a world where she cannot afford to be kind. - If she's cheerful, then maybe her elders look down upon her because the world they live in has hardened them to a point that they're very cynical. As a result, maybe she's considered naive, especially at her young age, so her cheerfulness actually lessens her legitimacy in their eyes. - If she's good at reading people, then maybe people specifically make it a point to avoid her because of that. Maybe her ability to deduce what people are up to has rendered her almost friendless because she catches on to intentions that people would normally want to keep secret. Also, any people who would want to take advantage of her kindness to exploit her cannot do so because she'd catch on to them, so as a result, nobody wants to talk to her. - If she's brave, maybe she has a habit of biting off more than she can chew. Since she is young, she may not know when it is more prudent to beat a tactical retreat from a threat, so that bravery can potentially put her in serious danger. One thing I heard on another video (was admittedly a let's play, but still sound advice) is: for each positive quality, give them a flaw. And maybe those flaws can relate quite closely. Otherwise, I hope this helps.
@@quentincoetzee4313 tnx for the reply. By good at reading people she knows when to talk and when to not and I am going to show her naive first for those personalities but she isn’t that naive. She always helps people so they like her but her eyes are becoloured so some try to bully her but she always get pass it with her happy go lucky or naive cheerfulness. I mean she handles it that way so people think her airhead.
Weaknesses in a character can be in their personality or their physical strength. In your character, her weakness might be that she trusts too easily, leaving her broken hearted. She could get too involved in situations, without thinking it through first. She might focus so much on helping others, that she forgets about herself. In the case of a physical weakness, that all really depends on your story. In a shounen, for example, she might not be as strong as the other characters. She might have limitations on her powers, or if she uses too much of her powers, she ends up fainting.
Think about what makes her kind, cheerful and brave. She should have a backstory. What led her to become this way? Is it totally genuine or is there a part of her that makes her feel that she has to be this way? Sometimes characters might not notice what’s in their subconscious that influences their behaviors, until another character points these things out. Also, a lot of time, there’s more than meets the eye when it comes to characters. They might keep secrets or hide things that they don’t want other people to see. Not everything about a character has to be straightforward, and it would be interesting to reveal other parts of that character as the story progresses, especially parts of them which are not readily visible just by looking at them.
