I will spare you the details on how to write good compelling characters. Plenty of authors do it better than me and I’m still learning how to do this.

I do think I have some thoughts on what make protagonist’s good. In general, I will classify them into two types. Self-insert and actual people.

Self-insert is self-explanatory. They are a character who is mostly meant to be a vehicle for the audience. Typically these characters are pitiable, in ways that an average person is pitiable. Most people don’t live interesting lives, and the protagonist won’t as well (at least at the very start). The appeal of the this protagonist is that the reader is allowed to live a fantastical life through the protagonist.

Therefore, many stories in the Isekai genre have doorknob main characters. It’s basically a plug play and the readers are the one who “plugs” in. These characters will generally be mild-mannered “nice” guys, that like food and also comfort.

The thing about these stories is that they appeal to a very certain demographic. The types of people who like these kinds of stories are not the “popular” kid or the testing whiz. They are average(not that there’s anything wrong with that) This means that these stories appeal because they are in essence wish fulfillment. Getting the girl, getting laid, eating good food every day, not working, being respected, having subordinates to order around and ultimately, being powerful.

Humans are simple creatures at their core. These characters can be simple as well. Many people tend to denigrate them because it’s not considered good writing, but I think that’s a misrepresentation of the genre. Wish fulfilment is good writing because it achieves all it sets out to do. Yeah, SAO is not going to be regard among the works of Ernest Hemingway, but it’s not trying to do that.

The other type of character is basically every character you might see in a traditional novel, or a more serious light novel. Quick reminder that this is not a binary choice, but more so a spectrum.

These are characters with strong motivations, internal personalities and also thoughts and feeling that. Basically, these characters are humans you might find on another street. Plenty of authors covers these types of characters so I will avoid talking about them at length.

So now you know the two “types” of characters you might encounter let’s talk about them in practice.

The vast majority of novels on this site use self-insert characters. They are easy to write and indulgent for a reader to read. I will hold my peace about the amount of smut on this site and the questionable morality of them but they are popular because “sex sells” and also they are simple easy reads.

The truly exceptional novels have more traditional main characters. This is a common thread I see among the more popular novels on this site. People like real characters, real humans.

If you want to write a story, especially if it’s your first time I would recommend starting with self-insert it gives you a clear guide and a lot of room for flexibility. As you write more stories though, I also recommend that you begin to move along the spectrum of self-insert to the real character. You should start thinking about adding more character motivation and getting better at crafting the main character to sound like a person you might meet on the street.

Well, a bit cooler than one probably.