Strong characters. Yes. Heck yes. That’s what I want to see. And I’m not talking about ‘well-developed’ characters or ‘complex’ characters – I mean strong characters. I mean characters who can beat up a roomful of dog-ogres and fire planet-cracking lasers out of their ears. I mean characters who eat nails for breakfast on the morning of their MRI. Characters who are fighters, scrappers, battlers and combatants. Who know when to throw down downtown.
So you think your characters are strong? Yeah? Show me. Show your reader. Here’s how:
It’s easy. You just keep track of who wins the most fights. Book starts, your dark wizard’s already killed the rightful queen and all her dog-ogres. He’s obviously strong. Your heroes have got some catching up to do: they’ll lose a few early fights, but then start winning towards the end. That’s a good way to show them getting stronger over time.
But hey, I’m talking about strong characters. People with likes and loves and hates and fears. Strength isn’t just a numbers game. It’s not just about how much you can lift, or how many dog-ogres you can take down.
So try this instead: strength is not about winning fights, strength is about what you’re willing to lose to win a fight.
Now we’re going deeper. Now we find out how badly your heroes want to win. What are they willing to give up? A few bruises? A bit of blood? An arm or a leg? Their lives? Sure. What about a friend’s life? What about the life of someone they love? What about the life of someone who has nothing to do with all this, someone who was just in the wrong place at the wrong time?
Deeper still. Their dignity. Their morals. Their hopes for the future. Their sense of who they are.
Let’s take your dark wizard. Maybe he offered his right hand to the Red Gods in exchange for power. Seems fair he’d want to make good on that investment, but he’d still need some extra motivation to go with it.
Let’s take him deeper. Say instead he descended into the Hall of Whispers in a time of need, and bargained with the only currency the Whispers permit – his mind. Now he rules undisputed. Now he lays low all those who oppose him. But how much of it is hunger, and how much madness? The never-ending agony of those little shadows in his brain?
And is the only way to stop him to bargain with the Whispers yourself? Which of the heroes will it be? Who’s got the least to lose? Who’s willing to give up the most?
Only the strongest. Heck yes.
Melancholy Whale 