By the Write Redhead
Back when I was beginning my studies for my creative writing journey, I read a book on how to create story people; and while I don’t remember all the details, I remember this: besides having quirks, every character in your story has to want or desire something. And if you think about it, what a character wants or desires can tell you a great deal about that character.
James Scott Bell, in his book Writing Unforgettable Characters, takes it a step further by saying, that beyond just having wants and desires, a good character must have the strength of will to get what he or she wants. Bell even defines a novel as “the record of how a character, through strength of will, fights against death.” As he explains, the death does not have to be physical, although many a story has characters that must indeed fight against the prospects of physical death. The death can be that of a job, a romance, or any other hope or dream.
When I think of strength of will in a character, one character who comes to mind is Scarlett O’Hara in the novel Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell. If you are familiar with the story at all, you know what I am talking about. For those unfamiliar with the story, it a story about the daughter of a wealthy plantation owner in Georgia who becomes hopelessly in love with a man she eventually figures out can never be hers. Scarlett’s fight against death begins when the object of her affection, Ashley Wilkes, announces his engagement to a woman whom Scarlett deems to be plain and homely and completely unworthy of him.
She spends the entire story thinking, scheming, and planning ways to get Ashley to relent and admit that he loves her so that they can live happily ever after, despite myriads of other men who would love to marry her. In fact, she does marry three different men in an attempt to provoke Ashley to jealousy. And although Ashley does near the end admit that he does indeed love Scarlett, who has entered the war as a nurse just to get near him, he tells Scarlett that he cannot leave his wife which serves as the final blow.
After being slapped by this reality, she finally comes around to the fact that she does actually love her current husband, Rhett Butler, more than she realized. But things are not that simple. Just as Scarlett is having her moment of clarity, Rhett has grown weary of his pursuit of her heart and has decided to give up on the relationship. When she begs and pleads with him to give her another chance, he utters those most famous last words in cinematic history: “Frankly, my Dear, I don’t give a damn.” Hence begins Scarlett renewed sense of will and her determination to get it all back. The story ends with Scarlett still fighting but for different reasons. She now must fight the death of her relationship with Rhett and the loss of her beloved family plantation. And while the reader knows all of this is a long shot, the reader still believes it to be possible simply because of the strength of will already demonstrated by Scarlett.
Other examples of characters demonstrating strength of will include Frodo from Lord of the Rings, Mitchell Rafferty from Dean Koontz’s The Husband, and John Matherson in the novel One Second After to name a few.
In closing, think back to some of the most memorable characters you have come across in your reading. What were their desires or goals? Did they have the strength of will to achieve them? It is not enough to just give your characters wants, desires, and goals. The audience has to believe that the characters have the strength of will to attain them.
James Scott Bell, Writing Unforgettable Characters. Woodland Hills, CA: Compendium Press, 2020. Pg. 5
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