A few months back, I wrote a post about how to improve your character development in your writing. I have always been a character-driven reader—it’s the most important part of any book to me. It doesn’t matter how imaginative the book’s world-building is, or how intricate the twists and turns of the book’s plot are. If the characters aren’t interesting, I’m just not going to care about any of the rest of it. I feel the same way about TV shows and movies.
If you too are a character-driven reader, here are 10 books with characters so well-developed that you will follow them anywhere.
1) Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
In an era where women were expected to shut up and make good wives for their husbands, Elizabeth Bennet shone on the literary scene as a bright and bitingly witty heroine. Not only that, but her character shows real growth throughout the novel. At first, she has the impression that Mr. Darcy is a curt villain, and it is only with an open mind that she begins to learn the error of her ways.
This novel is full of other intriguing characters, including the brooding Mr. Darcy. There are several adaptations of this book. I’m partial to the beautiful 2005 film, though you can’t beat Colin Firth’s portrayal of Mr. Darcy in the 1995 miniseries.
2) The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
I included this novel in my list of coming-of-age novels to inspire growth and change in the new year. It’s told from the first person in the form of letters 14-year-old Charlie writes, starting each one with “Dear friend”. He starts high school after his best friend killed himself and he has spent some time institutionalized. It’s impossible not to adore naïve, vulnerable Charlie as he makes misfit friends and fumbles his way through having a social life and dating.
Charlie isn’t the only great character in this book. His love interest Sam and her stepbrother Patrick are also extremely well-drawn characters. I highly recommend the 2012 film as well, which author Stephen Chbosky wrote and directed.
3) The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
There’s no doubt that J.K. Rowling built an incredibly original and inventive world with her Harry Potter books. But no one would care about that world if it weren’t for some very well-developed characters. There’s Harry himself, a young boy drawn into a magical world who understandably becomes angstier as the books progress. Then there are his best friends: wisecracking Ron and smart-enough-to-run-the-world Hermione.
Those are just the books’ three central characters. Ron’s entire family, the school’s headmaster Dumbledore, and various teachers are also extremely well-drawn and stick in the reader’s head. Various pieces of Dumbledore’s dialogue are so good that they get quoted by fans regularly.
4) The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
The Scorpio Races is another title that got included in a different list of mine—this one turned up on my list of sci-fi and fantasy novels with strong female protagonists. And while Puck Connolly is a fantastic protagonist, she is far from the only fascinating character in the novel. The novel is told half from Puck’s perspective and half from the perspective of Sean Kendrick, who has won the Scorpio Races for the past several years and longs to break free from his cruel employer and his even more sadistic son.
Told through both their perspectives, the readers can begin to see how perfect Puck and Sean are for each other before they ever exchange a word. The novel is full of other colorful characters, each of whom seems like they could have their own fascinating story told about them.
5) Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
Mrs. Dalloway is told over the course of a single day when the eponymous Mrs. Dalloway is giving a party. You delve deep into her mind and memories to find that she is much more than just the perfect hostess. She’s complex because she is not entirely sympathetic. She’s able to feel oppression but is also a part of the society she critiques. There are other fascinating players in the novel, like Septimus Smith, a World War I veteran who has a lot more in common with Clarissa Dalloway than one would think.
Good character development was very important to Virginia Woolf. She once wrote in her diary, “…I dig out beautiful caves behind my characters: I think that gives exactly what I want; humanity, humor, depth. The idea is that the caves shall connect and each come to daylight at the present moment.”
6) Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman
I was obsessed with this movie growing up. My best friend and I rented it regularly back when going to video stores and renting videos was still a thing. It wasn’t until I was a little older that I actually read the book. It delves much deeper into the psyches of the two main sisters, Sally and Gillian.
The book also fully develops Sally’s two daughters Antonia and Kylie, even though they’re barely in the movie at all. In the novel you watch all four women grow and change over the years. The fact that these women work magic is important to the plot, of course, but it’s really the characters themselves that take center stage.
7) The His Dark Materials series by Philip Pullman
A friend recommended these novels to me in eighth grade and I tore through them. There’s a lot to admire in these books—the inventive worldbuilding, the tight pacing. But as with the Harry Potter books, I wouldn’t have cared about any of that without the strong characters at the story’s core. Lyra is a smart and resourceful heroine whose gift for storytelling saves her time and time again.
Will doesn’t come along until the second book, but he quickly establishes himself as a match for Lyra. There are a ton of memorable side characters throughout. Another fascinating character is Pantalaimon, Lyra’s daemon. He represents Lyra’s soul and is constantly shapeshifting between different creatures before settling in his final form when Lyra reaches puberty.
8) The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
This book was the one that made me realize that I don’t need characters to be likable—they just have to be interesting. The novel is told from the perspective of Nick Carraway, an outsider to Gatsby’s world of Jazz Age luxury and excess. Nick brings us into a world filled with vibrant characters.
From Nick’s perspective, we get to know his beautiful cousin Daisy, her cruel husband Tom, and the eccentric Gatsby himself. No one in the book is particularly sympathetic, but they are such fascinating characters that you can’t help wanting to follow them through the story.
9) The Secret History by Donna Tartt
Like The Great Gatsby, The Secret History is told from the perspective of an outsider who wants to break into a glamorous inner circle. The characters aren’t terribly likable in this story either. But that’s part of what makes them seem real. Instead of just the untouchable object of Richard’s affection, Camila is a real, flesh-and-blood person with plenty of baggage.
One of the most admirable parts of this book is how well a female writer like Donna Tartt captures a masculine voice. This is one book that I am shocked has never been adapted to film—its stellar character development, gorgeous collegiate setting, and thrilling plot seem tailor-made for a blockbuster movie.
10) Out of New York City by Kate Seger
Ashlynn is not your typical heroine. She’s a junkie with an abusive boyfriend and PTSD. When the zombie plague comes along, it’s just one more problem for her to deal with. I love morally gray protagonists, and Ashlynn definitely fits that bill. At first, she only cares about her own survival and her next pill fix.
That all changes when she meets Leith. The two have a compelling romance where you root for them to make it. Throughout the story, you come to understand Ashlynn better through flashbacks. A bonus with this character-driven story is that you can read it right here on Fictionate.Me.
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