Your protagonist – the main character of your novel or screenplay – is your bread and butter of your novel. If you have the wrong protagonist, your novel will fail almost immediately. Writing experience will tell you very early on if your protagonist is not strong enough.
[Tweet “Your Protagonist must be Proactive, or your Story will Fail – Nicholas Reicher”]
There are things you can do to your protagonist to make sure they are the right main character of your novel or screenplay. If you find your protagonist is not right, you have two options – strengthen them, or choose a different protagonist.
How do you know if your protagonist is strong enough?
- They must be proactive. Your protagonist must drive the story. If your protagonist is reactive, in other words they react to their story instead of forcing it, then you need to fix them now. Some female protagonists can be reactive part of the way through a novel – but not all the way. If you find your main character is sitting back passively and letting things happen, then your story is going to limp, instead of run.
- They must eventually be decisive. By the second turning point in your novel or screenplay, your protagonist must have decided to do SOMETHING. If you had the somewhat passive female protagonist, they must become active by the second turning point in your novel or again, it will limp and not be an effective novel. Once you’ve set up the events of your novel where the protagonist must do something (this should be the inciting incident, chapter 4 at the latest), the protagonist should have decided on a course of action. It’s often the wrong course of action (or if it’s right, the first time they try, it doesn’t work), but they have to decide on a course of action.
- They need to be likable. I don’t say “must be”. There have been movies and novels where the lead was simply unlikable much of the movie. The audience will stick with it for a while if compelling – but that protagonist must begin to change. The light has to glimmer, the ice has to thaw. And by the end of the movie, the protagonist must have changed for the better – like Groundhog Day.
- Give them a choice. Many stories show off the protagonist the best by presenting them with two irreconcilable choices – you can have A but not B, or B but not A. If you’re rapidly trying to salvage an un-salvageable protagonist, alter your plot to include this.
- Talk, talk, talk. Or to quote Clint Eastwood, “Blah, blah, blah…”. Some protagonists in some stories I’ve read have continuing monologues. If you’re writing a detective genre film, sure. If it’s a story about a stockbroker who’s getting fed up with his job, then… cut every third word! Your protagonist must DO SOMETHING, not sit there, observe, and talk about it. How would our favorite characters be if all they did was TALK? George Bailey would not be the beloved George Bailey if all he did was watch the other banker take over the town, and do nothing. George Bailey did something. Incidentally, he was faced with two sets of “A, but not B” choices in that movie. Indeed, a wonderful life.
- Save The Cat. If you show your unlikable or unworkable protagonist doing something nice or generous early in the movie, a grumpy character suddenly is seen as the “Guy with the rough exterior and the heart of gold.”
Conclusion
If you’ve got a book or movie where you can’t imagine the plot going any other way, the problem may be your protagonist. See if they pass the rules here. If not, then you’ve got some changes to do – but easy changes to make.
Do you feel your protagonist is active enough, or too passive within the story?
