A while ago I wrote about the three aspects of an engaging character, and one of those was making the person proactive. You don’t have to be in the writing world long before someone gives you the advice: give your protagonist agency. Readers want someone who will actively do something and not idly sit by and let events unfold around him. Seems simple, right? Yet writers often miss the mark so let’s look at three simple steps to make your protagonist active instead of passive.
Active Vs. Passive Characters
First, I want to clarify what I mean by an active protagonist. This doesn’t mean he is always doing something or exercising. It doesn’t even mean he’s always in control and making all the decisions. An active protagonist is someone who shapes the plot instead of letting the plot shape him. Do things out of his control happen? Yes. Will what happens to him change him? Yes. But it is what he says and does that steers the story to its outcome.
Now let’s look at passive protagonists. When I use that term, I’m not talking about characters who are timid or compliant or even just want to keep their lives the same. Passive protagonists are characters that only react to external events and have no initiative in the story. They don’t steer the plot or make choices that affect other characters. They are basically just along for the ride. A person who just lets life unfold around them is not interesting to read about. Even if you have a timid character, they need to be proactive in something to have a good tale.
While you can have passive characters in your book, the main characters (protagonist, antagonist, sidekick, love interest, etc.) need to have agency. Let’s look at three way to make your characters active in any type of story.
1. Must Want Something
The very first step in making any character active is to give them a desire. What does he want? What is his goal? By giving the protagonist a want, you’re signaling to readers the direction of the story. They won’t be left floating in uncertainty because they know where things are heading. Writing a story without a protagonist’s want is like watching a sport you don’t understand. The audience is left asking, what’s the goal of this game?
Before anyone tries to argue the point, every character has a want. Even if a protagonist loves his life and wants nothing, he has a goal. He doesn’t want anything to change. He wants to keep his job, wants his wife to stay happy, wants to still go out every Tuesday night with his buddies. When that inciting incident happens to mess up his happy life, his goal is to fix things back to how they were. That is what drives him, and a protagonist with a drive makes an interesting story.
Dig into your character and ask what he or she wants deep down. It can be an abstract want (like to have a happy life), but make sure you have achievable goals attached to the want (like a job as the bank manager). His abstract want may not alter during the story, but his actual goal on how to get it will probably change. Maybe happiness at the start means a specific job, but at the end it’s just waking up each day with his wife by his side. Changing goals is okay. Just make sure he has a want and goal in every scene so that he has something to be proactive about in the story.
2. Must Have A Plan
Beyond just wanting something, the protagonist must have a plan to get it. Someone who just wishes for things and never tries to get them is annoying. We’ve all met someone who complains about wanting something but never does anything to actually earn it. Don’t let your protagonist be that person. Even if the plan changes or fails, give him a way to get his goal. Show him striving and struggling to get what he wants, and readers will relate to his upward battle to make his plan work and achieve his goal.
Also, letting the protagonist have a plan to reach his goal creates tension when the plan goes awry. By giving your character a plan, you’re telling your readers how things are going to go. It creates expectations. Once those expectations are set, it’s easy to throw a wrench in the plan and surprise both the protagonist and the readers. Every time the plan goes wrong, you create shock and tension, which makes readers more invested in the story.
3. Must Make Decisions
Lastly, an active protagonist must make meaningful decisions to carry out the plan to achieve the goal. A meaningful decision means that the choice has impact. It can’t be taken back, and it has lasting consequences. Not only that, the decision must impact the plot. Getting a tattoo is big decision that will stick with the character, but does it shift the plot in any way? If not, it’s not a decision that makes your protagonist active. Every choice must shift the story in a new direction.
Choices define who a person is at the core. Characters can act and speak any way they want, but decisions show what’s really deep down. When the pressure is on, when the choice can’t be undone, what does your protagonist choose? Those moments allow readers to really get to know the character so don’t shy away from forcing the protagonist to make lots of hard decisions throughout the story. Most of the decisions early on will be bad ones that make things worse, but in the end he may finally make the right choice and get his happy ending.
Final Thoughts
In order to create an active protagonist, the character must have a goal to show directionality, have a plan to set expectations, and make meaningful decisions to show agency in striving toward that goal. Without all three of these, the protagonist can feel passive. With no goal, there is no point to act. Without a plan, there is no intention to act. And without decisions, there is no action. If you want an active protagonist who readers get behind, give him or her a goal, plan, and decisions that steer the story.
Thanks for reading!
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