Charismatic Characters

What I am offering here is not mine. It is Charles Baxter’s.* I am bringing it here because it was an epiphany for me (or whatever the word is for a crystalized way of thinking about something one already knows experientially).

Baxter was speaking of charisma. He was wondering what makes someone charismatic, and how a charismatic character translates to the page. He stated that a reader cannot sufficiently experience a charismatic character on the page. Charisma requires that you be there, in the room, under the influence. 

He went on to explain that the way a reader experiences a charismatic character is by the effect that character has on other characters. It is through observation of these impacts the reader will come to understand a character as charismatic.

This is a fascinating realization.

In thinking about this further, it seems this is true of any psychologically hefty character. One who is charismatic, sociopathic, prophetic’all of these will be experienced by the reader indirectly, via that character’s impact on the other characters in the story.

Thank you, Mr. Baxter, for this lesson. Anytime we can obtain insight into how readers read fiction or how fiction works during that act of consumption, the better writers we will be.

*As presented to Sarah Enni on her podcast, “First Draft,” episode dated 1 August 2022.