An author came to me the other day, asking for a critique on her rom-com. Sometimes the faults quickly jump out from a manuscript. The problem with this one was obvious: ‘Your lovers are too nice.’
I told her to muddy them up a bit, have them doing the odd mean thing. Sleeping with their best friend’s boyfriend, that kind of stuff. ‘But surely no-one will like them if I do that?’
Nice is boring, I’m afraid. When people talk about a ‘sympathetic character’, what they should say is ‘empathetic character’. Look at the chap in ‘One Day’ – what an idiot (but we’re gripped until he finds redemption). And Scarlett O’Hara is one selfish bitch – but we love her courage. In Trainspotting some characters are perfectly vile, but we enjoy the way they make us laugh. Give us something ‘nice’ and we’ll go to sleep.
Your character needs to make a journey, and a ‘nice’ protagonist won’t be able to move satisfyingly towards that position of moral redemption the reader is waiting for. If you do pick ‘nice’ then you’ll need to take them to a place that is morally reprehensible and add in a good dash of humour, or we’ll start to yawn.
My author went away and rethought her characters into some sticky situations, actions their mums would certainly not have approved of. When the manuscript came back, the lead characters were no longer goody-two-shoes and they were much more likeable for that. Now, at last, the story had the necessary tension to keep me turning the pages. Bingo – it had worked! A few days later she had a two-book deal and an impressive advance.
[Celia Brayfield is particularly good on character. If you haven’t already done so, read her book Bestseller.]
Wanda Whiteley is founder and editor-in-chief of Manuscriptdoctor.co.uk
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