Strong Relationships in Stories

Characters tend to be loners. Authors often kill their parents, siblings, and probably anyone else who is close to their main character. XD Well, not always. But, realistically though, how many characters are orphans? 

This isn’t always necessarily a good thing. Characters need people to lean on, despite how much authors want to kill those people for the sake of backstory and trauma. 

But don’t get me wrong. I am not saying your character has to have a family. It’s not always possible for them to have an alive and well family. But you do need to give your character someone to lean on. If you don’t give your character that, not only is it unrealistic, but it also doesn’t make your character sympathetic. After all, characters connect us readers to the story. Giving your character someone to lean on gives them relatable goals and relationships that the reader can’t help but cheer, cry, and laugh over. 

Change it from family to family relationship.

Allow me to say it again. Your character doesn’t need a biological family. Now, if you can fit a family into the plot of your story realistically, then definitely go ahead. But it isn’t necessary and it often can take away from motivation and plot throughout the story to have a family in there. 

Instead, put in a family relationship. This can take place in many forms and fashions. It could look like a sibling relationship with a friend or a parental figure. 

Family relationships are some of the sweetest things in the story. They can add so much to your story and help develop your main character in a lot of ways. Plus, they are often some of the best things to write. (I love my banter and teasing XD) 

Sibling relationships are often some of the easiest things to put into a story and often the best things to add in multiple ways. 

It’s often really easy to make one of the main character’s friends be sibling-like. Just have the two of them be close, tease each other, and just have fun. No, it’s not really as simple as that, but it’s pretty close. 

Sibling-like characters help motivate your main character. They can help encourage them as well as be a part of the goal your main character is reaching forward. They are also the key to a fun scene here and there to bring comic relief. 

My sibling relationship in my story is technically a biological brother and sister, but having it helps so much. They both push each other forward and make the story a hundred times better. 

That being said, I also have a sibling-like relationship as well between two of my girl characters. This relationship. Wow. Not only does it create some good scenes where my main character is forced to say her feelings, but it also added some fun car chase scenes where it just makes you laugh to read. 

Overall, sibling-like relationships are the key to fun scenes as well as a good way for your main character to straighten out their feelings. (Or tangle their feelings up a little more LOL) A sibling-like character can take on many roles, such as encourager, antagonist (at points), or just the source of comic relief. 

Parent relationships are super important. 

Just like sibling relationships, it doesn’t have to be the biological parents. While it can be, sometimes it is better that it isn’t. 

Another name for parent relationships could be mentor, but they are slightly different things. A parent relationship is a close connection between the main character and a more mature friend (let me make it clear that the parental figure does not have to be older than the main character). The friend guides the main character somewhat, but a parental figure is more of a focus on the relationship, whereas a mentor is more focused on the guidance. A parental figure can be both, but they can also be focused more on the relationship. 

So, why exactly is a parent relationship important in a story? Well, a parent relationship takes some pressure off your main character. They are someone your character can lean on during the rough spots. A dependable, trustworthy person who cares about your main character. 

This is just really helpful for your main character. They can’t realistically take on all the pressure in a story. It’s really helpful to have one character there who can help them along the way, sharing the burden and tension. 

You don’t need to have both a sibling and parent relationship be two separate characters.

If I had to put in two characters to help my main character in every book, that would be a lot of characters and a lot of extra work. That’s why I am here with some good news! You don’t need to create two characters. One will be perfectly fine. In fact, you could even just use some of the characters you already have!

Because, as it turns out, characters can take on multiple roles throughout a story. They can be the parent figure in one scene then turn to be the sibling-like character the next. 

The relationship can be in the past and the future.

You do not need to have your character have a relationship like this at the start of your book. (Or, in some special cases, throughout the whole timeline of your book.) But I would strongly suggest having one build up throughout the book OR have a relationship from the past that rings loudly in your character’s mind. 

Overall though, give your character some people to care about. It doesn’t have to be a biological sibling or parent. It doesn’t even have to be two separate characters, but whatever path you decide to use, please throw some sort of close relationship in there somewhere. It adds to your story greatly and connects the reader’s heart to the story in more ways than one. XP 

Until next time, 

A.J. Syngraféas