You’ve got a heart-pounding plot and a rich world…but something’s still not right, and you think it might have to do with your main character. Your beta readers have said they “can’t connect” with her, or that they’re having a hard time caring what happens to her. You’ve deepened her backstory, given her some great side characters to bounce off of, but you’re still hearing the same feedback. What’s going wrong? You may have a case of “Passive Protagonist.”
Symptoms of Passive Protagonists
You can have the most exciting plot ever, but if your protagonist is just along for the ride and isn’t causing any of that great action to happen, it can leave a reader feeling disconnected and detached. Think of it this way: your protagonist is your reader’s entry point into your world, like the playable character in a video game. Just like playing a video game, readers use protagonists to explore, to discover new things, to battle monsters as they appear. Imagine if, instead, monsters were slain and missions were completed even though you didn’t press any buttons or play at all. That would be a pretty boring game, right?
The same is true for reading. Readers want protagonists who rise and fall by virtue of their own action (or inaction), rather than because the plot demands it be so. Protagonists that don’t move the plot forward and get swept along instead, like an NPC in a game, are called “passive protagonists.” A passive protagonist drains the tension from the scene and can make the reader want to shake the book and yell, “Do something!”
So, how do you know if your main character suffers from a case of “Passive Protagonist?” Symptoms include:
- Feedback that your protagonist feels “flat” or “boring”
- Your character often has important information handed to them, either physically or through conversation
- Your character ends up in situations through no action of their own (i.e. they’re kidnapped, transported, fall through a portal, etc.)
- Antagonists have your character in their clutches but then inexplicably let them go, not because your character outsmarted them but because your character needs to go check the next plot box
- Your character remains the same throughout – they don’t grow and change as events occur
Curing a Passive Protagonist
The best cure for a passive protagonist is action and motivation. Let’s take a look at action first.
Map out your plot from beginning to end, including each plot point and scene change. Ask yourself what involvement your character had in advancing from plot point A to point B, and so on. For example, let’s say your character is on the run from his enemies. Does an ally appear and whisk him away to safety? Or does he find his own hiding spot or fight back using his unique abilities? With the second situation, the reader is immersed in the tension, looking for how the protagonist will get himself out of that sticky situation and feeling relieved when he does. In the first situation, the reader is robbed of that emotional rollercoaster, draining the tension from the scene and that joyful feeling of victory.
But, it’s not just your character’s successes that should be driven by their actions; it’s also their failures. Make sure, even when things are going poorly, they’re doing so because of your protagonist. Instead of having him run into his enemies on the street, have them find him because he left behind an important piece of evidence, or because he trusted the wrong person. Your character doesn’t always need his actions to be rewarded with victory, but his actions should move the plot forward, instead of the plot moving him forward.
Removing passivity from your protagonist doesn’t necessarily mean she needs to be kicking butt on every page, though. The other key to creating an active protagonist is to make sure that her motivation is consistently present in every scene. Your protagonist should have a driving motivation, some goal they are trying to achieve, throughout the story. Everything they do within the story should be an effort to move toward that goal, or at least not have that goal taken away from them. Say your protagonist is looking for a missing child. In every scene, your character should be doing something to find that child. Clues shouldn’t just fall into her lap as she goes about her day. Instead, have her interview the parents, sweep the scene, and even research online. Have her motivation (finding the child) drive her actions throughout the book. Your protagonist doesn’t need to fight for her life every chapter to be active, but she does need to be pursuing her motivation at every turn.
The Final Word
Passive protagonists can be frustrating for a reader. They can drain the tension from an exciting scene, lower the stakes, and bore the reader (or worse, anger them). Make sure, even when your character is down and out, their actions are driving the story forward. If you’ve diagnosed your main character with a case of “Passive Protagonist,” bring them into the action and make sure they’re motivated. You’ll be amazed at how quickly an active protagonist can enliven a manuscript!