Authorial Punchbags: Thoughts on Sympathy and Dynamism

When you set out as a serious fiction writer, you'll soon be told that you have to make readers care about your characters. You'll also be told pretty shortly afterwards that the way to do this is to put them in jeopardy. Give them some problems, and away you go.

To an extent. Logically, a character should become more sympathetic the more woes you heap on them. However, there comes a point where the character's problems become excessive and their miseries actually start to make them less sympathetic to the reader.

Why? First, "pitiable" doesn't mean the same thing as "sympathetic" or, more accurately, "readable". A character who has been kidnapped by a villain and is now shivering at the bottom of a pit is wretched and deserving of pity. But reading about them is something of a chore. Once you've realised that they're cold and terrified, where is there to go? Chances are, they're going to die. They won't have the opportunity of doing anything very interesting before they die, so what's the point?

Consider the same character at the bottom of the pit, cold, frightened and hiding a piece of sharp stone. Sooner or later, someone is going to come to find him, and then he'll make his bid to escape. Will he succeed? The odds don't look good, but there's a chance. The only way to find out is to read on.

I think Thomas Harris realised this when he wrote The Silence of the Lambs. The kidnapped girl, Catherine, is more than just a puppy to be kicked: she comes up with a plan to escape, and is putting it into action when the final showdown takes place.

My own feeling is that - in terms of making a reader want to keep going - dynamism is just as important as likeability. A character who has a goal and a plan to achieve it is just as readable, if not more, than a character with whom we sympathise. Of course, a dynamic character with whom we sympathise is almost a sure thing in terms of audience enthusiasm - but the knowledge that we are reading about someone who, by their actions, will drive the plot forward goes a long way.