With all the advice about developing characters who are wounded, flawed, conflicted, or tragic, tips on how to create happy characters may seem out of place in 21st century books. But such characters are needed. There are happy people in this world, and to cram our stories only with bitter, cynical, desperate, or just plain mean characters isn’t accurately reflecting reality, which we writers attempt to do.
What is a Happy Character?
I don’t mean a characters who is always upbeat, even when a grizzly is chewing off her leg. Such ridiculously sunny characters aren’t believable. They’re also annoying enough to make me quite reading. I also don’t mean the relentlessly happy character, who is “cured” of his naivete when the real worlds hits him and he can’t handle it and falls apart.
A major character, who is generally happy, must have the same detailed backstory as any other major character. The happy character must have problems and works to solve them. She could have had a tragedy in her past. It’s just that this character’s temperament usually handles life with a smile.
Happy Characters in A Storm of Doubts
I have two characters in my Rae Riley mystery series that I would classify as happy characters–Rae’s grandmother Lydia and her uncle Hank, who’s married to her father’s sister. I use two different approaches to creating their happy personalities.
Lydia has seen her share of heartache. At 33, she was a widow with 3 kids. Now she’s raising her 3 grandsons with her only son because he’s a widower. But Lydia is the most contented person in my series. Rae says her grandmother’s dark blue eyes are “as clear and calm as the sky above us.” She rarely gets upset or raises her voice. If one of her grandsons misbehaves, she corrects firmly but not loudly or with hysterics. She doesn’t rattle easily, but when she does, like when Rae’s con man uncle returns to the county, then Rae knows the issue is serious.
It’s a lot of fun to right such a calm, contented character because she’s such a contrast to my other characters, who are more intense or anxious.
Rae’ uncle Hank Norris is the family storyteller and an extrovert, who loves to joke and tease. That kind of character can quickly become tiresome unless I show that there’s more to him than another punchline. I did that in A Storm of Doubts. When his older daughter gets into trouble while driving, Hank becomes stern and dishes out discipline. When there’s a crisis, he can become serious, but he will also alleviate the tension for others with a wisecrack. This is another character who’s fun to write because he balances other characters and plays well off them.
When a beta reader told me, “I like Hank. He’s jolly,” I knew he was doing the job I hoped for when I created him.
For more tips on creating characters, click here.
Who’s a happy character that you like?
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