What's in a Great Main Character Anyway?

    So, maybe you're prepping for NaNo14, or maybe you're writing a novel outside of NaNoWriMo. Whatever you may be working on, I bet you've got a MC, otherwise, you wouldn't have a story. So, what makes a great MC? What makes a Protagonist that your readers actually care about? What makes us connect to a character, and hope they'll win in the end? Let's go over a few points.

1. They have to be fighting for something worthwhile.
That doesn't always mean they're going on a quest to save the world (although sometimes it does). What that means is that they care about their desired goal. There has to be a reason. In one of my novels-in-progress, my MC is trying to find a cure for an illness that's killing several people. The main reason she's going for this cure? The Illness killed her mother, and could be endangering her aunt, uncle, and cousins. She has a reason outside of just "It's the right thing to do" for her desired goal.

2. They need to have flaws.
 I get it, you love you're MC. You want him/her to be a model citizen. You want them to be everything they should be. Maybe you're trying to make them everything you're not. I've got one simple thing to say about this. Don't. Don't make that character perfect. Make them weak, either mentally, emotionally, or physically. Make them fail time after time. Make him/her doubt their ability to reach their desired goal. Make them believe they aren't good enough, and that they don't deserve so much help from friends, or strangers. If you're character can fly through everything with ne'er a failure or doubt, you have a big problem. 

3. A good  GREAT supporting cast.
If you have a well-balanced, exciting MC who is fighting for something worthwhile, but you have a bad supporting cast... hear that? It's the sound of your Protagonist failing. Every good hero needs a good group of friends. It's in all good books, from Percy Jackson and the Olympians, to The Lord of the Rings. The cold hard truth is that you're MC is nothing without a great supporting cast.

4. A formidable foe.
If the villain in your story (whether your villain in a person, a sickness, a condition) has to be difficult to fight, otherwise the Protagonist in unnecessary. If your evil scientist's contraption was going to fail in the first place, the hero doesn't need to be there to foil him, right? If your villain is easy to defeat, your readers aren't going to believe your MC is a hero. They just did what anyone else could have done.


Now, I'm not a professional writer. In fact, I've only published one novel as of now, though I'm working on 3 more. But even if you've only written a single novel, you have something to give. Writing is an art, and it can never be perfected. That favorite author of yours? He's still learning the art of writing. I only hope that I could help give you a better understanding of what is needed in a good, believable Main Character.

                                                       ~Katie~