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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/30775
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

I don't agree that relatability is one of the most important aspects of a good story.

Yes, you want the reader to be drawn in and to empathise with the character, and to feel personally hooked into the stakes, but that doesn't come from feeling that the character is the same as them.

And what would it mean to be the same as them anyway? Would you define it as being the same gender / age / ethnicity / culture? There are plenty of people who share those things with me who I have little empathy with.

Or would you completely ignore those things and base it on character and personality traits - which sounds less shallow, but probably impossible.

I would suggest that you draw the reader into 'knowing that feel' (a phrase which I like very much) by making the reader care about the things the character cares about, and giving the character choices that the reader finds as agonisingly difficult as the character does.

One way to do this is to think about what the character 'wants' as opposed to what he or she 'needs'. By pitting these two things against each other throughout the story, then eventually making the character choose between them, you can make your reader desperate for the character to make the right decision, but not sure until the last moment whether they will or not.

You can read more about that here [https://www.novel-software.com/blog?article=what-your-character-wants-versus-what-they-need](https://www.novel-software.com/blog?article=what-your-character-wants-versus-what-they-need) (disclosure, I wrote that article and it's on my site)

I am currently reading The Last Werewolf by Glen Duncan, which is about what it says in the title. I rarely transmogrify, have never killed or eaten anyone and am not the last of my species. I do not have limitless funds and not 200 years old, etc etc. And yet I care about this character and what is going to happen to him.

There are plenty of other examples of dislikeable characters who are extremely compelling and charismatic and make fantastic protagonists.

Original score: 7