Creating Unforgettable Characters

Creating fascinating characters is thought to be difficult, but it's not. If you want that je-ne-sais-quoi that some characters have that make you reread them again and again, make them the best at what they do, no matter what that is. Being the best is interesting.

Dr. Hannibal Lecter is the prototype fascinating serial killer. He's fascinating, even if we don't (hopefully, for us sane folks) aspire to be like him. One of the reasons for our fascination with him is that he's the best at what he does. He kills people and then eats them, and he killed a lot of them. In The Silence of the Lambs, he talked fellow inmate Miggs into committing suicide by swallowing his own tongue. He savaged a nurse while he was being tested for a heart attack. That's evil.

Harry Potter is the most famous wizard in the wizarding world because he's the only one to have survived the Killing Curse. Even though Voldemort attacked him when he was a baby and he isn't technically responsible for a counter-curse, he's still The Boy Who Lived, and the most famous.

Gabriel Allon is the most dangerous assassin in the Mossad. Even when he tries to get out of the intelligence business, the author Daniel Silva finds a way to pull him back in.

Joe Leaphorn is the Legendary Lieutenant, the smartest Navaho cop on the rez. Jim Chee, Tony Hillerman's other recurring character, is the most conflicted Navaho in the world over whether to be a modernist or follow the traditional ways.

Sherlock Holmes is the smartest man ever. We all try to follow his logic. Even Dr. Watson can't keep up. Even though Moriarty is his match and they both die together, Holmes was still the smartest.

Robert Langdon is the most famous symbologist in the world. Even Opus Dei, the most evil Catholic organization in the world, can't outsmart him. He's as smart as Leonardo Da Vinci, and that's saying something.

Scarlett O'Hara is the most determined woman in the Civil War-racked South. When she says, "I will survive," we believe her. She wanted Rhett Butler, and she got him.

George Smiley is the most perfect spymaster. He convinces people to do things that would make Hannibal Lecter blink, like betray their own countries. Yes, though Smiley wasn't physically attractive, he was fascinating.

In the Inheritance series by Christopher Paolini, Eragon is the last and only dragonrider. He has to save the world, or no one will. No pressure, there.

Even real people are fascinating if they're the most (which may or may not equal best.) In the world of finance, Jim Cramer is the loudest, craziest ex-hedge fund manager out there. Robert T. Kiyosaki (Rich Dad, Poor Dad series) is the world's biggest success story (according to him.) Both of those guys are the "mostest." They preach that you can do it, too, but they did first.