Many levels. When the character has many levels, evil and bad, it makes interesting, what will he do next.

A good character, in my opinion, has a purpose and a motive. He strives to reach his goal, whatever it is, and won't stop until he either gets it or dies trying. Those types of characters - whether they are heroes or villains or something in between - are always interesting to follow, since they do not merely sit around and wait for stuff to happen to them. No, they seize the first chance they get in order to fulfil their dreams or meet their goals. They don't even have to succeed to be interesting. As long as they don't give up, the reader will likely find him interesting.

That is not the only trait of a good character, of course. A well-written character is also human, even if he technically isn't human. He will have admirable qualities, for sure, but he will also have undesirable qualities. He may be brave and courageous, but he may also be reckless and possibly short-tempered, which could get him into trouble if he is not careful. No one wants to read about a fully good character or a fully evil character, except in certain types of stories (for example, fairy tales and parables do well with one-dimensional characters). It is hard to relate the person who is always doing good and being happy and is always a good and kind person. It is also hard to relate to the evil, cruel and coldhearted person who is never happy, never does even one good or decent thing, and in general is a nasty person to hang around. A good character, like real people, is a balance of good traits and bad. He may have more good than bad or more bad than good, true, but he still has at least a handful of both, just like you or me or anybody else in real life.

Of course, this is all my opinion and I am sure there is a lot more to a good character than what I just mentioned above. But it is these two major rules I try to follow whenever I make a character for my stories and I believe I have succeeded. At least no one has complained about my characters so far .

-TNTOS-

A good character, in my opinion, has a purpose and a motive. He strives to reach his goal, whatever it is, and won't stop until he either gets it or dies trying. Those types of characters - whether they are heroes or villains or something in between - are always interesting to follow, since they do not merely sit around and wait for stuff to happen to them. No, they seize the first chance they get in order to fulfil their dreams or meet their goals. They don't even have to succeed to be interesting. As long as they don't give up, the reader will likely find him interesting.

 

That is not the only trait of a good character, of course. A well-written character is also human, even if he technically isn't human. He will have admirable qualities, for sure, but he will also have undesirable qualities. He may be brave and courageous, but he may also be reckless and possibly short-tempered, which could get him into trouble if he is not careful. No one wants to read about a fully good character or a fully evil character, except in certain types of stories (for example, fairy tales and parables do well with one-dimensional characters). It is hard to relate the person who is always doing good and being happy and is always a good and kind person. It is also hard to relate to the evil, cruel and coldhearted person who is never happy, never does even one good or decent thing, and in general is a nasty person to hang around. A good character, like real people, is a balance of good traits and bad. He may have more good than bad or more bad than good, true, but he still has at least a handful of both, just like you or me or anybody else in real life.

 

Of course, this is all my opinion and I am sure there is a lot more to a good character than what I just mentioned above. But it is these two major rules I try to follow whenever I make a character for my stories and I believe I have succeeded. At least no one has complained about my characters so far .

 

-TNTOS-

Yes. A good character is special and not run-of-the-mill, but they still have flaws and inabilties. Good characters don't just zip aroudn from place to place, they have a thought process which is shown. As TNTOS said, good characters are human, not deity-like.

I'm sure this is just coincidence, but the Toa of Fire in the Bionicle storyline seem to be some of the most round and dynamic characters we've seen so far.

Well, I know other people think differently, but I think Vakama is a pretty good character. He's dynamic. Saying, he is one of the most developed characters in the storyline. His jumping around with the insecure Toa to dark-sided Hordika could have been cleaned up a bit with more detail and page time, I'm sure.

Tahu is as realistic as a Toa can be. His fiery temper, and impatience really seem to give him life. And then, underneath, his fierce loyalty and dedication to his team just give him that much more personality.

Anyways, what I'm saying is, that IMO, a good character has to develop along with the plot, be relatable and realistic. You know the author's done a good job with the charater when you look back and that one character stands out, even the tiniest bit, from the rest.

A good character is rather easy to make.

As I see it, a good character is exactly what you want it to be. A character may be the most evil, vile, and disgusting thing imaginable, and not have a redeeming quality about him, or could be the image of perfection, challenged by only God himself. Either way, however you see the character, and as long as you made that character exactly what you wanted them to be, that character will truly be a 'good' character.

It's actually really fascinating to see opinions this diverse, and even more so to think that every one of these drastically differing thoughts can be melded into an absolutely balanced character.

Riglax--Can you elaborate on what you mean by levels?

TNTOS--Yeah, every character needs a drive. An engine of thought that propels them throughout life. I think that's the difference between fictional chars and real people--we may have goals, but characters have drives. Forces that really thrust them through, oftentimes an obsession, that guides them with an almost unrealistic, larger-than-life power. We don't usually have a guiding force that powerful, and even rarer do we truly transform a motivational idea into real action.

To comment on what both you and Mangai said about flaws--There's a favorite author of mine, Glen Cook. His chars are unique (well, they're unique in a lot of aspects, but this is a primary and a broad one) in that not only do they have weaknesses, they have flaws. That's something authors can find extremely tough in characterization--establishing a char that not only has weak points, but real humane flaws, that will ultimately be challenege to overcome, or their downfall, because it defines who they are, not only their actions. Flaws not only exist as consequences, they are engraved into the persona of that individual. And, like I'm sure Riglax meant on some level, it adds levels to that char and is a huge step in creating someone at least as realistic as you are yourself.

Aderia--So you're saying a good char is delved into as the plot is delved into? I agree with you wholeheartedly, but I have a question for you--should my char start the book with few levels of realism, and throughout the book I unveil his deeper levels; or should I start him with a vast amount of realism and levels and dive even deeper into it as the plot advances?

Blargy--Those're some really insightful words. Anything can be established as realistic and levelled if you successfully make it so, through a variety of writing tools. All you have to do is go all out with every tool you have, and even if the base char is simple and stereotypical, that'll be hidden under a million subtleties written in by the author that give him the guise of realism.

These're some fantastic insights, guys! I'm definitely considering these, consciously, when I work on characterization a little more for a book I'm writing.