

Your character should be dynamic and rounded by embodying these traits! There are many positive character traits that you can add to your character’s profile, and it’s important to know which to include, and which to avoid if they won't drive your story in the direction that you want. How Will These Character Traits Affect Your Story? Remember that well-written characters are dynamic and should have both likeable and unlikable aspects to their personalities. Hence, it is important to choose which traits your character embodies, and which of these traits will be emphasized as the story progresses. We could chalk it up to a poor planning of Rey’s character arc.Ĭompared to Luke Skywalker, who has his fair share of positive and negative traits (compassion and stubbornness, for instance), and experiences of failures and losses, Rey did not go through a character arc where she was given the chance to change. The reason why many believe Rey to be a Mary Sue could be alluded to the fact that she is powerful and strong.simply because. Rey also has her flaws (which are not as highlighted), and yet she seems to be well-liked by other characters in the films. She seems to excel at things that she’s not been trained for (such as flying the Millennium Falcon and defeating Kylo Ren who had more experience with a lightsaber as compared to her). It’s important to note that there are a variety of reasons to explain why Mary Sues are written, and bad writing can account for it as well.Īn example of a Mary Sue (or at least, one that is widely debated) is Rey from the Star Wars franchise. Mary Sues are typically defined to be characters that are flawless, seemingly perfect and are able to perform tasks without prior knowledge or skills. When you build and develop your characters, keep in mind that they are not perfect to avoid writing a Mary Sue. Good characters are those that are written well with layers, with a couple of flaws and are dynamic. It’s important to note that good characters are not synonymous with protagonists.

What makes a good character?īefore we delve into the various positive character traits that you can include in your character’s profile, let’s take a look at what makes a good character. Strive for a balance and plan out how your character changes throughout the story, as the plot progresses. As a result, you should never dump a chunk of positive character traits into your character’s profile and call it a day. These traits should be used to get your readers to resonate with the characters and immerse themselves in the story.Ĭharacters should always have room for growth and improvement your readers would love to see character development. Writing good characters is more than just giving them a bunch of positive character traits, there should be a combination of positive and negative traits.
