One question on worldbuilding/creating characters. I have noticed that all the main characters in your universes are SupremelyCompetent® in something. Probably because they are all adults by now, but they either had family to teach them how to flash white, is a werewolf/vampire trained in an academy/their families, is an innkeeper with extensive training, or happened to have a vengeful stepfather hell bent on child mortal kombat and SuperSpecialBlood™.
Now, I get that don’t get me wrong it’s much more fun to read about interesting people and writing always has that element of self-insert “what if I were as cool as this”. Plus, your universes are so colorful that ordinary people, well… they die. But it all just makes me curious. How do you make a character interesting without all that? Is it possible to write an average character surrounded by ExtraordinaryAwesomeness©? Just a writing prompt I’ve been thinking of lately. I guess it all boils down to what you use to make the character interesting to the reader?
This is a super fun question because it covers three character types: the extraordinary expert, the-work-in-progress, and the unlikely hero.
Self-Inserting
Let’s tackle the self-inserting first. All characters have a bit of the author in them. They are figments of our imagination, after all. If the author achieved things through obtaining education and strongly believes that this is the best path forward, their favorite characters will mirror that philosophy. If the author spent time around horses and loves them, their favorite characters may express love of horses also and the villain might kill a horse in a brutal way.
However, too much self insertion is a terrible thing for two reasons. First, it makes the main characters too similar. If the author does three series, and every character is exactly the same except for their names and hair color, things get old.
Second, if the author becomes too fascinated with the character, they may ignore or alter plot structure to get more time with that character. That’s how we get Mary Sue/Gary Stu characters who have amazing powers, incredible looks, and are special and good at everything. One of the easiest ways to identify Mary Sue/Gary Stu is that everyone who loves the character is automatically good and everyone who dislikes them is automatically evil.
If you look at Kate series, Nick isn’t Kate’s biggest fan. He will help her, but only to prevent greater harm. The series has a number of compelling characters who are not blindingly worshipping Kate and who may criticize her or just not personally like her. That doesn’t automatically make them villains.
In a Mary Sue/Gary Stu scenario any character who doesn’t admire and support the main character is automatically evil or stupid and must be punished and despised. The character becomes almost a stand-in for the author themselves, and they are now taking revenge for all the social wrongs they had ever experienced, real or imagined. When people are mean to us, we sometimes feel powerless. Well, not any more. The author of Mary Sue/Gary Stu suffers no fools and will go to extraordinary lengths to punish the offending characters and reward their stand-in in all sorts of ways.
Mary Sue/Gary Stu can be a very satisfying read once in a while, but it’s not my favorite.
Three Character Types
If you read our books carefully, you will notice a trend. All of our characters had to work really hard to become competent. Rose is a the perfect example of this.
She began practicing her flash in sixth grade. She worked at it with a fanatical devotion. She practiced for hours, in private, determined to show them all. When her mom died her junior year of high school, it only spurred Rose on. Flashing became an obsession. She practiced, and practiced, and practiced, until magic flowed from her, pliant and obedient.
On the Edge (A Novel of the Edge Book 1) (p. 31). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
Nevada started working as a PI at seventeen because she had to. Kate became good with the sword because she had to. Sean leveled up because he would literally die if he hadn’t. There is a common thread there: talent isn’t enough. You have to work really hard to survive and succeed.
Even when the characters are competent at something, they still have room for improvement. At the start of the narrative Nevada couldn’t draw a simple arcane circle and by the end, she was able to unpack complex hexes. Kate ignored her blood powers, until circumstances forced her to practice them. You see her constantly training, working out, sparring, learning how to do blood magic, etc. Hugh has to learn how to be a good person, perhaps one of the hardest things any of us can do.
Catalina is a good illustration of this. She blundered her way through Sapphire Flames, stumbling from one near miss to the next, doing a bit better in the next book, until she finally became a little scary but adept Head of the House.
It’s this growth that makes the characters interesting and relatable. Our characters are mostly work-in-progress types. Some achievements have been unlocked, but there is still a long way to go. This is where a bit of the self-insertion is happening. We both had to work very hard to get where we are, and there are always more challenges ahead.
But what about writing a compelling uber-competent character without growth? That is the extraordinary expert character type. We see this a lot with genius detectives. Sherlock Holmes, for example. His powers of deduction are almost magic. In fact, Conan Doyle specifically stated at some point that his audience wouldn’t find teenage Sherlock Holmes compelling, because he would be making mistakes and learning, and the near mystical competency of adult Sherlock Holmes would shatter.
It is true. Once you humanize Obi-Wan, the mystique of the character is lost a little. Instead of a special god-like creature, he is now one of us, a flawed, sometimes confused human and his story is an entirely different narrative.
Finally we have the third character type, the unlikely hero. Unlikely hero tells the story of a seemingly ordinary person, an office worker, a farmer, someone who got caught up in a mystery or circumstances beyond their control and now must struggle to survive.
Ordinary is a bit of a misnomer. For example, Mr. and Mrs. Marais are perfectly “ordinary,” except for Mr. Marais’ intuition, which doesn’t actually help him that much. Not only they do not die, they take on the challenges the Galaxy throws at them and deal with them successfully, sometimes by applying a well-aimed can of beans.
None of us are ordinary. Every single one of us is passionate about something or good at something or knows something most other people don’t. At the risk of sounding like an after school special: we are all unique and worthy of a story.
Several years ago, there was a trend on Twitter where people asked what would happen is you favorite author narrated your normal life. Some people tagged me and I had done a number of tiny stories about tired moms, people who love dogs, and overworked teachers. You can read some of them in this post, which Mod R found with her superhuman powers. Every person can be basis for a compelling character.
The unlikely hero makes frequent appearance in literature and film. Arthur Dent of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is a shining example. George of Thessalonica by Harry Turtledove is another. And obviously, both Bilbo and Frodo of Lord of the Rings.
The unlikely hero has some fun subsets.
- Heart over skills – a protagonist who has no skills applicable to the situation but succeeds due to the nature of their personality and sheer persistence
- Lazy hero – a protagonist who has talent but deliberately ignores it for various reasons until they are forced to apply themselves
- Cursed hero – a protagonist who was robbed of his special powers, but succeeds in spite of that and sometimes, when their skills are unlocked, finds that they were not needed in the first place
There are more. Most of the time, the unlikely hero succeeds because they have integrity and perseverance and because they are fighting for something very important. So if you are writing an unlikely hero, my advice is to spend some times figuring out what their strengths are. Are they kind? Are they fair? Do they stand up when they see an injustice? What is it that makes them win at the end?
To reiterate, neither of the character types is superior to the others. They are used to tell different types of stories. It’s really all about the personal preference. Now it’s your turn. What kind of character type do you like? Tell us in the comments.
Work In Progress, I relate 💖
First?
Close!
It’s my first, by sheer luck. I’m sure you’ll have one eventually as well 😉
First!!!! Love the character breakdown. Thank you.
Thanks! A variant of the Unlikely Hero is the Incompetent Hero (Terry Pratchett comes to mind), who succeeds *despite* being an idiot. Like the Mary Sue/Gary Stu uber-competent, they’re a fun read on occasion, but not as a steady diet.
Seanan McGuire’s October Daye starts out somewhat incompetent as a PI and “hero of the realm”, but grows into it. She’s also an example of denying/not knowing her powers, but accepting them at the possible cost of her humanity.
I love the October Daye books, although Rosemary and Rue was quite a slog for me to get through. Considering all the lies her mother and everyone else told her, it took a lot of strength for her to get where she was just before the end of the last book. Really looking forward to the next!
I will admit, when daydreaming I am all about the Mary Sue angle, making Awesome Me the superhero vanquishing office colleagues/random nasty people in traffic/the occasional family members-turned-into-villains in spectacular ways because I need to vent. It works for me 😉
But in stories I read or watch or play, it varies. Mostly, I like to go on the journey with the character in their development, and in those cases I gravitate towards the work-in-progress type. But at the same time I can really dig an extraordinary expert, specifically Sherlock as portrayed by Benedict Cumberbatch or Kim Hee Woo as portrayed by Lee Joon Gi in Again My Life.
Turns out somewhat arrogant, smarter-than-good-for-them intellectuals with fighting skills (and, I will admit, a nice physique to look at) are my catnip 😂
Lee Joon Gi was so good in that. The whole drama is chef’s kiss.
Yes! (okay, okay, minor niggle, not impressed with the romance arc but oh well, that’s part and parcel really…) I really liked his work in Flower of Evil too 😊
Have you tried Reborn Rich? It’s less wish fulfillment, more rip-your-heart-out toward the end, but it was excellent.
It keeps telling me to, but my to-watch-list is soooo long that I haven’t gotten round to it yet 😂 Thanks for the recommendation! (Currently in Little Women, which is a lot more fun than I thought it would be, all twisty and turn-y with nicely ambiguous characters, but boy are Netflix’ subtitles lacking in nuance once you’ve gotten used to Vicki’s…)
(I meant Viki’s, but apparently my autocorrect thinks Vicky is better at subtitles 🙈)
Eh, I’ve been on a different Asian drama kick and the streaming website names sound like Icky and baby gibberish.
I also liked Reborn Rich.
YES! I loved The Glory on Netflix but the subtitles drove me crazy compared to Viki’s
Unlikely hero’s personified in Fred the Vampire Accountant.
Omg so true about the RIP your heart out end. But agree is was so well done!
Sabrina, regarding your daydreaming, this came to mind:
Ambrose Bierce — ‘PITIFUL, adj. The state of an enemy or opponent after an imaginary encounter with oneself.’
I, of course, have never indulged in su … DANG! That lightning bolt nearly hit me!
😂
Thanks to your comment I started watching Again My Life and this dorama is so good! Kind of reminds me Nirvana in Fire – extraordinary expert in pursuit of justice. Thank you so much.
Smart, kind, fair-minded, and with a degree of obstinacy that is the stuff of legends. Family trait, that last.
Wow such a detailed response, I never imagined it, thank you!!
Honestly, very interesting to hear about the different character archetypes. Never really thought about it that way. Now that I’m reading this I think I drift more to the “unlikely hero” side of things, some of my other favorite books are by Rosemary Sutcliff, Knight’s fee, The Eagle of the Ninth, The Lantern Bearers.
I’ve been thinking about it recently too, what makes a character “likable”. A friend and I read a webtoon that we love called “Return of the Blossoming Blade”, and quite honestly parts of that story feel like writing crack to me not going to lie. But the base draws of that story are simple—love of your chosen family, grief/loss, humor, and above all else, self-improvement. The whole thing is martial arts based so its basically very deeply routed in practice, diligence, and hard work above all else. There’s a bit of a long excerpt with the MC hyping up another character, which I’ve paraphrased where he says:
>>> “Raindrops could break a boulder if they fell endlessly….. There’s nothing more important than putting in the hard work….. Why do you think that’s the case? Because many people simply can’t do that. They train like crazy, to push themselves to the limits every single time…. if one is able to accomplish something so ridiculous… then that is what they’ll become”
I just realized this with the excerpt on Rose, this is actually also a similar theme that makes many of your characters so likable to me personally. They push themselves, they work to self improvement. They strive to be the best versions of themselves that they can reasonably, possibly be. Is there anything more admirable/coveted in human nature, really? It’s Evolutionary, my dear Watson!
Anywayyy I’ve rambled a lot but enjoyed reading the write up, thank you 🙂 I mostly write for fun/hobby, but I think this has challenged me to diversify my characters a lot more. Otherwise, I’m off to read Thessalonica!!
A word of caution: Thessalonika is an older book. I’ve read it decades ago, so I am not sure how it holds up now. 🙂
I tend to identify more with work-in-progress characters, so I think that is my overall preference. However, there are times I just want to see someone kick butt in the name of justice (in Superman fashion) – good ol’ fashioned bad-guys-lose-good-guys-win. The unlikely hero . . . I usually need a lot of snark for that type 🙂
I really enjoyed this post. It is a great explanation of these characters and I hadn’t heard the term ‘Gary Stu’ before. I will be swiping your definitions of Mary Sue/Gary Stu to share with my friends. I recently described the ‘Mary Sue’ archetype and my friend was annoyed that I couldn’t give her the name for the male version.
I personally love a good antihero character. A character who is moral charcoal who saves the day almost by accident or out of spite. One of my favorites is the first few books of the Sandman Slim series. It’s also why I’m looking forward to seeing the rest of the Hugh books.
Personally I enjoy the hard-working type, and the unlikely hero. which is probably why, you guys combined😀, are one of my favorite authors.
This is not my first favorite character choice but: I am listening to The Ripple System YA books by Kyle Kirran. The fourth book comes out on June 2.
The main character Ned is the unlikely hero type. At first I found it hard to like Ned because he seemed cowardly. But as the books progress you begin to see Ned is so much more. He is smart, kind, compassionate and to help others he is downright selfless. He never quits.
So if anyone is missing good reads while we wait for more IA books to come out, give these books a try. Other pluses are the books are long which I love and the secondary characters are a blast, especially Frank the talking axe and House, Ned’s home security system given a body in the computer world EBO—Earth Blood Online.
I think the type of character is also dependent on if it’s a single book or a series, right? You gave Kate, Nevada, Catalina, etc., time to grow over their respective series. In the Edge books, the characters only had their individual book, so any work-in-progress aspects had to be dealt with quickly. I’m curious if that’s why you started writing series instead of standalone books — did you want to give more time to build your characters, or did you just like the Kate/Dina/Nevada worlds better and wanted to spend more time in them?
The Edge is also a series, HA spent 4 books in it 😅
Yes, but it’s not the same characters in each book. Or rather, each book focused on a different couple. Characters crossed over, but they were secondary characters to whichever couple was the focus of that book. First book focused on Rose and Declan, but in other books they were secondary characters if they appeared at all and didn’t have much character growth because they weren’t the focus. George and his brother being the exceptions, as I seem to recall them appearing more prominently than Rose and Declan in the other books.
In any case, I was just curious if there was a reason for switching from standalone books set in the same universe (Edge) to following the same central characters across multiple books (Kate/Dina/Nevada)?
Thank you so much for that exposition!
Now that you have teased out the various attributes of the kinds of heroes, I can say that I don’t have a favorite, although the hero who is still beating his/her/themself page after page after in book three is unlikely to be read by me in book four.
Most important to me is that the inner dialogue of the hero (especially in first person viewpoint writing) reflect a realistic response (and vanquishing of) the challenges of the plot.
Thank you for this awesome breakdown of character types. I’m a sucker for the unlikely hero that becomes a work in progress. I feel like the super competent is a bit boring though I see their value as a mentor or a villain. And I love to see them unraveled.
Work in progress and Unlikely hero. I don’t like the heroes who are perfect, nobody is. I find it too unrealistic. I understand what you say about authors using their own experience/ situation too much – it is apparent in some series. I find that after a while I stop reading certain series, and it is typically because all the books are too similar- the narrative doesn’t change. I won’t name names, the authors have wonderful loyal followers and I am not going to impose my views on them. Having said that, your books and many other authors have me not only automatically pre-order but also reread, because you have a rich narrative- your characters have depth, flaws and humour- and I love this. Thank you for the insights into how you write, I find the “behind the scenes” information fascinating.
I love this post. I love complicated people. Roland and Erra are some of my favourite characters because even though Roland is a megalomaniacal being with god-like powers he’s still vain, manipulative, charming and caring in his way. I actually love Erra finding herself again. It’s one of my favourite storylines from to City Eater back to the Rose of Tigris. From a plague bringer to a beacon of hope.
You have complex characters that are compelling. I shared your books with a colleague of mine because she was trying to get her two sons interested in reading. They love your work. They’re coming back now asking for more books like yours.
work in progress.
I like the “get by with a little help from my friends” type of books. 😀 even if there are dragons in the narrative, no one successful is an island.
Ooh, me too! Some of my favorite parts of Hidden Legacy are the family/company meals, meetings, and battles.
And I love Maud and Dina teasing each other. I have a sister and it’s odd how few books capture the banter, exasperation, and familiarity between siblings.
Or the ferret heist – much funnier because Rogan and Augustine are so skeptical.
Good teamwork is enjoyable to read.
I would read all of the above characters and have a great time reading. I tend to jump around genres, so I end up reading all types of characters and mostly loving all of them.
TSTL characters however will cause me to drop a book or a series fast.
I despise the TSTL MC! I usually drop those after finishing the 1st book, although I have been known to DNF those faster than others.
I love Saiman and would love a twisted romance short story/ies of him finding his soul mate but instead of traditional romance plots going more of Bonnie e Clyde tipe of thing. Someone that finaly get into Saimans frosty jaded heart but doesnt redempt him. I dont want a Sayman redemption story he is to much a fun character as he is for it. We know Saimon has his own spy/thief/researcher tipe of adventuries but instead of him being the hero of the story he is usualy an antihero protagonist or even the vilain lol. That would be fun read couse with you guys sense of humor it wouldnt be as dark a story as it could (Im not into to much grimdark).
I’m fascinated with how you wrote his name differently every single time heh. I don’t know that I see him as a romantic hero at all, but I agree: compelling and fascinating doesn’t have to mean likeable!
For me, it is primarily the Unlikely Hero. Samwise Gamgee is my favorite character in all of literature. Here is this ordinary guy, a gardener, who winds up saving the world. I find that his story leads to an examination of my own – would I be able to face what he faced and also remain myself as he did? That is the character type that speaks to me the most.
This is great!
I love all the types you mention but for series I especially love the work in progress hero, because a character that doesn’t change or learn over the course of several stories just doesn’t ring true to me. Whether we like it or not, we are all, at least in part, the product of the sum of our experiences. Also the growth is so satisfying to watch!
I’m re-reading The Scholomance series now, and I love it because the heroine is so different than any other I’ve read. anti-hero? evil sorceress who refuses to do evil? so many good twists. She’s a bit like Arabella (capable of so much destruction), who’s series I’m really looking forward to someday.
I’m definitely a work in progress. So much work. Oi.
😂 I feel ya though!
I think my favourite character type is when talent, hardwork, opportunity and resources meet. For example Mad Rogan. They make the best heroes in my opinion. You want to hate them but you can’t because their work ethic and what they have achieved with their morals intact is just amazing. That’s beautiful to see and read.
My wife had a shirt that said- careful or you’ll end up on my novel!
Thank you, Ilona, for this very interesting post. I like the work-in-progress and the unlikely hero characters.
For the work-in-progress characters, I want to find out more and more about the character as a series keeps going. A great example, besides Kate, Nevada, and others, is Eve Dallas (In Death series by J.D. Robb (aka Nora Roberts)). I started that series with Vengeance in Death, got curious about Eve Dallas, and started the series from the very beginning. Never got bored over all the years I read the series. Eve is definitely a work in progress.
I like the example of Bilbo and Frodo for the unlikely hero. Also, Golum could be considered as an unlikely hero at the end of the Return of the King. If it wasn’t for Golum, Frodo would have kept the ring, and the ring wouldn’t have been destroyed when Golum fell off the cliff with the precious in his hands.
As for the extraordinary expert hero, I tend to get bored or turned off by them. I used to watch Sherlock Holmes with my mom and brother a long time ago. I got so bored watching I fell asleep. 😀
Agreed about Eve Dallas. There was a period of 3 or 4 books where they didn’t seem as well written; I wondered if she had a ghost writer on those books or something. That’s when I switched from buying the hard cover to buying them in ebooks. But once past that point, they got better.
I also like how it’s not just Eve that we see the work in progress. You see Roarke and Peabody growing, too, although it’s more growth as viewed by Eve. Same with some of the other recurring characters.
I agree with you Tink about the growth of the other characters. I love Mavis’s growth from a performer at a dive to becoming a world-renowned performer. Mavis is the bestie of besties for Eve since she does things to Eve no one else, including Roarke, could get away with (like siccing Trina on her).
Adira Kline is my favorite kind of superhero- on her own terms- very “invisible” but called by a divine planet- incredible and exciting to read! May she get the series that I know resides in House Andrews one day! 🙂
+1!
+1
This is a really interesting article. I enjoyed reading it very much! The way you describe the 3 types of characters is very clarifying – one of the many things you need to think about when creating a story.
Thank you for this interesting and thoughtful post.
I am a sucker for the wounded hero with special, hidden talents they must work hard to develop.
I also secretly love cranky characters who are hiding their inner goodness are really giant marshmallows!
The Grumpy Cinnamon Roll is my absolute catnip!
I also really like Gentle Giant, but Grumpy Cinnamon takes the cake every time.
So who is your favorite grumpy character?
I love the first type in your books! Could you please recommend some good books with the lazy type of heroine/hero that you described?
Slouch Witch (The Lazy Girl’s Guide To Magic Book 1) by Helen Harper?
Thanks!
I have always preferred the work in progress. I love watching the characters grow. I honestly wasn’t fond of Kate or Curran in the first book, but I loved the world building and the plot. They both grew on me and became serious favorites over time.
I had completely forgotten those tweets! So fun to read again! Thanks!
One of my favorite heroes of all is Eugenides, the Queen’s Thief. He has been educated to be the extraordinary talent…and he is. You read it from his perspective and he seems the very unlikely hero who is self-depricating and often underestimated. You also see over the series what a work in progress he is and how he grows. His arc is just one of my most favorites and it’s maybe because he’s so relatable since he is a Mashup of all three types.
Seconded. Added to that, Eugenides is a totally unique personality.
I’d add Martha Wells’s Murderbot to my list of favorite heroes. I knew I’d like him by the end of the first paragraph in the book … “As a heartless killing machine, I was a terrible failure.”
murderbot is the best, he sees himself as flawed, yet in the end he turns out to be more human than many humans.
It would be horrified at you saying that! It’s a person, but surely not a human- and somewhat of an unlikely hero
I’m interested to see two comments referring to Murderbot as “he”. I’ve always read it as coded female
The audiobooks are narrated by a male actor (they are on sale on Humble Bundle, by the way).
wow, interesting that the decision was for a low-pitched actor….I too internalized Murderbot as female-oriented, if one is going to anthropormorphize, which Murderbot and Art would probably point out as the first error….
For sure – Murderbot is very clear that’s its pronouns are “it/its.”
Absolutely. Murderbot was such a great find. Great opening paragraph. I pointed it out to my grands as to how to grab attention when writing… As I was raised by an English teacher, I am the family default for proofing everything. Even adult resumes! And I can happily say a midnight request to read a history essay is a joy.
A BIG thank you to IA and all the other interesting writers. You all entertain AND educate. Without you all the essays written by my kids and grands would not have been so well received by their instructors.
Oh the King of Attolia is my favorite book of all time, and Eugenides isn’t even the “main” character hahaha.
Reminds me, I should re-read it. It’s been a couple years
Work in progress is always my favorite. It’s probably why I like your books so much!
I read for character development first, plot second. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good plot! But if I don’t care about the character, and I’m not invested in them, the book won’t stay with me.
My love of character development is also why I usually enjoy the second installment of a trilogy of the most. It’s when the characters come into their own. Peep Rogan telling Nevada he sees a Prime. One of my favorite moments in that series. I loved watching Nevada grow and learn and succeed. And watching Rogan support her and equip her to do so. *swoon*
Same with Kate. Watching her become more competent but also figure out who she is made those books brilliant to me. We even see more of her growth late in the series when she has to learn to deal with the Shar. And so many side characters get great growth arcs too: Julie, Derek, Ascanio, Andrea. I love it.
Thanks for this fun post and brilliant imperfect characters. 😄
The thing I like most about the HA core people (or person), as with many of my other favorite authors, is that no matter what character type they are, they make the people around them better just by being (or becoming) who they are.
Dina saves Orro and gives him a purpose. Catalina takes Runa in at her lowest. Kate takes Julie in. Nevada gives Cornelius focus when he is broken and headed down a dangerous path. Etc. And none of them go into it saying, “I’m going to save this person.” They do it by being who they are at heart. It is very inspiring.
I don’t care either way, variety is everything. It is much more important to me that the character is likeable and understandable in its actions. And not stupid. I hate it when I read a book and the only tension comes from characters being stupid and refusing to talk to one another. Immediately kills it for me
I submit for your review an excellent example of unlikely character in a story. Guy, in the movie Free Guy. An average ordinary nobody who’s heart and perseverance and frank belief that there’s gotta be something better leveled him up into hero status and main leading man.
I love work-in-progress characters. If they also happen to start out as unlikely heroes, all the better.
There is something about an ‘ordinary’ character who does something heroic and extraordinary (often accidentally or in spite of themselves), who is suddenly aware that they can and do make a difference every day. It is so satisfying to watch them working hard to try to do even better, along the way discovering and developing extraordinary strengths and heroic aspects of themselves, often while fighting their own self doubts.
That said, my most favorite type of character is one that was born in the very fertile imaginations of HA: I will always welcome and love all of those characters, sight unseen! 😁
I wonder how Blood Heir!Julie would be defined in these cases. Unlike early Kate she has been trained in blood magic by two immortal geniuses for eight years. She says herself she has a “classical education” and can do all kinds of things that regular mages can’t, simply because they haven’t learned it yet. She speaks Shinar/the language of power fluently. She now has a god’s magic and has spent time learning how to use it. She also has her original sensate magic, is extremely well trained with a spear and a bow, and is a princess and leader of a six-thousand-year-old kingdom. To be fair all of that has been well developed and explained in the Kate books, but how do you keep Julie from turning into too much of a Mary Sue in her own books?
I think it will be an interesting transition too for Kate in the Wilmington books (although with her, we’ve seen her progression and I have a soft spot for when she says fuck it and goes all out with her magic).
Julie is battling a prophecy that is more than hazy and a god whose bloodline was bred for regeneration and immortality.
She has to do it all whilst giving up, in the most intimate and profound way, everything that she is. We talk a lot about the ultimate sacrifice, but Julie went beyond it- she died for Kate and her battle has only just begun with that act.
She is alone, estranged, wounded and even betrayed by the people who love her and don’t recognise her. She has the temptation of Moloch’s worshippers that came with his eye. She cannot go home and she’s fighting towards an ever-shifting goal, with the danger of everything she achieved being undone at any moment’s notice by Kate finding out. The responsibility is entirely hers, and Kate and Conlan’s fates rest solely with her actions and choices.
Whilst yes, she is trained and powerful, her path is far from straightforward or achievable- we have to look at competency and efficiency in context 🙂
Oh, Mod R, this was insightful!
Thanks for this recap. Do I see a Blood Heir reread on the horizon for me?? 👀
I am a suckered for the unlikely hero, probably because the first fantasy book I read was LOTR and I loved Frodo and Sam. Sam was an unlikely bad*ss in those books.
I love your books-and will read any and all–because
1. Your world-building is incredible.
2. You give us great, fairly complex but not ridiculous plot lines to follow.
3. Your characters are real to me. This means they are mostly ‘work in progress’, because IME that is LIFE. There are exceptions of course, and that makes your worlds more interesting and real, because not everyone does the work to progress in life.
@mod R. off topic. every time I see your avatar I think you are in a Little Mermaid style bikini (I am just now realizing you are holding a clam – bahaha) and it gets even better when I see your picture right and realize that it’s actually a parka!
😂 Yes, it’s me in an otter costume holding a clam, because Magic Clams!
Less than two weeks and counting for the precious! 😎🗡📚
My favourite character-type is the work-in-progress. I love to see growth through experience and hard work, and, if applicable, I love redemption. The character-type I don’t like at all is the Mary Sue/Gary Sue. But even worse, is the Sary Mue/Sary Gue. This is the main character who is described by the author and other characters are being the ultimate talent in whatever they do– knife-fighting, shooting, flying, whatever, but continually lose every minor battle with the villain until the climax battle, when they almost die, but manage to use those much-touted skills to finally prevail. I always think that type of character should be presented as having weaknesses. I’d believe it more if that was the case.
Thanks for giving us such a complete answer! I think of Mrs. Marais almost every time I shop at Costco, ha ha.
I love love love the fact that the brave Costco lady turned out to be Mrs. Marais. I’m wondering if this was the plan all along? I’m so happy that she got some closure on what must’ve been a deeply upsetting situation.
Yes 🙂
I am glad that at least in all your books you guys insert yourselves at least a little ( if I had been the author of your hidden legacy series, grandma Frieda would be me I think personality wise). I saw this add for a house on Zillow that I think has been a hidden Telco faculty, it had like 2 power grids connected to it, had both natural gas&diesel generators, wired for heavy duty power, heavy doors,etc. It was I think in Houston& I got excited, that Grandma Frieda would love it *lol*.
Of course the biggest thing you guys insert is the humor in looking at things&,some pretty good snark too.
I love when characters come to realize that they are capable of more than they thought—usually because of some kind of do-or-die situation. So combined work-in-progress and unlikely hero? Although I also enjoy watching an extraordinary expert be awesome. (Especially if I watched them get there!) Really, much to relish in each type.
And for unlikely heroes, lets not forget my favorite from LOTR: Sam Gamgee.
work in progress all day
Competent, no boyfriend, first person. Lives alone, or, leaves family behind to go slay a dragon or pay a parent’s debt. Has learned a skill or honed one. Cares when someone asks for a favor and does not pay her. Dreams of owning her own place. Lecherous landlord. A little bit of familiarity with self-preservation. Can read a room.
i just wanted to say that I LOVE LOVE LOVE the part where characters are complex and don’t necessarily love the protagonist.
right i’m listening to the GA of Magic Bites (amazing!! btw) and Jim’s voice is so perfect for his character. He is such a force and a great leader. the complex relationship between Jim and Kate and Curran is a prime example of why the Kate storyline remains interesting and compelling.
Also the fact that he married Dali is amazing. Their story is even more satisfying knowing that Jim is maximum risk adverse.
Thanks for the insight! Writing THE BOOK on writing books.
I like the WIP MC the best, but I’ll read books with almost all of the character types, even the Mary Sues, sometimes I’m just in the mood for wish fulfillment. Like Keera said the TSTL characters are the worst, it’s probably one of the reasons I don’t like most horror movies.
Work in progress is my favorite. but I read the others occasionally.
I like the works-in-progress the best (because I like to see people improve). I also like the unlikely hero and even Mary Sue/Gary Stu at times, so I guess I like all the ones that you mentioned. The type of character that I really don’t like are the “TSTL” (too stupid to live) ones where they make mistake after mistake without learning anything, refuse help and/or advice from knowledgeable people, and are overly stubborn for no apparent reason.
Thanks for the definition of TSTL (Too Stupid To Live)!
Work in progress, I like that I get to see (read) how far they’ve come.
The unlikely hero, after 9/11 I’ve realized everyone has a light(potential) inside them.
I shared a list of Kdrama tropes with my partner who kindly listens to my (badly executed) retellings of various Asian dramas and he laughed very hard at the Suuuuuuper Geeeenius description. Now he asks who is the Super Genius in the storyline. It gets used a lot these days but I consider it different than a Mary Sue like Patti’s Sary Mue/Sary Gue. I categorize a Mary Sue to be more the Candy girl who is a hardworking spunky poor young woman who has a huge heart. She’s not an unlikely hero as it is always obvious the spunky one and a rich male lead will be the point of the plot and any other female is the second female lead. I’d probably watch a Candy not get the male lead (or vice versa) at the end of the series at this point just for the creative plot needed to pull off a good (not eh, good enough! 2521 style) ending which won’t require a timelapse or cathartic crying.
Both characters are a bit oversaturated but I think the Super Genius will continue to be popular while economic futures are murky and average young people find it harder to build wealth than their parents. At least sometimes the Female Lead gets to be the Super Genius or Boss Babe which I won’t take for granted due to conservative political growth in countries producing the dramas. Perhaps I should be glad for gender equality for the Candy boys with Boss Babes? I might be burnt out on certain genres rather than character types?
I like how Curran is ok with a lot of things people would find deal breakers with Kate and vice versa. Sure, they’re both extraordinary, but also difficult. There’s romance but the books are not romances.
I found Obi-Wan far more interesting after he had been demystified a bit, so I’d say I’m not terribly interested in the extraordinary expert 😅 I enjoyed the highly intelligent, brilliant, but also incredibly flawed Sherlock Holmes of “Elementary” far more than any of the other Sherlocks I’ve seen on film, too.
Looking at my own writing, I have a distinct bias towards everyday heroes. Most of my characters are (fairly) ordinary people, who have to do a lot of work to prevent their personal worlds from collapsing.
In my reading, I’d say I’m split about 50-50 between Works in Progress and Unlikely Heroes. I’m reading through the MurderBot Diaries right now and one of my favourite things is MurderBot coming to terms with just how incompetent it is, even with all its non-human advantages, and how it continues trying to suck less even when it’s excruciatingly difficult.
Awesome, as always!
Is there a possibility to access the twitter-stories through your website, because I can`t get them through the link (Sorry, not the twitter-girl) – that would be great!
Thank you for your time!
Love and greetings from Switzerland!
Inga
Hi Inga,
The link shared is to a post on the blog, not to Twitter 🙂
off topic, but the website header on my mobile still says “Under Construction” is there still website migrating happening?
The migration has happened, but there are still a few website design areas where decisions are still being made 🙂
Thanks, Mod R. I keep seeing the “under construction” banner too.
I don’t know if it was a phrase before the writers of the show leverage coined it for me, but my all-time favorite character is the super competent person because I just love competence p***! LOL. I struggle to enjoy characters who bumble through stories.
I’ve always been fond of the underdog winning in the end, no matter if the character is ordinary folk, hero(ine) or superhero(ine).
I also like the WIP (work-in-progress) heroine… WIP heroes are good, too, but I’m really liking smart, physically-able, ass-kicking (sword-wielding?), badass women these days. We don’t see enough female protagonists in movies and TV, even these days where it’s still almost 60% leading male stories (to 31% leading female) directed by 90% male directors according to a recent documentary “This Changes Everything” on Netflix.
My favorite superhero is Stan Lee’s “a superhero with with problems” archetype. Spiderman was my very first “superhero with problems” and those problems were pretty massive, if you start with the very first comic book story.
My absolute top favorite ILONA ANDREWS series is the Innkeeper Chronicles. Mostly because they have so many different and varied sub-character types in every book, including Gertrude Hunt.
Don’t get me wrong, Kate Daniels is at the top, too, second in my list, but KD’s drama is on the darker, heavier side, where as the Innkeeper Chronicles seems to have a lot more levity despite the alien world-ending potential as compared to Kate Daniels world-on-the-brink-of-complete-destruction storyline.
Maybe it’s just that I’m not as interested in the hard-living, apocalyptic “after-earth” story. I do seem to prefer the HEA storyline, especially if there are alien ex-pats, 12-warp-points and magic treehouses with wormhole portals to such cool planets across the galaxy. Plus shifters, vampires and others (aliens) with compatible genetic links to Earthlings (humans). So fun!
So, that’s my take on the “Three Character Types” question.
Cheers!
Thanks for the excellent explanation of the three character types. I’ve enjoyed books that have all of them but I do lean more towards those with more WIP/character development. I’m re-listening to the Vorkosigan series because Miles is such a character.
I honestly think that you have just described why I love your main protagonists so much. It’s the growth along with their humanity. It gives them depth and relatability. We are all continuing to learn and only stop when we stop trying
My preferred styles are Unlikely hero followed by extraordinary expert. Mary/Gary is occasionally OK.
Currently reading a light novel isekai involving a guy whose stats are slightly above normal but has cooking skills that draw uber-powerful beasts to make contracts with him. Mind you, some of the chapters read like a cookbook.
Hehehe I read an entire webtoon about tea, and loved it. They willy nilly threw in a transmigration background in for the MC because it had to have something to hang the admittedly flimsy story on, but really, it’s a webtoon about tea and what tea goes with which snack and how whisky and earl grey are an amazing combination – I’ve yet to try, but I will! – and I thought it was great 😂
What is my favorite character type? One written by a good author. I like Ilona’s characters. I like Sherlock. I like Frodo. If the writing is poor, the odds of my liking the character dropped dramatically.
Really appreciate this write up. I love all types of characters, as long as they feel like they could be real. Though I think I gravitate more to work-in-progress characters, as long as they are sensible. Adult work-in-progress characters, who continually make bad decisions out of fear or refuse to ask for help for silly reasons, drive me crazy though, even if they eventually figure it out in the end.
Work-in-progress heroes are what I am most drawn to, I think.
Of course it depends a lot on the story and the author, but sometimes the Unlikely Hero is just too much in denial to be very fun to read (or at least all the internal monologue about “WHY ME?” gets tedious).
I have always like the Hero story – like old fashion fairy tales, where the story is about becoming a Hero (not as a superhero with huge biceps and superpowers etc) but well, as a hero’s journey.
I like either the Have To Work Hard For It, or the Ordinary Citizen fallen into extraordinary circumstances.
I think I’m not too fussy as long as character and plot merge, are well written and are engaging to me.
I’ll even tolerate a bit of Mary Sue from time to time or too stupid to live if the story catches me (it probably helps that my ASD makes it almost impossible to not finish a book once started unless supremely offended – sometimes a poor beginning can improve dramatically – pun intended 😉).
I like “zero to hero” characters like Hikaru in Hikaru no Go anime. Especially the scenes where others recognize their growth.
I like Hugh.
Any Hugh kind of character, as long as it is Hugh.
I go through periods where I like different sorts of main characters. Right now I have kind of rejected adolescent male action heroes. I’m just tired of them, and the books with them as the lead almost universally depict women as one dimensional sex objects or sweet supporting characters or tomboys.
My current preference is for a smart female lead, learning and making her own way in the world. A man may try to protect her, but she never allows herself to be dominated by him. Strangely enough (or not so strangely), these stories are usually written by female writers.
Nevada is one of my favourite characters. I guess one of the main reasons is the fact that everyone (even she herself) underestimate her at first. I love that she keeps shocking Rogan, earning his respect. For me, it’s all about the character’s growth. Like that scene in Mulan where she finally retrieves the arrow.
I like both the work-in-progress and the unlikely hero, mainly because they’re more relatable than the mysterious extraordinary expert. Those are fun as side characters, but as a main character I have a hard time empathizing.
My favorite sub-type of unlikely hero is probably the character that is dragged kicking and screaming into being a hero, and would have happily lived an ordinary life, until the plot did *the one thing* that could get them out of their rut/comfort zone and into adventure. Not coincidentally, those are also some of my favorite characters to play in D&D.
Christopher from KD series one of the most interesting characters that has stayed with me long after book ended and boy do I wanna know that story.. 😉
Ngl…I love a Mary sue. That being said, my fav characters are always the work in progress types. The ones who start out “okay enough” and then end end up bad ass! It’s why
This was great! At some point, if you have the time, I’d love to know how and why you decide to use first-person on a project vs. third.
Hey Tara, here is a House Andrews post on POVs, I hope it helps 🙂 https://ilona-andrews.com/blog/writing-pov/
This is a really interesting topic (it got me to comment again for the first time in years, although I read every post). One of my favorite characters, in possibly my favorite series of all time, is Vladimir Taltos from Steven Brust’s Dragaera series. I think one of the things that makes that series so fascinating to me is that Brust often plays with format, chronology (micro and macro), theme, etc. in every book and the way you observe Vlad in any given book (to greater and lesser extents, depending on the book in question) changes depending on that. If you take the series as a whole he’s pretty clearly a work-in-progress type with a significant progression arc. But depending on what book you are reading, he can be any of the types – in one book he might seem like an extraordinary expert, running circles around the antagonists by using his skillset, while in another he stumbles from mishap to mishap and even ultimately ends in failure. It’s one of the reasons I feel like to this day Vlad is one of the most “human” characters I’ve ever read, because we feel like all of those characters in our lives. Some days we’re the extraordinary geniuses (today, for example, I fixed my daughter’s nursemaid’s elbow with the help of Google which felt truly extraordinary to me). Other days we’re the unlikely hero (or the failed one). But most days, we’re all just works-in-progress.
Work in progress
I was struggling in grad school when I stumbled upon the Kate Daniel’s series. I found a character who worked hard and didn’t compromise her integrity no matter the circumstances.
I was disillusioned with medical academics, and KD reminded me that everyone isn’t manipulative or vindictive. There are kind people out there and they make life worth living, don’t you think? 🙂
omg omg omg,i preordered Magic Claims from Booktopia Australia and just got notification that it is on its way.
woo hoo, yeah, so happy, words can’t express IN AUSTRALIA on its way
joy joy love love, cant believe
Yay! Congrats! Some of the PODs ship early!
I thought if I preordered it, maybe, by the time it got sent to Australia and then shipped to me, I might get it on release date, but early, woo hoo
I keep checking to make sure its the right book (just a little paranoia that this is too good to be true)
I love work in progress heroes as well as the occasional lazy unlikely hero. The journey they need to take before they are able to claim their happy endings are what makes it great for me.
I love work-in-progress characters.
Thank you for that breakdown. It clarifies some things in my head about a character.
WIP and Unlikely Hero. Reminds me of one of my favorite stories from childhood. The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley and the prequel to it called the Hero and the Crown.
I like the work in progress like you write, but the occasional uber-competent can be fun and cathartic. Usually, I like the UCs in Animes and manwahs more than books though.
I’m afraid my favourite is the extraordinary expert. Jack Reacher comes to mind. The book version, especially the earlier books. And of course Benedict’s Sherlock.
Connor and Curran count too. And Alessandro. True, Alessandro makes mistakes and he almost dies, but we don’t hear about it until long after it happened.
When we meet Alessandro he’s already this awesome antistasi Prime.
Possibly my favourite extraordinary expert in the IA universe is George Camarine.
“That man is a menace”
Work in progress is second, providing it doesn’t take too long and it doesn’t start from point zero.
Kate and the three HL sisters had a learning curve, but they were never stupid.
Unlikely hero, even more than the WIP, shouldn’t stay unlikely for too long.
I think I quit the HHGTTG somewhere in the middle because I was done with Arthur Dent.
I quit Bilbo Baggins before page 100
Dali possibly qualifies as an unlikely hero, but since she’s also this awesome White Tiger and one of the sweetests Shifters, I love her anyway.
I feel like I enjoy reading and writing Unlikely Hero (Heart over Skills) + Work in Progress. Can that be a thing?
A person who is ordinary, called to a challenge out of the blue – they will work hard, but will have to call on their heart because they don’t have enough time to develop all the necessary skills before shit hits the fan.
All stories are “a thing” 🙂 . These are just the wider blueprints, writers always mix and match and bring their own creativity to the ecuation.