competence and themes
I was watching Burn Notice (Season 3, Episode 16...yes, I'm an entire season behind) the other day and it reminded me that one of the things I love, really love, in a character is competence.
I like characters to be good at what they do. They don't have to be--shouldn't be--good at everything, of course, but I like them to be very, very good at the thing that they do, that is the focus of their life. I don't have a lot of patience for characters who screw up a lot, even if their character development arc requires them to screw everything up.
I also have absolutely no problems with characters who are near-magical (or literally magical!) prodigies at their Thing, whatever it is. I like reading about people being awesome, and I'm happy to accept Magical Prodigy status in order to get lots of that. In movies, training montages are my best friend, because they are really quick transitions from "newbie who made a mistake that changes his outlook on life" to "ass kicking guy/girl who wins the day".
Amusingly, the current novel features an apparently instant transition from wallflower type to ass kicking type. It's one of my biggest challenges to make that transition, and to make sure that the themes of the book are clear enough that it doesn't come across like a cheat, but is instead a necessary experience to the exploration of the actual central theme. The actual theme, for the record, being the attempt to find/make a place in a world that has defined a role for you that you don't actually fit into (anymore).
I like characters to be good at what they do. They don't have to be--shouldn't be--good at everything, of course, but I like them to be very, very good at the thing that they do, that is the focus of their life. I don't have a lot of patience for characters who screw up a lot, even if their character development arc requires them to screw everything up.
I also have absolutely no problems with characters who are near-magical (or literally magical!) prodigies at their Thing, whatever it is. I like reading about people being awesome, and I'm happy to accept Magical Prodigy status in order to get lots of that. In movies, training montages are my best friend, because they are really quick transitions from "newbie who made a mistake that changes his outlook on life" to "ass kicking guy/girl who wins the day".
Amusingly, the current novel features an apparently instant transition from wallflower type to ass kicking type. It's one of my biggest challenges to make that transition, and to make sure that the themes of the book are clear enough that it doesn't come across like a cheat, but is instead a necessary experience to the exploration of the actual central theme. The actual theme, for the record, being the attempt to find/make a place in a world that has defined a role for you that you don't actually fit into (anymore).