What is a "strong" character?

[Weaver]

What, in your view, makes for a strong character? Is it different depending on if the character is male or female? Are there things that would automatically make you see a character as weak, even if they had other traits that were typically strong ones?

(I'm not elaborating on the questions. I want your own opinions, not what anyone thinks I want to hear.)

 

[The Dark One]

A strong character is one the reader wants to read about. Eg, in a multiple POV setting, the strong characters are the ones the reader gets excited about whenever they reprise in the narrative.

 

[Weaver]

A strong character is one the reader wants to read about. Eg, in a multiple POV setting, the strong characters are the ones the reader gets excited about whenever they reprise in the narrative.

Could you specify? I'm not asking about what makes for a good POV character; I'm asking what makes a particular character be viewed by the reader as a strong person.

 

[The Dark One]

Surely the same things that make any person regard another as a strong person.

I thought you meant what makes a character strong within a particular story.

 

[Penpilot]

When I boil it down, a strong character is just like a strong real person. They meet all the challenges that life gives them, and they may bend and even break sometimes, but their strength allows them to get up and try again regardless of failure or success.

 

[Feo Takahari]

I've noticed that when the term is used by commentators--this is a strong character--rather than by authors--my character is strong--it tends to mean "multifaceted." Some "strong" characters actually begin as physically or spiritually weak, but they display a complex and interesting personality that changes somewhat over the course of the story.

 

[The Dark One]

Putting the OP's post to one side, my idea of a strong character is, as I said originally, one who engages the reader's attention and enjoyment. For example, in the Hitchhikers books, I love Marvin. He's not in it all that much but every time he makes an entrance I'm 100% in the story with him. Obviously Arthur Dent is also a strong character but he's present most of the time, which requires a different type of strength, to keep us engaged. This is also where the character arc becomes important - less so for characters like Marvin. In fact, you don't want Marvin to change at all!

A brilliant example of character strength was (for me) in Shogun by James Clavell. Although, the brilliance was not so much located in any particular character as in all of the feudal Japanese. He introduces the western reader to a very alien mind (shared by all the Japanese characters) and just when you think you understand that mind and its motivations...Wham! Clavell hits you with something which is totally surprising and yet makes perfect sense. Breathtaking world-building and characterisation.

 

[Chilari]

I would say a strong character is one with agency and complexity. The agency bit is about making decisions, owning mistakes and being active rather than passive. The complexity comes from having different faces to present to the world, different goals and motivations, different reasons for doing things.

On the activity/passivity side of things, I would say that it is possible for a victim of abuse to be a strong character with agency. One example I have heard of is a police officer who leads a team, makes arrests, is innovative in combatting and preventing crime, but when she goes home her husband is abusive and she passes off the bruises as the result of brushes with criminals rather than from her husband. She has agency in her professional life, and complexity in that she has two different approaches to life depending on who is present. She might have weakness in that she cannot or will not face up to her abusive husband, but as a character she is strong because there's more to her than being a victim of abuse, and there's more to her than being a police officer. She is both.

 

[Mythopoet]

A strong character is a character that feels like a real person. No particular characteristics are necessary and there is an infinite amount of variety to draw from. A strong person is someone who tries, to the best of their ability in any given situation, to do the right thing rather than the easy thing.

 

[Weaver]

Surely the same things that make any person regard another as a strong person.

And what is that?

 

[Scribble]

And what is that?

Differed for everyone, but at the core... determination in the face of challenges. We can admire Ghandi for remaining peaceful in the face of oppression, yet we can admire leaders of rebellions for doing the opposite in the same situation. They don't have to succeed out in the world, they can fail - we admire the person who wins the battle within themselves.

 

[Telcontar]

I generally attribute one chief quality to every so-called "strong character:" Initiative.

"Agency" is another buzzword that means much the same thing. Strong characters are active, not passive. Things may happen to them, but they don't just accept their fate or quietly and uncomplainingly go along with misfortune. They act to change it. Everything else is just details of personality and situation - the important thing is that the character works towards bettering their own lot and/or the lot of those around them, no matter what gets thrown at them.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

I have to agree - characters with agency, complexity, and I'll take it one step further.

Truth.

The character has to be true at all times. I don't mean honest - most of my characters are not only unreliable narrators, they tend to lie to themselves most of the time, like we all do. But their personalities must be what steers the plot, not the other way around. In my mind, a character whose basic substance is malleable enough to serve the author's plot needs is not strong - they are merely props. I like a character who calls the shots, changes the story, has truth and agency and complexity - those are the ones I want to write, and read.

 

[Scribble]

We admire the person who wins the battle within themselves.

It occurred to me that the battle they win might not necessarily end in the outcome we want, or one that matches our moral desires. They struggle and make a choice, sometimes the choice might be to fall. We might see that as a failure, but only because we are making a judgment. The character who choose to fight for something and then at the last minute, lets it all burn may infuriate us, but I think that could also be a strong character.

 

[Spider]

I believe a strong character has to have a great deal of courage, and I don't mean the absence of fear. I mean the ability to act in the midst of fear. It can be fear of a tangible thing, an inner fear, fear of failure, etc. The important part is not giving up even when a situation seems hopeless, or when the odds are against the character.

 

[Weaver]

I generally attribute one chief quality to every so-called "strong character:" Initiative.

"Agency" is another buzzword that means much the same thing. Strong characters are active, not passive. Things may happen to them, but they don't just accept their fate or quietly and uncomplainingly go along with misfortune. They act to change it. Everything else is just details of personality and situation - the important thing is that the character works towards bettering their own lot and/or the lot of those around them, no matter what gets thrown at them.

Good answer. And thank you for explaining "agency."

I was once told by a reader that the protagonist of one of my novels, contrary to what I or anyone else believed, was actually the character who 'always follows orders, doesn't make waves, never speaks his mind,' and doesn't change at all through the course of the story. This... makes no sense to me, but the person who said this was at university studying literature, so he knew best. (Sorry -- it's that weekly sarcasm quota thing again.) He also said, in a different discussion, that 'there are no strong female characters in sci-fi and fantasy.' (*waits for the outrage -- totally justified -- to die down*) According to him, for a female character to be considered strong, she'd have to be in the military and never have sex -- the latter being especially important. I never did get an explanation from him as to why he thought those were requirements. (Ohmigod! Marleah kissed Geoffrey! And she's a civilian! And she's a girl, and girls are yucky and weak and stupid and besides, she's a telepath and everyone knows that people with psi talents are crazy... Sorry, don't know why that bit from W. R. Thompson's Sideshow popped in. Maybe because after a while, all stupidity starts to blur together. Actually, Marleah isn't be the strongest character in the novel she's from -- she hasn't had the kind of life that pushes a person to be particularly strong -- but she's not a weak person, either. It takes courage to go work with someone you know is going to try to keep you from doing your job, and it takes strength not to be overwhelmed by constant pressure from other people to be what they want you to be - or what they decided you are before they even met you -- even though doing so would cause irreparable damage to your own self. But what do I know? I'm just her author.)

 

[Spider]

They struggle and make a choice, sometimes the choice might be to fall

I think it takes a strong character to make a choice that is difficult for them. For example, if the character chose to surrender a battle in order to preserve lives, he may not enjoy making that decision, but he would do it nonetheless for his men. That's strength. However, if he surrendered just to save his own skin, that might come off as weak.

 

[Scribble]

However, if he surrendered just to save his own skin, that might come off as weak.

I am getting into anti-hero territory, but I'll ask you to humor me.

Let's say the struggle the character has is between his desire for surviving and holding to his duty to his kinsmen. Let's say he feels he never really belonged, and the duty he was forced into, he never believed in. It was the shame of betrayal that he felt, and he fought his fear of being branded a traitor. At the end, he overcomes his fear of being branded a traitor, and he hands the secret plans to the enemy. He knows he will pay the price of the guilt of those deaths, but he accepts that burden.

Now, I wouldn't want this guy on my team, but I have a hard time considering him a weak character. He's strong, it just happens that his strength lies in a direction that is opposite to most people's.

 

[Spider]

I am getting into anti-hero territory, but I'll ask you to humor me.

Let's say the struggle the character has is between his desire for surviving and holding to his duty to his kinsmen. Let's say he feels he never really belonged, and the duty he was forced into, he never believed in. It was the shame of betrayal that he felt, and he fought his fear of being branded a traitor. At the end, he overcomes his fear of being branded a traitor, and he hands the secret plans to the enemy. He knows he will pay the price of the guilt of those deaths, but he accepts that burden.

Now, I wouldn't want this guy on my team, but I have a hard time considering him a weak character. He's strong, it just happens that his strength lies in a direction that is opposite to most people's.

When it comes down to it, it's all about context. If you took this same character out of context and simply said "He betrayed his kinsmen," then I'd question his strength. However, if you described to me his motive for betraying his kinsmen and the difficulty of his decision, then I wouldn't deny that he was a strong character. I may not want this guy on my team, but I wouldn't exactly want to be forced into duty either.

Interesting conversation

 

[A. E. Lowan]

I am getting into anti-hero territory, but I'll ask you to humor me.

Let's say the struggle the character has is between his desire for surviving and holding to his duty to his kinsmen. Let's say he feels he never really belonged, and the duty he was forced into, he never believed in. It was the shame of betrayal that he felt, and he fought his fear of being branded a traitor. At the end, he overcomes his fear of being branded a traitor, and he hands the secret plans to the enemy. He knows he will pay the price of the guilt of those deaths, but he accepts that burden.

Now, I wouldn't want this guy on my team, but I have a hard time considering him a weak character. He's strong, it just happens that his strength lies in a direction that is opposite to most people's.

I agree. Strength doesn't have to be "heroic."