A while back, I did a blog post on showing and not padding. I received a request to do a post on creating likeable characters. I guess it had slipped my mind for a while. Let us go ahead and discuss this now.

Before you can make a character most people will like, you have to ask yourself what do characters I like in other books and people I like in the real world all have in common. Are they more physically attractive? Do they have a good sense of humor? Are they honest people? Do they stand up for themselves? Everybody has different aspects he or she finds appealing in other people. What you need to do is find two or three aspects that you think make a person likeable. I say two or three, because more than that you risk being “too good to be true,” If you only have one likeable aspect, then it becomes a redeeming quality rather than a likeable trait.

Once you have those particular traits chosen, you need to show how they personify these aspects. Are they honest, yet tactful? Show the character talking to a friend about a problem in an honest yet tactful way. Is the person brave? Show then standing up to somebody, or make him or her speak their mind when it would be easier for them to just stay quiet.

I want to bring up one thing about physical beauty. It is fine to give your characters this trait to make them likeable, but you need to take particular care when showing their beauty. One mistake I find many authors making is that they just say, “he was hot,” "he was like a Greek god,” “she looked good in a short skirt,” you get the ideal. Show me why they are good looking through description. Does the guy have muscles? Does he have a strong jawline? Do her eyes sparkle when she smiles?

A couple words of warning before I leave you. First, a character does not have to be likeable to be a strong or memorable character. Two examples of this are Severus Snape, from Harry Potter, and King Joffery from Game of Thrones. Not all characters need to be likeable, although I do recommend having a few. You could make a good story with no likeable characters, but that would be very difficult to execute.

The other point I need to bring up, no matter how likeable a character is, not everyone will like him or her. I have created characters that, everyone I spoke to fell in love with, and then one person had to dislike them.

The key is to remain true to yourself and your characters, and people will warm up to your way of writing, and them.