Joined: 6/14/2012
Posts: 194
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In most genre fiction there's praise for "strong" characters (strong by gender, by occupation, by race, by religion, etc.) but much less praise--or even discussion--of what makes a character "strong" or "weak" and what the function of the two types are within a story.
I recently had a conversation that clarified some of this for me, and may help you make the best use of both your strong and your weak characters.
In general, strong characters drive the plot forward--they may be likeable or not, good or evil or in between, of any sex, race, religion, occupation or (and this is important) level of importance to the story. Minor strong characters are plot movers, though in a small way, just as major strong characters move things along in a bigger way. What makes a strong character strong? Not physical strength, wealth, social class, intelligence, or talents...but strength of heart and soul...strength of character. The strong character has a greater degree of self-knowledge, a greater ability to be aware of, and take responsibility for, his/her own actions. Strong characters cope with difficulties--struggling, at times, but they can grow and learn as the challenges come at them.
Strong characters make good protagonists and also make good opponents for the protagonist as well as good allies. They're useful at every level of characterization: major, secondary, and minor characters, whenever you need someone to nudge the plot onward. They're also more fun and easier to write--you quickly get a sense of where they're headed, and (important to me, anyway) they don't whine. They may be wrong, but they're never vague.
But realistically, not all people are strong characters. What makes a weak character? A lack of a solid core of identity, or integrity. A weak character may be physically strong, good-looking, intelligent, witty, likeable, rich, socially adept, politically powerful, etc, etc. But there's a flaw (or more than one) that makes this character weak. He or she does not have a solid core of identity, and is incapable of real self-awareness and thus of accepting responsibility. Bad decisions are someone else's fault; mistakes are someone else's fault, image matters more than reality. Weak characters are less likely to learn from their mistakes, less likely to be capable of changing to meet new challenges.
In a book, weak characters can serve a useful purpose beyond making the fictional world more realistic. They're the stumbling blocks of the plot, the human factor that creates confusion, indecision, procrastination. They cast doubt and sow vagueness.
But for those reasons, weak characters make difficult protagonists because they're weak...they don't move forward, they either dither, or they persist in going the wrong direction (which readers can see is a stupid one) while spouting self-justification. Weak characters can be stubborn in their weakness. I've written one book with a weak protagonist and it's nobody's favorite. Not doing that again.
But weak characters work well when the writer wants to keep readers guessing: a weak character is an unreliable narrator who can put out a smokescreen and hide what's going on in the background. I have a weak secondary character in the current series who's functioned that way through four books. Weak characters are good for passing information to the wrong people (for good reasons, they tell themselves.) A weak character can point up the strengths of a strong character (though having your strong protagonist surrounded by weak underlings is boring. Strong characters appear stronger when in contact--even conflict--with other strong characters.) When used in this way, the weak character's weakness can be obvious to the strong one--and a source of frustration.
For the most part, characters work best if they're somewhere on the axis between "strong" and "weak"--not on either extreme. Stronger doesn't mean invincible (or where's the story?) and weaker doesn't mean a blob with no personality at all (ditto on where's the story?) The strong characters need to have enough weaknesses for the story's difficulties to give them something to bite into. The weak characters need to have enough strengths so that their failure to grow and develop has a touch of tragedy to it....they might have been like your protagonist, only...they just couldn't quite face their own limitations.
So put your strong characters where they'll do the story the most good, and your weak characters where their unique talents for being obstructive, passive-aggressive, annoying, and so on will also enrich the story.
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Oh wow, appreciate the time you spent to write this. Great insight!
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The FMC in Midnight is considered a "weak character" - but she ends up over the course of the story a strong young woman. Some don't care for her at all and so don't like her story. But those who do care for her love her.
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Very good article about strong and weak characters. Thank you for sharing it. 
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