Reader Friday: Your Main Character’s Most Interesting Quality?

Tell us a bit about your main character. What’s the most interesting thing about him? What makes her heroic? What foibles make him human?

11 thoughts on “Reader Friday: Your Main Character’s Most Interesting Quality?

  1. As is typical art imitates life. My girl, Juliana, has tremendous situational awareness and doesn’t rattle easily. However, move a pen on her desk and she loses it.

    “Logic told me the key would also be someplace handy, also hiding in plain sight, but protected.

    That’s when I saw it.

    Everyone has at least one quirk, some obnoxious little tic that drives everyone crazy while serving its owner well. Mine happens to be noticing when things have been moved and not replaced exactly the same. If I pick up a glass, it has to go back on the same ring on the table or coaster. A line in the dust showing that a book has been replaced askew or a slight fade mark on the rug where a chair used to be tends to draw my attention like a flashing neon sign.

    Messing with my desk is a hanging offense.

    That dumbass portrait of me had been moved. Not just once, but many times. From my vantage point, I would see minute scratches on the wall at the corners and the whole thing hung slightly off-kilter. Only the overwhelming newness of the situation kept me from noticing it earlier.”

    Wait, this is ALL MADE UP! Are you done with that? No, here, I’ll take it. *twitch*

    Terri

  2. My most recurrent character:

    Kharzai Ghiassi

    5’8″ (206cm) tall, 160 lbs (94kg)
    Brown Skin, Thick Black ‘Arabfro’ hair, Thick Black Beard, Too Bright Smile

    Born Aug 23 1973 in Tehran Iran

    Raised in Indiana USA since 4 yrs old

    After exile during the fall of the Shah of Iran, his parents served long careers as professors of history, linguistics and philosophy at Indiana State University

    By age 8 Kharzai spoke Farsi, English, French and Arabic with native fluency, added ten other languages by his early twenties.

    Age 9 Diagnosed as Attention Deficit Hyper Active (ADHD)
    Refuted diagnosis, told docs he should properly be diagnosed as ‘Bilateral Rapid Uptake Hyper Attentive Hyper Active’ (BRUHAHA)

    Strengths: Ultimate Multi-Tasker. Amazing Character Actor. Surprisingly fast with bladed weapons.

    Personality: Very fun person, children and ladies find him irresistible and love to be around him, men can’t figure out why the ladies flock to him.

    Profession: Deep Cover CIA Agent / Assassin

    Foible: Getting harder to keep the smile real, all the blood has stained his once happy soul

  3. I recently read an article that stated we shouldn’t make characters likeable–we should make them interesting.

    So in my WIP (paranormal romance) my hero is cold, logical, withdrawn, polite, and lacking emotions because having your soul torn out does that to you. But he struggles to keep himself human, and is quite kind underneath, if anyone can make it past his frigid exterior.

  4. Fun topic!

    River Madden, a homeless schizophrenic, has stunted social skills and struggles to differentiate what’s real from what he hallucinates. Light bulbs sing to him. When stressed, he accidentally fractures dimensional barriers.

    More than anything, River wants a home, a place where being crazy doesn’t matter. But he sees himself as worthless and undeserving of a loving family.

    River’s absolutely positively sure he’s no hero. He’s chronically overwhelmed and under-prepared. Despite that, he won’t give up, even when he’s expected to save the multi-verse all by himself.

    Touching Madness by K S Ferguson, available at most retailers.

  5. My man Louis has a sixth sense about the places where people have died. He gets vibes that help him work the cases. But possessing a logical cop-brain, he kind of hates himself in the morning for it.

  6. It might sound ordinary, but the most interesting thing about Reid in is that he’s an average man. He may be an RCMP sergeant who chases serial killers but he is flawed in his real life. His daughter is entering the stage of a teen with attitude (I write from experience) and his wife is unhappy with how dedicated Reid is to his work.

  7. My main character has synesthesia, a real perceptual quirk that causes her to see letters and numbers in colors. She’s clumsy and loves to eat. She tries to be good and follow all the rules, but her insatiable curiosity gets her in trouble. Her synesthesia and curiosity, for all the difficulties they cause, help her solve the mystery.
    .

  8. WDIG’s Lightning Rod reporter Brenda Contay has been through some very rough patches in her life. But although she’s met these challenges, grown up and made something of herself as a journalist (and a crime fighter), she has never managed fully to get over the death of her father. It happened on the same day as something else important, and the two together made for something like branding on her psyche.
    Well, you asked.

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