Do Your Characters Fail Enough?

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I've written before about the importance of being a sadist if you're a writer and on allowing your characters to earn their victories, but it occurred to me that I missed an equally important and somewhat related point, namely, allowing your characters to fail.

Let's face it — very rarely do we as readers or writers want our characters to lose, particularly when that character is the protagonist or otherwise well liked. But allowing our characters to fail time and time again is an essential part of both plot progression and character development that writers should be careful not to overlook.

What makes character failures so important, you ask? Let's take a look at the various advantages of allowing your character to lose:

Character failures...

  • Raise the stakes. One of the easiest ways to quickly (and dramatically) raise the stakes in your story is to allow your characters to fail. For example, not only do Faramir and his men lose the battle at Osgiliath, forcing them to retreat to Minas Tirith, but when they attempt to retake the fortress he is severely wounded and most of his men are slaughtered, leaving Minas Tirith with less soldiers, a crazy, cowardly leader and another impending battle that they are sure to lose (The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien). 

  • Test your character. Failures reveal another side of our characters — it tests their strength (physical, emotional and mental), their determination and the nature of their character. Will your protagonist crumble under pressure? How does he handle failure — does it make him angry? Hopeless? More determined to succeed? Who will buckle under the pressure first? These are questions that can only be answered when your characters face failures. 

  • Emphasize the victory. The biggest and best victories are the ones that the characters have earned by persevering through the toughest odds. Victories handed to your characters on a silver platter are worthless — as they say, nothing worth having comes easily, and your character victories should be no different. 

These are just a few advantages of allowing your characters to lose, but now I'd like to hear from you — do you allow your characters to fail often? What other advantages do characters failures have?

10 comments:

  1. Kyle van RensburgAugust 22, 2012 at 5:58 AM

    Yep, character failures are painful, but it makes winning seem that much more deserved. My WIP is only 11 pages so far, but I am planning for my MC to go through a living hell pretty soon. XD

    For me, it makes a character seem much more deserving to win at the end of the day. People root for the underdog, as I hear, so that is probably why, and it makes it easier to connect with somebody who makes mistakes like an ordinary human being.

    I wanted to post my favourite example from fiction, but I simply can't think of any right now. XD After I post this I probably will. :P

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  2. Ava JaeAugust 22, 2012 at 6:19 AM

    You make some really great points here: a) that it makes the character more deserving and b) it's easier to connect with someone who makes mistakes. I agree entirely with both of those points--failures show that our characters are human and vulnerable (not superheroes that succeed at everything they do), which in turn makes them easier to connect to and it makes the reader more likely to cheer them on, even (and especially) when they continue to come across great difficulty.


    Also, if you think of that example later, feel free to share it. :)

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  3. Kyle van RensburgAugust 22, 2012 at 8:34 AM

    I will, maybe tomorrow somewhere. XD Still hasn't come to me yet. XD

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  4. Ava JaeAugust 22, 2012 at 10:07 AM

    No worries! :)

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  5. Daniel SwensenAugust 22, 2012 at 12:06 PM

    Love this. Characters can never fail enough for me. It makes the payoff so much more satisfying. The characters I love the most are the ones who just keep powering through adversity.

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  6. Ava JaeAugust 22, 2012 at 3:23 PM

    Thanks, Dan! I have to agree--there's something really admirable about characters (and people) who continue to push forward even when situations look particularly grim.

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  7. Steph (Tara Wills)August 23, 2012 at 5:33 AM

    Thanks for the post. I agree, making perfect characters is like creating a fantasy that many people can't identify with, and I think fairy tales are for children, failing characters carry lessons for us, the ordinary human beings, and for me a good book must carry at least 1 life lesson, then I start reading it, thanks for sharing your tipd, at the moment I can't figure any example or tips to share.

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  8. Ava JaeAugust 23, 2012 at 6:13 AM

    Sure thing, Steph! I think the main problem with perfect characters (besides being utterly boring to read about) is what you mentioned--the inability for readers to identify with them. We certainly aren't perfect by any stretch of the imagination, and neither should our characters be.

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  9. Author StevenAugust 23, 2012 at 2:28 PM

    Wonderful post! This is something that I knew but I apparently needed a reminder of because when I sat down and thought about it, a lot of my characters don't fail enough! :) And nice example with poor Faramir. Looking forward to the next post!


    Thanks as always,
    Author Steven.

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  10. Ava JaeAugust 24, 2012 at 7:24 AM

    Thanks, Steven! I think we all need to remind ourselves of tips like these along the way (including myself). And poor Faramir seemed like the perfect example for this. :)

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