Crafting a Believable Main Character - Article

[Deb Porter]

Fiction writers, I just found this little article with some good advice on crafting a believable main character (or any character, for that matter). It's just a short piece, but provides food for thought.

How to Spot (and Kill) your Mary Sue Characters by K.M. Weiland

The "Mary Sue" problem in fiction is very real, and makes for really blah reading. So keep "her" in mind when you write.

Love, Deb

[Hoomi]

If your characters don't start arguing with you over the way the story is progressing, they're not real enough yet.

(Eva told me I had to post that.)

[jaeblakney]

I like that, Hoomi.

[Arpy]

Hoomi, I like that too.

I am glad there's a name for Mary Sue. I find her all over the place (especially in Victorian Literature) and I hate her. I've often thought the very same things, but never written them down quite so well.
I find fewer Marty Stus. But I am inclined to believe that I create them sometimes.
However, I don't think there's anything wrong with an author being a character in his book, so long as he's honest about his faults.

~Arpy

[NightOwl]

I have entire books that descriibe how to create characters -- hair color, body type, personality traits, habits, etc. I think this article puts into a nutshell the most important information one can take from all those other books. Thank you!