#helpless characters

Obviously, if your book is a character driven story then not all of your characters are helpless. But there may be one or two characters that seem to always need help, or don’t give anything to the plot. 

The clear answer is to get rid of them entirely but if you really love this character I may have a few tips to get this bum to the top.

Give them Brains:

Giving your weak character smarts is an easy way to make them more valuable. 

This may seem cliche, but it works. How many characters can you think of are physically unable to do anything athletic but have the brains to match muscle? I can name of five right now. 

Powers:

I’m looking at you fantasy and science fiction writers. Giving a character a power as simple as night vision can drastically change their helpfulness.

Most stories start out with a person getting powers and they are usually the main character but side character in the middle of the series can also get a power boost. Think about it.

Give them Brawn:

If they can’t use their brains to support, then muscle is the next thing. Fights, life and death situations, general uses for strength occur in books all the time. It may be useful to have a big strong guy or girl to give their service.

Personality:

Personality might not make them more useful but it makes it a lot more fun to read. Readers who are in love with a character will defend them to their death. If your character can not participate in a fight, the reader may not like it but they won’t be wondering why they are in the book in the first place.

Kindness:

A helpless jerk who does nothing to forward the plot. WOW. Sounds like a character I would want to read about...NOT.

Kindness can go a long way. Not only making a person more likable but can lead to situations that can actually assist the plot or subplots.

If the Author is at Fault:

If you are the reason why your character seems useless...then that's a problem. Maybe it's your writing that needs work, or you didn’t labour enough on your creation of your character.

Sit down and think. Ask yourself if you really need this character. Will my book be the same without them? Are they absolutely necessary? Can I give their small part to another character?

Perhaps the best way to make it work is to combine characters. Do you really like one characters personality but really need another character for their role? Then smash them together. Shape the story to the best edited and useless character free book it could be.