You’ve Got Mail: How to Write an Adorkable Character (Who Isn’t Super Annoying)

There is a certain type of of characters out there who really annoy their readers. They try to be adorably awkward and quirky, but only end up coming across the page as cliche or just plain awkward. In other words, the writers try to contrast two personality traits (in this case, being both cute and quirky), but they often come across as having no unique personality at all. 

These kinds of characters have been termed as ‘adorkable’. This means that they’re kind of a dork, but also really funny and cute. Most of Disney’s recent characters, from Mirabel to Asha, easily cross the line from being quirky and amusing to being fairly annoying. Even more reserved and cynical characters like Raya from Raya and the Last Dragon, who have no business acting adorkable, end up getting written that way. When these kinds of characters trip into a room or ramble on and on about a subject for no reason, their presence in the story can easily become aggravating. 

What’s the point of having an adorkable character? Are they doomed to be overbearing and obnoxious forever? Or is it possible that these kinds of characters could bring a whole new level to your story? 

Here to answer that is the classic holiday rom-com: You’ve Got Mail.

You’ve Got Mail

Kathleen Kelly is an optimistic book-lover who inherited a small bookshop in New York from her mother. She loves keeping her mother’s legacy alive, but also just enjoys reading and interacting with her customers. 

Throughout the entire film, Kathleen Kelly is chipper and funny. From throwing little punches in the air as she hypes herself up for a speech to face planting into a pillow when she’s embarrassed and all the little quirks in between, Kathleen is consistently adorkable. Her awkwardness is a deep, genuine part of who she is. In other words, she isn’t only adorkable when the writers want to make the audience laugh. Instead it comes out even in important, emotional scenes. 

When a bigger, corporate bookshop opens near hers and she is forced to close her own business, Kathleen goes to visit her competitor. There, she overhears a conversation between a customer and a store clerk who are on the search for the classic children’s book Ballet Shoes. When Kathleen jumps in to help them find the book (with her usual level of literary enthusiasm) she finds herself reminiscing about another beloved book her shop will never sell again. She starts sobbing…all while rambling on about this book. 

This scene is  a perfect example of Kathleen’s quirkiness. It’s more than a trait she turns off and on at will. Instead, her adorkableness forms a deep, important part of who she is as a character and how she sees the world. 

Commit To Having An Adorkable Character

If you want your character to be cute and clumsy, you have to commit. Many adorkable characters, such as Asha from Wish or Rory from Gilmore Girls, come off as annoying because they only act clumsy and quirky when the writer feels like incorporating a breath of humor. At other times, these characters are confident and perfectly capable of making heroic speeches when they need to stand up for something. This is almost a form of character Deus Ex Machina, allowing the writers to switch their character’s personality off and on depending on the current needs of the story, similar to the way writers leverage plot devices and other elements to make their plot run more smoothly. 

Some writers give their protagonists empowering speeches or witty lines between their more characteristically adorkable moments because they fear that the scene might be cheapened by adding in adorkability. And in some cases, it definitely does. Some quirky characters will certainly weaken your strongest plot points. The writers try to lighten the mood of a scene by throwing in a funny quip, neglecting to give us a deeper meaning that would give these scenes true impact. They cheapen important, emotional moments by forgetting to include both humor and depth. 

But it doesn’t have to be that way. You’ve Got Mail avoided this by writing scenes like the one above with both heart and humor. Although as viewers there’s a part of us that’s laughing at Kathleen while she cries to a stranger, there’s another part that’s also mourning with her. We see and feel just how deeply she’s hurting. The writers don’t expect us to forget that she’s just had her mother’s legacy taken from her so we can laugh at her. Instead, the scene has nuance, displaying both the small tragedy that was the closing of the bookshop and Kathleen’s in-character quirkiness.

Just because a powerful, clear speech may work for your plot doesn’t mean that it will fit with your character’s personality or arc. What really cheapens the scene (and the story as a whole!) is when your character stops acting like themselves. Keep your adorkable character in character. Although it’s amusing to watch Kathleen ramble on about Ballet Shoes, we are also able to cry with her because we know what this moment means for her.

Make awkward speech normal for your adorkable character. Have them trip and stumble into the room all the time. Give them cute quirks consistently, and rest assured that it won’t cheapen your scene. This is a crucial part of their identity, and it can’t just come up when you want it too. 

If you want to create lovable, quirky characters, give them an identity that sticks. Make them consistently awkward and don’t reduce their personality down to a single trait that’s used only when the writers want a laugh. That commitment to their unique personality will add a lively and humorous element to your story that only adorkable characters can bring.

Let us know in the comments:

What adorkable characters have you read or watched recently? Do you hope to see more or less of them in fiction?