Writing Tip 18 - Make a connection - and how this relates to likeability of characters

I found this Ricky Gervais quote in last weekend's Review from The Australian newspaper:

"Any art form, even one as lowly as TV comedy or presenting an awards show, is about making a connection."

If you haven't yet caught his Derek series, you really can see a great example of connection. This is my favourite Ricky Gervais creation, a show with pathos, humour and a sense of genuine love for the characters it portrays.  Derek is one of the helpers in an aged care home, a gentle, kind soul, who always falls on his feet.

Making a connection might mean many things, but my understanding of how a writer goes about this has to do with empathy which then (hopefully) results in communicating something that has meaning for people. It has to do with the relationship that is established. Relationship is important between the characters in a story, and because the reader is invited in, the relationship extends to the reader, and because the writer is expressing something from his or her own imagination, the relationship involves and implicates the writer. This doesn't mean that the character is the writer, any more than a child pretending to be Superman, or  Winnie the Pooh, is Superman or Winnie the Pooh. The imagination of the writer is constantly modified and restricted by what s/he has already written, and the decisions progressively made about a character's history and personality. This means that the final version of the character might be very different from the one that started out on the page. Likeability (and connection) can drift, or be reinforced.

Of course, not all writing is touchy-feely, but perhaps an element of including one's better nature in a work of fiction can only help with making connections. I gather that there is something about likeability (of at least some) of the characters that seems to be required of writers when it comes to whether or not a work will be published by a traditional publisher, or do well in sales. What it is, I find difficult to pin down, but likeability could be partly about whether a reader is able to imagine him or herself relating emotionally to what a character is experiencing, or is at least able to empathise.

And if writing is about communication, then surely this can only be a good thing.

Writing Prompt:

Revisit a favourite novel with a character that you love, and list all the aspects of that character's personality that you admire. Why do you connect to this character?

Undertake a similar exercise with your current writing project to bring those elements to consciousness. Write a scene where you play with the likeability of a character in a conscious way.