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Q&A How to prevent turning off the reader at first with a protagonist with unlikeable traits but that becomes better later on?

I have a story where the protagonist, who is a warrior meant to be the story's hero, has several unlikable traits. He is proud, kind of cold, has a hatred for the people of the enemy State (without...

3 answers  ·  posted 6y ago by Yuuza‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T08:21:59Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/34480
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar Yuuza‭ · 2019-12-08T08:21:59Z (almost 5 years ago)
I have a story where the protagonist, who is a warrior meant to be the story's hero, has several unlikable traits. He is proud, kind of cold, has a hatred for the people of the enemy State (without exceptions, which makes him support war and sees no problem in killing soldiers), has a limited knowledge and isn't much prudent. Of course, he has several qualities too, but it's not relevant for the question.

In the course of the plot, many things happen which leads him to start changing and becoming a better person (including becoming the opposite of these flaws) since half the plot's progress and slowly until the end.

The problem is: how can I non-verbally tell the reader that he will become a more likeable person but that it will take kind of long until that happens, and preventing the reader from losing interest in the story until the change begins?

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2018-03-21T17:31:18Z (over 6 years ago)
Original score: 20