I’ve written before about the audience’s need to connect with your story through sympathetic characters. Sure, any rule of writing can be broken and there are lots of examples of successful stories where the protagonist is a complete jerk. However, it’s best if you know how to make a compelling narrative with someone the audience will cheer for before trying to attempt the same thing with someone the audience is repulsed by. 

That said, how do we make friends and influence people?

It’s a simple instruction to tell a writer that their characters should be endearing. But if likability was an easy quality to possess then there wouldn’t be so many people in the world who lacked that quality. As it turns out, we’re swimming in jerks.

Now, there’s certainly an element of psychological understanding when it comes to writing and for you, dear reader, know that I’ve had some rudimentary reading into the subject.

That’s psychology, just to be clear. Not likability. I’m also a jerk. It’s why I make such compelling jerk characters. But to make jerks that people don’t want to immediately throw out the window is a little trickier.

In my experience, it really comes down to the first impression. 

You see, when we meet someone in real life, there’s a lot of snap judgments and assessments we make of that person. From their dress, posture, expression, tone of voice, demeanor and greeting, there’s a lot of little social calculations and considerations. Our mind is rapidly sorting this individual into little categories. Now, lots of these judgments are often wrong. Many of them can be wholly inappropriate. However, it served us in some survival capacity to be able to distinguish between friend and foe. To form schemas and biases that direct us towards viable individuals to invest our limited time and effort into and those which we should avoid or be wary of. 

Your literary introduction is much the same. Assuming, of course, we’re creating a sense of verisimilitude as I’ve suggested before. Thus, it’s very important to be conscious of what light you use to introduce important characters. 

If you’re trying to make a character likable, we really want to see some element of them that we can latch onto. Something that’s endearing and draws us in. Think, positive qualities. Who are the people who you gravitate towards to in life? And what is it that initially drew you to them? Can you remember the first time you met your best friend and what it was like? Or a coworker who you enjoy working with. 

Now, naturally, there’s going to be numerous people in our lives which we cherish but who we started off on the wrong foot. They’re excellent material for the misunderstood hero. We’ve got Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice as the epitome of said trope. But that’s a tricky tightrope to walk and not something we’re focusing on today. 

However, we can examine Pride and Prejudice for an interesting use of first impressions in establishing engaging character.

First, there is Mrs. Bennet who, in the opening of the text, isn’t even named. In fact, the first chapter of Pride and Prejudice is almost entirely dialogue… unattributed to boot (a writer after my own heart)! We begin by listening in to Mr. and Mrs. Bennet discussing the arrival of the new and very available Mr. Bingley to the neighbourhood. 

But, if you can get a hold of the text, I think it’s important to note how Jane Austen introduces us to Mrs. Bennet. Given we have zero description of her, we only have her voice and word to go off for our impression. Which is a strong indicator of personality – it is her actions after all. We’re almost immediately made aware that Mrs. Bennet is an incorrigible gossip hound. Moreover, she is primarily possessed of a will to see her many daughters married. On the flip side, Mr. Bennet – who is portrayed using the same devices – appears most detached and reluctant to pursue any of his wife’s schemes in seeing them wed. Finally, we have our first mention of our protagonist Lizzy, and the opposing views of her parents on her character: she is her father’s favourite and her mother’s least. Or, Mrs. Bennet gives the slight edge to Jane and Lydia. 

This is not, perhaps, the most positive first impression for the parents of our protagonist. Her mother is a bit of a busy body with machinations for the younger generation that may not align with their wills. Her father is seemingly detached and disinterested in their futures, putting up a fight to perform the bare minimum in their prospects.

Yet, there’s a tone of wit and light-heartedness that eases these impressions of her parents. It humanises them; they’re by no means idealised individuals. Cleverness, as Mr. Bennet displays in speaking with his wife, is an endearing trait that naturally draws us to liking him of the pair. Yet, despite his disagreements with his wife, he’s still tender and kind to her as well which softens some of Mrs. Bennet’s harsher elements. Afterall, if Mr. Bennet has managed her for twenty-three years and he seems rather kindly and quick, surely she isn’t all bad. 

Finally, the conflicting portrayal of Lizzy by her parents gives us a brief but generally positive portrayal of her. She’s not perfect – Jane is more attractive and Lydia is of a kinder demeanour – but her father sees in her some of the same wit and intelligence that is displayed by his own dialogue. So the natural inclination we have for Mr. Bennet does prime us to have the same fondness for Lizzy. And we haven’t even met her yet! We’ve also put her in a sympathetic position as a child overlooked by an overbearing mother.  

This is, naturally, a little more complicated method of giving first impressions. And by no means do you as an author need to present something as complex as Jane Austen. However, this is a calculated opening to the book meant to draw us into Lizzy’s struggles and world. As this post is focused more on making likable characters, I’ll just leave a little warning for why first impressions are important. In my experience, however you initially portray your character is how your reader is going to see them. If it’s as overbearing, depressed or angry, it will take a long time and a lot of effort for your reader to not considering those elements a core part of their personality. This is why negative introductions are so hard to work. Since, if your reader doesn’t like your protagonist, they’re not motivated to read through the story and enjoy the journey of their transformation. 

So, when considering your own story, go back to the books that inspired you and read over how that author introduced those characters.

Ask yourself:

How did the author first introduce the character for this story? And what was it that drew me into caring about the character’s struggles and difficulties?

Was my first impression of my favourite character in this story positive?

What about their introduction resonated with me and cast my favourite character in a positive light?

Can I use any of those techniques for my own writing?