I think it's very interesting when I read a book about character(s) and the author has slammed so many at the reader, the reader can't help but be compelled by at least one.
When I was in high school I read The Fountainhead and loved it. I thought it was the best book I had ever read. I loved the struggle that Howard Roark went through and how he fell for Dominique. Then I saw a tweet last year that basically said that Ayn Rand novels were perfect for teens but that adults should see through them. I put that theory to the test.
The theory (at least in my case) was correct.
I didn't care about Howard or Peter or Dominique or any of them. Their motivations were insane to me, their caring was silly, their struggles seemed false.
Now I'm reading WEB Griffin's, The Lieutenants. I would have sworn I had already read this book, but now, reading it, I don't know if I have. But what's funny is that there may be one central character (Sandy Felter I'm guessing), but there are twenty or more characters just as central to the plot as Sandy. So even if the reader doesn't like Sandy, there's bound to be one of the other twenty that the reader will like.
This is the type of book I might write next. This National Novel Writing Month I may finish out Sunset Perfect, but somewhere on the horizon there is a multi-character novel just waiting to be released.
