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Differentiate between unlikeable actions and unlikeable personality Unlikeable actions would be something like trying to end all of humanity. If the character is charismatic I would root for him. ...
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#3: Attribution notice added
by
System
·
2019-12-08T11:27:13Z (about 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/43861 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision
by
Murinus
·
2019-12-08T11:27:13Z (about 5 years ago)
# Differentiate between unlikeable actions and unlikeable personality Unlikeable actions would be something like trying to end all of humanity. If the character is charismatic I would root for him. I would want to find out if he can do it and how he does it, always thinking about if he will change sides somewhere in the book or if he actually manages to stay evil till the end. Think of a character like The Joker from Batman. What would be an unlikeable personality? Think of a spoiled child. Somewhere in the book the child picks a fight with a stranger, loses, starts to cry and calls mommy for help. Would I want to read that from the childs POV? No. Would I want to read an entire book with Geoffrey from Game of Thrones as the POV character? Certainly not. I would argue that you only need a character with a likeable personality. ## In truth however, you can get away with more than you think Even **if** your MC is a jerk, the readers will still learn to love them over the course of the book since they are always exposed to their way of thinking and will quickly accept the way they do things. **I would rather want the MC to be a jerk, than to be boring.**
#1: Imported from external source
by
System
·
2019-03-21T14:24:31Z (almost 6 years ago)
Original score: 5