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Q&A What meta-properties should a character have in general?

Persistence. That is the only personality trait that seems essential to a main character. They don't give up; at least not permanently. Their goals may change, they may face the inevitable and eve...

posted 6y ago by Amadeus‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-19T22:13:39Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/41412
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T10:37:59Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/41412
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by (deleted user) · 2019-12-08T10:37:59Z (almost 5 years ago)
# Persistence.

That is the only personality trait that seems essential to a main character. They don't give up; at least not permanently. Their goals may change, they may face the inevitable and even die in the end (like in some cancer stories), but whatever they defined their problem to be; they don't give up. They solve it. Perhaps for a dying mother, her problem is, before she dies, she will reconcile with her daughter. The problem to solve is not that she is dying, it is to accomplish something before she dies.

Likewise, a story may end with the MC sacrificing themselves to accomplish something greater; but then they solved their problem.

An ending in which the MC just gives up is not satisfying (unless he has made a choice on what he wants; i.e. he has to give up A to get B or vice versa). So while we all DO give up on things in IRL, that is not good fiction.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2019-01-18T16:37:48Z (almost 6 years ago)
Original score: 2