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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/30593
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

I have a problem with the protagonist of one of my stories. In the story he's in, he dies at the end (self-sacrifice), so I readily made sure to flesh him out the most possible, because, at least in my understanding, the more the reader knows about him, the more they will care about his death, and thus his death being a great loss.

However, I think it's not working very well, and I think it's actually having the opposite effect, because when I compare to some of my other characters, who all have much less characterization than him and have no need of being the most likeable character in the story, some of them are much more impactant, likeable and admirable than him, but with much less "screen time" and words written. You can feel emotions, empathy for those characters with a single short scene, but with this protagonist, even with a whole story about him, it's not so easy for me. Even his mother is interesting and passes a good feeling when you hear her name, like how of a nice, admirable and likeable person she is, even with so little development.

I mean, there are some moments which provoke some emotions about him, but not much in the overall, although he is indeed interesting, but I can't have such feeling. The feeling you have about him is of a cool character, but overcrowded of traits and information about him. There's a feeling that you know so much about him, that he becomes less respectable and likeable than the others less exposed.

I don't know if I'm tired of him, as I've worked actively in this story for almost a year and I'm currently working on it as a side project for over a year (and even if I completely stop working on it, I would still be thinking in it), or if I made a mistake that I can't spot.

There's a character, from another story, who is a member of the group of main characters. He is cool, skilled, smart, of few words, and is the protector figure of the group, always protecting his friends from harm, just like the protagonist above. But when he is incapacitated and brutally killed, his death is so much more emotional, impactful and touching. And you know what? That's all there is to know about this character, from a one-page story outline. Nothing more, nothing less, just enough to make me care about him (and he is not even a protagonist!).

So, is there such a thing as over-fleshing out a protagonist? Why in some cases a very simple character impacts and makes the reader care more than a deep one?

Original score: 13