Sympathy Day 5- How can you make it work in your story?

Okay, here's your chance. Take your protagonist, and explore what can make him/her more sympathetic (even while imperfect). I'll give an example.

1. What's wrong with your protagonist? List 3 things that he/she disparages about him/herself. (That is, he/she thinks these are wrong-- maybe you can think they're great, but they're his/her faults by their measure, not yours.)
Example: Nico thinks he's too emotional, that if he's not careful, his emotions will get him in trouble. He also thinks that's not very macho. He thinks he's maybe too ambitious, too proud of being the youngest police captain ever in the town.

2. How can these faults paradoxically create sympathy? 
Example: Nico's problem is actually that now he has his emotions so harnessed that he isn't able to let himself feel much for very long. This is sympathetic because we know he's trying to keep from being hurt, that for a very macho cop, he's actually quite vulnerable. But this also makes him sensitive to others' vulnerability-- he hates to hurt people because he knows what it feels like. Of course, this makes him feel like a wuss. He wasn't a bad husband in BAD ways- he didn't run around or beat his wife. And he knows how to love, and he won't say a word against his ex-wife. It's sympathetic because he knows now how hard it is to keep love working, and he's secretly determined to do better next time, though he wouldn't admit that out loud.

He is too ambitious, really-- it was a problem in his marriage that he was so hard-driving in his career. But it's a good masculine fault, and since his ambition is to be a great cop and make the police force better at protecting the citizens, we can forgive him-- he's all fired up to keep us safe.

3. Take one of these faults and come up with an event that will not show this person in a radiant glowing light of purity... might actually show him/her stumbling because of this fault-- but describe it in a way that makes the reader sympathize because it's so human.
Hmm... Nico is ambitious. So he has to do a good job of police-chief-management. And he knows the police chief loves surprise parties, and that his 30th anniversary on the force is coming up. So because he can't bring himself to disappoint the police chief, he finds himself in charge of the "surprise" party (which he knows the chief fully expects). He doesn't want to do this-- isn't in a party mood... is very busy trying to track down the bomber. But he knows he has to do it or risk the chief's wrath.

4. How does this create sympathy? 
Well, I think as much as furthering his ambitions, he doesn't want to disappoint the chief, who loves these parties and loves pretending he's surprised. That's a grudgingly (and secretly) sympathetic and human reaction, and goes along with his reluctant sensitivity to others. And I think we might all sympathize with the need to stay in good with our bosses, even if it makes us feel like phonies.

5. What is one thing you can do when writing this scene to make the sympathy work better? 
I think maybe I could have him try to get out of the responsibility or pass it off to an underling. He could think about how much work it would be, and how come he always gets stuck with this. Then the chief mentions how Nico's father the sergeant used to give such great parties—Sinatra records and chianti and mom's lasagna and dancing and fun. And Nico thinks about his wonderful buoyant dad, dead now for 4 years, and -then- agrees to do it, because while he doesn't come out and say it, he knows his dad would want him to do it. That is, don't have him agree-- have him resist--until his beloved dad is mentioned.

Your turn!!!

Here are the questions again:

1. What's wrong with your protagonist? List 3 things that he/she disparages about him/herself. (That is, he/she thinks these are wrong-- maybe you can think they're great, but they're his/her faults by their measure, not yours.)

2. How can these faults paradoxically create sympathy? 

3. Take one of these faults and come up with an event that will not show this person in a radiant glowing light of purity... might actually show him/her stumbling because of this fault-- but describe it in a way that makes the reader sympathize because it's so human.

4. How does this create sympathy? 

5. What is one thing you can do when writing this scene to make the sympathy work better? 

Please feel free to share this free article with all your writer friends. 
Sign up for an email newsletter for new craft-of-writing ideas and get a free article. 
 

Alicia Rasley writes novels and teaches other writers how to plot and write novels. She has a graduate degree in literature from Butler University, and  teaches  writing  at  the University of Maryland. She also coaches student writers and novelists through her websites, The Story Journey with Alicia Rasley, and The Plot Blueprint.