Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Character Tags

A member of my critique team observed that she loves the secondary characters in my novel.  She postulated that they are more likable than the main character because they have a tag (e.g. in Star Wars, Han Solo is the lovable scoundrel, in Harry Potter, Hermione is the know-it-all).  She recommended that I put a tag on the main character.

At first I agreed with her, but as I look at the book I’m having a harder time putting a single tag on him.  I think the reason for this is that the book is written in the first person and anyone with any depth doesn’t identify himself with one tag. I have identified some non-critical quirks/flaws I can easily make more apparent without hindering the books quick pace. Doing so will show a little more of his growth and might make it easier for readers to relate to him, but he still won’t have A tag.

What do you think? Do you prefer the main character to have A tag?

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