Are you a writer or author struggling to create characters that readers can’t help but root for?
In this video, we’ll explore two techniques for creating of deeply relatable and complex characters based on my experiences writing the Josie Prescott Antiques Mysteries and the poignant moments in the classic movie “Sea of Love.”
“What do you do to make a character relatable?”
One of the best ways is to show them doing something nice, affirming, positive, in the context of whatever is going on in their world. I structure my Josie Prescott Antiques Mysteries as bookends. I start with something that is sweet and decent, then the murder happens and chaos ensues, order is restored, and something sweet and affirming happens at the end. It is comforting to have this bookend structure, but by starting with something sweet and decent, I’m showing Josie interacting with her staff nicely, or having some fun experience with her best friend, or walking on the beach and enjoying the jetty up ahead is something that shows her to be a real person that you can care about.
Another way to do it is that you introduce a character who has deep flaws, but then does something decent. And an example of that is from the movie Sea of Love, starring Al Pacino. That’s one of my favorite movies. And it’s an old movie. It’s from, I think, the 80s. But he’s a cop down on his luck, I’m telling you. His wife has walked out on him. He’s drinking too much. He’s having a midlife crisis, like you read about. And he’s alienating people.
Well, the New York City Police Department then hosts a major crime “catch them all in one fell swoop” event with the Yankees. It’s a breakfast. So they invite all these major case felons to breakfast with the Yankees. They get them there and then they arrest them en masse.
Well, at the very end, they’re just leaving, the cops getting in the car to go away. Here comes a big guy with his little son: “What, what’s happening? I know we’re a little late, but wait!” And they ask who he is, they check him on the list. This is the Al Pacino character, and he says the name to someone. “Show me ID,” checks the name, and the guy whispers to him, “So and so, major your auto theft, multiple times,” something like that. And, in other words, these aren’t violent crimes. The guy’s a car thief. Which is not good, of course, but it’s not that he’s a violent criminal.
And the Al Pacino character says, “What are you doing? This was you. The invite was for you only.” And he rustles his kid’s hair and he says, “I couldn’t come without my boy to meet the Yankees.” And the kid’s just so proud to be with daddy and so excited. And Al Pacino looks from one to the other. And out of sight of the kid, he flashes his badge and says, “Yeah, you’re too late.” And then he looks at him and says, “Catch you later.” And the guy just, “Okay. Thank you, man.” And off they go.
In other words, the character who’s deeply flawed in many ways still does something that is decent. And it’s within the context of doing what he does. He could have arrested the guy, put the kid in the system, called child services, but he didn’t. Don’t you now root for that character? That’s what you want. You want them to do something that makes me root for them. Care about them. Make them relatable. And it’s incident based, and it’s organic, and I know you can do it.
How about you? What have you done to make characters relatable? Any examples you have that feature a character that’s especially relatable? I’d love to read about them. Put them in the comments section.
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Thank you.
*Transcripts are software-generated. To report any transcription errors, please use my contact form!
