Engaging characters are essential to a good story, but not everyone is skilled at creating them. Good writers may possess distinct characteristics, which help them create characters that draw us in and make it hard to resist reading another chapter of a favorite novel or watching another episode of an absorbing television series.
Our desire to stay involved in a fictional world may show that we have identified with one or more of its characters, or formed bonds with them, which often happens when characters are likeable, interesting, or complex (i.e. multidimensional and believable). However, it isn't clear what makes writers successful at creating these types of characters.
In a study recently published in Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, Marta Maslej, Keith Oatley, and Raymond Mar (2017) looked to see whether there was a connection between writers and the types of characters they create.
Researchers have identified some traits and habits of creative writers. Writers seem to possess higher levels of the Big Five personality trait of Openness, reflecting an interest in aesthetic and intellectual experiences, higher levels of Introversion, as well as lower levels of Emotional Stability and Agreeableness, than average.
In some studies, creative writers have been found to be more empathetic and more willing to take on perspectives of others. Unsurprisingly, they tend to read and write a lot of fiction.
Maslej, Oatley, and Mar examined whether these traits and habits were associated with the ability to create an engaging character.
In the first part of their study, 207 participants each wrote a character sketch — a brief description of an imaginary character — based on a photograph of a man. These participants also answered questions about their own personality, empathy, and habits of writing and reading.
In the second part of the study, a different group of 144 participants rated the characters in these sketches on three factors: interest, complexity, and likeability. The researchers examined links between traits and habits of participants who created the sketches and ratings of the characters depicted in the sketches provided by the second group of participants.
Of the Big Five personality traits, only Openness was associated with the creation of characters who were interesting and complex. As to empathy, participants who reported having more empathic concern for others created more complex characters, perhaps because they think deeply about other people.
Fiction and poetry writing habits were associated with creating more interesting and complex characters. When it came to reading, however, only reading poetry predicted how interesting and complex the characters were rated, but reading fiction did not.
Although this was an unexpected finding, the researchers reasoned that reading poetry might help people create interesting and complex characters because poetry often involves exploring complex emotions, and understanding these emotions may enable writers to develop better characters.
It appears that simply consuming fiction does not contribute to this ability, much in the same way that listening to music does not transform us into musicians. Instead, creating engaging characters may be influenced by how much we become immersed in stories and think about their characters while reading.
This idea is in line with the study's additional finding that participants who created more complex characters reported a higher tendency toward fantasy (i.e. imagining themselves transported into stories).
Although these results provide some insights into the ability to create interesting and complex characters, none of the traits or habits the researchers examined predicted the likeability of characters, which seemed separate from interest and complexity.
Rather than assessing quality, this rating could reflect compatibility between characters and those who engage with them. Our fascination with villains and anti-heroes can attest to the notion that characters do not need to be likeable to be compelling.
Much of the variability in how characters were rated remains unexplained, so this is a topic for future investigation. For instance, television- and film-viewing habits may be worth studying.
Other features of characters besides interest, complexity, and likeability, might also be considered. The results indicate, however, that certain traits and habits of writers do contribute to their ability to create engaging fictional characters.
Note: This article is in the Social Psychology & Social Processes topic area. View more articles in the Social Psychology & Social Processes topic area.