Sometimes we at Intrigue Publishing receive a manuscript from an author who tells a great story, writes wonderful prose and has a fine touch for dialog, yet we have to reject the book. Despite all else being perfect, a weak protagonist will sink a novel.
To be clear, I’m not talking about a weak hero. In fiction, heroes often have astonishing abilities, although anyone who does good deeds for others can be a hero. The protagonist is always the subject of the story. It’s the person who the story is about. He or she is the person who grows the most, takes the big risks and makes the big sacrifices. If those things don’t happen your protagonist is a weak one, even if he’s Hercules or Superman.
The very center of every story is change, and that has to revolve around your protagonist. In some stories, especially science fiction, it is common for the protagonist to change his world. More commonly, it is the hero who changes, grows, matures or learns an important lesson. This is why you often hear that a hero needs to be flawed. Your protagonist should at least start out with serious flaws. In the best stories, the obstacles the hero overcomes during the story teach him to overcome those flaws.
Also, a good protagonist is not ALWAYS positive. Neither Indiana Jones nor James Bond is a cheerleader. They know the world is tough and they have to be tougher. Like all of us, your hero needs to have an off day once in awhile, and make the occasional stupid mistake. And when he makes those mistakes, he should learn something from them. That’s a lot of what leads to the growth. (It took Dorothy a lot of missteps to realize there’s no place like home.)
You should also make sure your hero’s personality is the result of his or her past experience. You need to know this person so well that you know exactly what caused him to be the way he is. And at an appropriate time you can share that with the reader to officer added insight.
And, since this is the focal character, your protagonist needs to be the person who drives the plot. This is the person who walks headlong into the greatest danger. Who takes the big risk, who makes the big decision. And ultimately, this is the person who undoes the villain. Gotham City has a huge police force, but it’s Batman’s story so it must always be Batman who ultimately defeats the Joker.
If you can do all this in your story, you can be sure your protagonist will shine!