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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?

He can be admirable yet remain 'unlikeable' for the manner in which he deals with the challenges which you create for him, ie holding the moral high ground, exhibiting a sense of humour. You could ...

posted 6y ago by Hupio‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T08:22:15Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/34509
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar Hupio‭ · 2019-12-08T08:22:14Z (almost 5 years ago)
He can be admirable yet remain 'unlikeable' for the manner in which he deals with the challenges which you create for him, ie holding the moral high ground, exhibiting a sense of humour. You could make his antagonists 'likeable' to start with to keep the reader's interest, then gradually twist the perspective around.

Clint Eastwood's character in 'Unforgiven' was pretty repellent in a variety of ways but we kept watching anyway, partly out of a morbid curiosity of how much more grim and violent he could become.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2018-03-22T11:10:52Z (over 6 years ago)
Original score: 3