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How to Write the Main Character | Protagonist Deep Dive

Hello and welcome to this month’s video essay. My name is Anna Stride and I’m currently working on my first novel. I believe that choosing the right protagonist is crucial for the success of your draft. I’ve struggled for years with finishing book projects I’ve started, and, although the choice of the protagonist is not the only barrier I faced on my way to finishing my stories, it was a major one. Until recently, I just couldn’t make myself care about my protagonists, and if the author herself doesn’t care about the person who is leading their way through the story, it’s safe to say no reader would either. I am happy to say I have finally found a person whose journey I care about, but how does one make sure others care, too? Your protagonist will benefit from being a mix. A mix of generic and extraordinary, a mix of real and made up, a mix of familiar and new – a mirror in which the reader can recognize themselves and a window through which the reader will look at the parts of the world or, perhaps, of the human nature that they haven’t encountered before. And underneath all of that, should be that care, that empathy, that fascination, that curiosity that you – the author – have for this person and for what they must go through in the journey you’ve laid out for them. What’s interesting and maybe even poetic is that when we place those characters in the story, they require a mix, too: a mix of goals and obstacles, adversity and aid, victories and defeat. But that is a topic for another day. Do you care for your protagonist? Do you cry for them, with them? Robert Frost said, “No tears for the writer, no tears for the reader.” To me, writing a scene and tearing up means I’ve accessed something authentic within myself that is so true in its core that it affects me despite me guiding the scene. This doesn’t normally happen if I don’t empathize deeply with my protagonist. When this does happen, however, I take it as a sign that I managed to create a protagonist that feels alive and real, and not just an empty proxy to take the reader on the journey I’ve planned for them. How do you create your main characters? What comes first for you – the protagonist or the plot? How much of yourself do you put into your protagonists? What are some ways in which they are similar to or different from you? Share your thoughts in the comments below – we are all learning all the time, and I would love to have a conversation about writing with you. #writingtips #howtowriteabook #authortube #writingadvice #protagonist