Relatable vs Unique

[Teapot Salty]

Hey guys, I'm going to do I school based fan-fiction (with pokemon of course) and I was wondering if you guys felt that a character in that situation would be better as relatable as possible, like harry potter, or more of an out there character, like katniss. I'd love to know.

 

[AetherX]

If you want a black and white answer, I would say relatable.

My gray answer, on the other hand, is that they don't have to be mutually exclusive. Everyone is a special snowflake in their own eyes. Relatability is a must, but that means including something that makes your character stand out, too. I really don't want this thread to turn into another Mary Sue discussion, but I would say that it's important to both make your character relatable and in some way special.

Take Harry Potter for example. He's relatable because he's mildly intelligent (but not the smartest), a bit lazy (I swear every other chapter ended with "And then Harry decided to put his homework off one more day"), slightly awkward, and raised in the muggle world, so he doesn't quite know what's going on. However, he's also the chosen one, his parents are dead (ANGST), he has a sweet-ass scar, he's unnaturally good at Quidditch, and the bad guys hate him unconditionally. The unique bits make him a fun character to read and enhance the story, but the relatable bits make him an accessible character, which is a must for POV characters.

 

[Teapot Salty]

If you want a black and white answer, I would say relatable.

My gray answer, on the other hand, is that they don't have to be mutually exclusive. Everyone is a special snowflake in their own eyes. Relatability is a must, but that means including something that makes your character stand out, too. I really don't want this thread to turn into another Mary Sue discussion, but I would say that it's important to both make your character relatable and in some way special.

Take Harry Potter for example. He's relatable because he's mildly intelligent (but not the smartest), a bit lazy (I swear every other chapter ended with "And then Harry decided to put his homework off one more day"), slightly awkward, and raised in the muggle world, so he doesn't quite know what's going on. However, he's also the chosen one, his parents are dead (ANGST), he has a sweet-ass scar, he's unnaturally good at Quidditch, and the bad guys hate him unconditionally. The unique bits make him a fun character to read and enhance the story, but the relatable bits make him an accessible character, which is a must for POV characters.

That helps thank you. My original motivation for the story was for the character to be somewhat like me, but at the same time I dont want it to be a mary sue and also I don't think i would be relatable enough. But I like your point. It will be hard to nail the relatable and out there thing without the character being to much like harry potter though.

 

[AetherX]

I suppose what I'm trying to say is to make sure your character has a personality, passions, skills, a past, a future, and most importantly: a place in the story. If you do these things, both relatability and uniqueness will fall into place.

 

[Teapot Salty]

I suppose what I'm trying to say is to make sure your character has a personality, passions, skills, a past, a future, and most importantly: a place in the story. If you do these things, both relatability and uniqueness will fall into place.

That is fantastic advice thank you.

 

[Lugion]

Uniqueness is important, but comes second in my view.

 

[Teapot Salty]

Uniqueness is important, but comes second in my view.

Thank you as well, this is awesome to just post something and bam! you get the advice you need

 

[Life]

I think it depends on what kind of story you are going for, and how you want the mood to feel. I personally like unique characters, but have nothing wrong with the opposite.

 

[Teapot Salty]

I think it depends on what kind of story you are going for, and how you want the mood to feel. I personally like unique characters, but have nothing wrong with the opposite.

Interesting. I am going for a school atmosphere though, so that mood, (espicialy after previous advice) seems to work better with relatable, although I hope to find uniquness as well.