#passive characters

The key is to make your protagonist active instead of passive. Their actions and decisions should influence the plot rather than vice versa.

Their desires, whether it be for fame, peace, money, or freedom, should influence how they will react to certain situations and how those reactions will, in turn, affect the plot. 

The character should be making decisions for the plot. The plot shouldn’t be making decisions for your character.

Instead of having the protagonist wait for the villain to make a move, they should be actively searching and figuring out a way to stop them. 

Introduction

A rather important but oftentimes not named aspect of a character’s position inside the story can already be decided on during the development of said character. Namely, whether the character is an active, or a passive character.

There are two types of characters. Active and passive.

The active character is someone who actively chooses their path inside the story, the actions they take and therefore oftentimes lead the plot or at least contribute to the continuation of the story. Either into a “negative” direction or a “positive” direction, both paths are possible and oftentimes the path they are taking is only truly defined by their moral basis.

The passive character is someone who is led by the plot of the story, who reacts to certain events or plot points but doesn’t actively influence the story through decisions or actions and who does not willingly choose to take certain paths in order to change or influence their own future. It could probably be said that this character is rather lead by the plot, than that they are leading the plot in any way.  

 Active Character

An example for an active character would be The Joker in the DC Universe.

Because he actively makes decisions, he actively contributes to the plot by redefining said plot through the actions he takes. Whether or not those actions lead the plot into a morally positive direction or are making it harder for the protagonist of the story to bring the plot forwards themselves in a way they see fit, is unimportant. The important part is, that he is taking actions and is making decisions. And that those are influencing the plot and the character’s own future.

He however rarely takes passive characteristic actions, since he does not seem to be reflecting or reacting much throughout the film The Dark Knight for example. Some of his actions might seem like a reply to actions Batman took, but I would argue that those decisions mostly serve the purpose of bringing himself forwards and not to react or reflect on actions taken by Batman against him.

At least there are no scenes in the film where he obviously does that. (I would probably argue that the comics are describing him more often to react or reflect, but I will not combine two different characterisations of him now.)

 Passive Character

As an example, for a passive character I will name Bella Swan from the Twilight book series, even though I will say that she is probably the most boring example for this.

But that is mainly because she is a character who exclusively reacts. There doesn’t seem to be a single moment throughout the story where Bella actively makes a decision that would influence her future, or where she takes actions herself to change her fate or to steer the plot into a direction that would benefit her.

Though, I do not want to say with this that passive characters all have to be boring, but their influence on the story itself is less obvious and they are therefore more often perceived as “weaker” characters, rather than “stronger” characters.

 Mainly Active Character, Partially Passive Character

Another example from a comic book series would be Tony Stark from the Iron Man films/comics by Marvel.

He however, while still being an active character, shows also signs of a passive character. Which is important for someone who reflects on their actions. You can see at the beginning of the first film how all he does is to act, to make decisions and to take paths without much considering the consequences of those actions. He is also shown to either not care or only care very little about other people’s actions and opinions, meaning he does not react like a passive character would.

But in his case, that changes after he is traumatically confronted by the consequences of his own actions. After that, he does not completely let go of his active personality, he still very much makes life changing decisions and still leads the plot by his actions, but he spends more time reflecting on the world around him and actually reacting to it. As is seen later on, when he decides to name Peppa Potts as CEO of his firm, therefore reacting to people saying he is not suited for that position.

He would therefore be a character who is still mainly active in nature, but develops the passive part in order to better connect to his surroundings and the story line.

 Mainly Passive Character, Partially Active Character

While Tony Stark could be named as an example of an overly active character developing a passive side, Harry Potter could probably be named as a mostly passive character developing active characteristics.

While Harry starts off in the book series as a mainly passive character (though, this is arguably due to his lack of knowledge, magical abilities and age), he starts showing more and more own initiative throughout the following books.

In the first book, Harry mostly reacts. He does take a few daring actions and makes decisions, though most of his actions are direct reactions to something happening in his environment. That however changes once he, for example actively goes against school rules at the end of book one.

His still rather passive personality continues throughout the whole book series, though, here I would argue that this is largely due to the narration forcing Harry to rather react, than giving him room for own actions.  

 Influence of Narration on Character Dynamics

Whether or not a character would be defined as active or passive however is not limited to the character development itself, but is also influenced by how the narration works the character into the story and how much space it is given for them to either react or act.

A character’s personality definitely plays a big role in their own dynamics; If a character is outgoing or short tempered, they most likely will take action into their own hands and make decisions fast and without much hesitation. If a character is shy or submissive, they most likely will react to other character’s actions and reflect more consciously on their actions. Hence, personality influences dynamics.

However, the narration decides on how many of those influencing character traits will be shown throughout the story. Depending on how much time is given the character to come up with ideas, decisions and actions, they might be more active than their personality alone would make them. Or depending on how many events are thrown towards the character with barely any time in between, they will most likely spend their time reacting instead of acting themselves.

As stated above, in the Harry Potter book series, the protagonist Harry is mostly occupied with reacting to the several events and situations that he finds himself in, usually even without breaks in between. Therefore, he seems more like a passive character because he only rarely makes decisions on his own without being rushed or pushed into those.

For example, in book three, The Prisoner of Azkaban, most of Harry’s actions are directly caused by situations. Like his friend being dragged below a tree. Or fighting off the Demetors on the field because they attack him and he has to defend himself. Because the evens are set in a rather short time frame, there is barely any time for Harry’s curious and reckless character to properly show.

However, in for example the fifth book, The Order of The Phoenix, Harry makes the conscious decision to train Dumbledore’s Army. This is possible because the plot of the book processes rather slowly and not as intensely as the books beforehand. (Which is one of the reasons a lot of fans saw it as too slow and boring.) And those decisions and own actions turn him into a more outgoing and active character than in the books before.

 The later example can also be found in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. Since all three books progress rather slowly in their story, opening up new side plots every few pages and giving multiple characters a lot of screen time each, the characters have time and opportunities to make decisions and take actions themselves. Which is why most characters seem like very active characters, since they keep pushing through the lands and situations towards their goal and don’t just react to the enemy’s actions, but actually counter act.

Passive characters make writing difficult.  They don’t want anything strongly enough to take action so the plot has to work over time just to motivate them.  It could take multiple chapters, several episodes, or most of a movie’s run time for this character to finally decide to do something.  By that point your audience has lost any of the emotional investment they may have had for them.  These characters are just a waste of time.

The reason why the plot has to work so hard to motivate the passive character is because they have no personal stakes in the conflict.  They’re not at risk of losing anything they value, so the plot has to arbitrarily give them a reason to get involved.  It’s a wonder why the plot is so invested in this character clearly doesn’t want to be the protagonist.

To contrast the passive character we have the active character.  They don’t need to wait around for the plot to give them a reason to get involved in the story, they already have one.  Their reason for taking action is because they are at risk of losing something they value.  And they will do everything in their power to avoid that kind of loss.

It’s easy to accidentally build a passive character when you concentrate on what they DON’T want instead of what their GOAL is. Forget about what your character is trying to avoid, what they want?

Passive Character Goal: 

Regina wants to prevent her son from going to jail, even if he’s guilty. 

But the difference between a supporting character, a main character and a flat out villain is their goal. 

If she were passive, she would REACT to his arrest by trying to get him out of jail. But this risks her being a character who needs a stimulus to kick off the plot. If he weren’t arrested, she wouldn’t go that far.  

Here is Regina with a goal: 

Regina obstructs the investigation, threaten witnesses, and bribes the judge even though she knows her son is guilty. She doesn’t care. She’s done this before for her oldest daughter. 

Her goal comes from pride and a desire to protect her son from facing any consequences. You get the feeling that she places a lot of weight on how other people see her family.  

Because of her ACTIONS, the reader can infer that this kind of behavior isn’t new. This is something she would’ve done anyway because that is her personality. 

If you’ve ever tried to write a novel, or a multichapter fanfic, you have probably heard how passive characters are bad. Very bad. Epic fail! You can’t have a story with the passive characters, people will hate them. Especially if they are main characters. I was told this today again (which inspired this rant).

Uh huh. 

You know the Dragon Age series? It’s full of passive characters.

Zevran Airainai. Alistair Theirin. Dorian Pavus. Passive, passive, passive.

PS: This video was actually supposed to go up in December, but life/AMA/holidays got in the way. The new ((and redesigned)) 2017 writing advice videos start this Sunday! 🙌🏻

Want more writing advice? ☛ Checkout the playlist!

Ever wanted to write a novel but don’t know where to start? ☛ Checkout my video workshop for How to Plan a Novel!

For anything else, follow me on your social media platform of choice!

✚ YouTube Channel: youtube.com/mistrekirin ✚ Twitter: twitter.com/mistrekirin

Have you ever written a passive character and wondered how you could make them more active? Or maybe you’re not even 100% sure that your character is passive?

Passive Characters- A Couple Things to Look For

A passive character can be found in a few ways, but will generally have the same problems. First, does your character have a set goal? What are they striving to accomplish in the novel? This can be anything from stopping the protagonist to winning over the girl of their dreams. Of course it will always vary depending on your genre and the direction of the story. In the end, if your character has no real direction, then they are just wandering aimlessly and are passive.

Your character does not have to start out with the goal either. A good portion of books lead the character there. Harry find out he’s a wizard. He decides to go to Hogwarts to learn magic, and essentially learn more about himself, but oh no! He-who-must-not-be-named has other plans, and Harry has to figure out who is behind some of the goings on at school. Or, Richard is living a normal life when he sees a woman trying to escape a group of men. He saves Kahlan and this leads to him finding out about magic, the Sword of Truth, Darken Rahl and thus begins Richard’s quest to stop him.  Some event generally triggers that goal and direction for the character. Their plans will not always work out-- they will stumble and fall, plans will backfire, and their goals may even change, but they are still working toward something and continue on.

Another thing to look for is simply in what your character does. Are they actively trying to accomplish their goal, or just a victim of circumstance? Most people want a character that is going to do something. If they are just going along and all these things just keep happening to them, while they sit and wait for it to get better, or some outside circumstance keeps saving them... that can lose readers very fast. Unless that outside circumstance is some mystical guardian that is protecting them and leading them to something big.

Does your character get caught by the antagonist? Have them fight their way out, or have them fight and nearly escape. Do they not have powers and are physically weak? Have them use their cunning to trick their captors. Are they trying to win over that woman next door, but she is in a bad place because a recent divorce? Well, he can’t very well sit on the sidelines and give up now can he? Have him be her friend. A shoulder to cry on. He realizes that she isn’t ready but he will still be there for her until she learns that she CAN trust and love again. These are just a couple things to look for and general ideas on how to make a passive character more active.

Are you worried that you have a passive character, but you want a second opinion? Send me a message! I am more than willing to put a fresh set of eyes to your creation.