What Are Your Characters Thankful For?

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

 
It's not all about the bad stuff.

 
I'm the first person to heap trouble and pain upon my characters (bwahaha), but even I know there's a limit to how much you can dump on a poor soul before they just give up. And we need our characters—especially our protagonists—to keep going when things are at their worst.

When we create our story people, we typically focus more on their problems, flaws, and the things that make them unhappy, because that’s where the best conflicts and plotting opportunities come from. But it’s also important to consider what will make our characters willing to go through all those horrible things we throw in their paths.

Which is totally what they care about and what's important in their lives.

These are the memories, people, or even possessions that give them the strength to persevere when everything and everyone is against them. It might be a trusted friend, or an heirloom with sentimental value. It might be a bit of wisdom from a relative or mentor. Big or small, relevant or not, there will be things in a character’s life that they’re thankful for, even when everything else in their life is crap.

And we can use what a character cares about to keep them fighting long after good sense tells them to give up.

Which makes it a fantastic tool for getting them through the Dark Night of the Soul or All is Lost moments at the end of act two. No matter how much is stripped away, they’ll always have this to fall back on.

(Here's more with Story Structure: How the Act Two Disaster Works in a Novel)

Sometimes whatever they’re thankful for is connected to their character arc in some way, so that’s a good place to start looking if you’re not sure what your main characters hold dear. For example:

• If they need to speak up for themselves, they might be thankful for a friend who pushes them to stand up and not back down from a fight they need to win.
• If they’re struggling to find love, they might be thankful for their grandmother’s wedding photo (and the 63-year marriage behind it), reminding them that true love does exist.
• If they need to abandon a safe, unhappy life for a riskier one that fulfills them, they might be thankful their mother read them a poem every night while growing up about chasing a dream.

Showing that gratitude can also create small moments of light in an otherwise dark tale, proof that good can indeed overcome evil and that the heroes will prevail. Characters can be grateful for friends who stand by them no matter what, or for family who made sacrifices for them.

(Here's more with 5 Dos and Don’ts of a Good Sidekick)

Although tiny, moments of gratitude can have strong impacts on a scene, because they’re very human moments. 

Characters can show their vulnerability, even if it’s just a small squeeze of a friend’s hand. And that vulnerability makes them more likable, and helps readers care about them and whatever they're going through. 

Remember! The right tug on a reader’s heartstrings can turn a good book into a great book.

EXERCISE FOR YOU: Look through your current manuscript and find a spot (or several spots) where a thankful or vulnerable moment would strengthen the scene and add it in. 

What are your characters thankful for?

*Originally published November 2016. Last updated November 2024.

Find out more about characters and point of view in my book, Fixing Your Character & Point-of-View Problems.

Go step-by-step through revising character and character-related issues, such as two-dimensional characters, inconsistent points of view, too-much backstory, stale dialogue, didactic internalization, and lack of voice. Learn how to analyze your draft, spot any problems or weak areas, and fix those problems.

With clear and easy-to-understand examples, Fixing Your Character & Point-of-View Problems offers five self-guided workshops that target the common issues that make readers stop reading. It will help you:

• Flesh out weak characters and build strong character arcs
• Find the right amount of backstory to enhance, not bog down, your story
• Determine the best point(s) of view and how to use them to your advantage
• Eliminate empty dialogue and rambling internalization
• Develop character voices and craft unique, individual characters 

Fixing Your Character & Point-of-View Problems starts every workshop with an analysis to pinpoint problem areas and offers multiple revision options in each area. You choose the options that best fit your writing process. It's an easy-to-follow guide to crafting compelling characters, solid points of view, and strong character voices readers will love.

Available in paperback and ebook formats.

Janice Hardy is the award-winning author of the teen fantasy trilogy The Healing Wars, including The Shifter, Blue Fire, and Darkfall from Balzer+Bray/Harper Collins. The Shifter, was chosen for the 2014 list of "Ten Books All Young Georgians Should Read" from the Georgia Center for the Book.

She also writes the Grace Harper urban fantasy series for adults under the name, J.T. Hardy.

When she's not writing novels, she's teaching other writers how to improve their craft. She's the founder of Fiction University and has written multiple books on writing.

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