RS, Author, Novelist on Nostr: #WritingWonders 7.2 — Do you think readers will find your MC likable? Why or why ...
#WritingWonders 7.2 — Do you think readers will find your MC likable? Why or why not? CW: Sometimes a WW question strikes a raw nerve. I'm going to discuss something novelists should find uncomfortable, possibly helpful, or take as a cautionary tale. If this comes off as mopey or self-justifying, I apologize. I'd certainly like to know what your viewpoint is, and how "likablity" did or did not affect your sales or page views. Please hit up the comments.
When I count the novels that didn't sell(†), that wouldn't sell, and why not, four of the failures shared one root cause. One was SF first-contact mystery. One was fantasy trilogy I built as a folklorist to avoid all reference to existing mythology. The cited problem across four books, from agent and editors: Likability.
Not the story. The stories were fine.
Can a story recover from a character not being initially likable?
Characters in my stories tell their own tales, and in these two cases the problematic characters started as people you might encounter in real life. People hurt by events. People who choose to act like a victim. So many do. In the beginning.
In the first case, the problematic character aligns with the antagonists to carry out a grudge, and his actions come off as juvenile. Especially true—since the person he blames is not only the primary main character but also his mother. His character arc is discovering how to forgive and finding the courage to recognize and fix mistakes. He's the paradigm for what's stuck in the alien civilization encountered, and what's wrong amongst the castaway humans desperately seeking a new world. His eventual revelation cascades through all the characters he interacts with.
In the second case, the problematic character blames herself for an understandable momentary lapse that ends with her daughter in a coma. The MC starts the novel as self-loathing, unable to forgive herself. She finds herself in another world, where she is the key to lost magic and all that is good and evil(††). When she discovers the god in the native religion is called The Daughter, it convinces her she's deluding herself, that she's a horrible person trying to escape richly-deserved guilt. She comes off as whiny and lacking courage. In the beginning. It's a reluctant hero arc, about finding the courage to forgive oneself enough to help others overcome what you can't. It's also about the power of being a mother.
In the first case, nobody liked how the flawed male MC acted as a foil to the remaining female MCs, but especially toward the main MC: his mother. One might even characterize his peculiar unlikablity as not coming across as being "man" enough.
If the second case, by the end of first book, the MC recovers her perspective. She learns she can take responsibility for what happened to her daughter without letting it keep her from doing what she must. She helps the people in the fantasy world avoid the disaster her appearance in their world foments, finding the courage help others even if she can't help herself. She brings back the lost magic, which defies the Daughter religion, thus in their context she ends up embodying both good and evil. It's the self-perspective she realizes describes her own self, something she needs to deal with in the second book.
Can a story recover from a character not being initially likable?
I know what I think about this, but if you've read this far, I'll leave that as food for thought, or discussion.
With the perspective of having put novels "in the drawer" for two decades, I am about the rewrite them from scratch using the originals as a story treatment. If you've been following me, you'll know they'll be rewritten in first person, not the original third person. I'll write the flawed MCs differently. How could I help but not? In the case of the fantasy novel, I may write the daughter's story first.
As far as my current work, goes? Yes. My devil-girl is likable. She has a uniquely acerbic sense of humor and is honest to a fault, despite being slightly evil and verifiably more-than-slightly criminal. Flawed characters are the best. (†) I will admit only to 9.
(††) She shares similarities the MC in the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, but crippled with a decidedly feminist twist as she earns her self-agency.
#BoostingIsSharing
#CommentingIsCool
#character #characterdesign #fiction #fantasy #sf #sff #sciencefiction #writing #writer #writers #author #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon
When I count the novels that didn't sell(†), that wouldn't sell, and why not, four of the failures shared one root cause. One was SF first-contact mystery. One was fantasy trilogy I built as a folklorist to avoid all reference to existing mythology. The cited problem across four books, from agent and editors: Likability.
Not the story. The stories were fine.
Can a story recover from a character not being initially likable?
Characters in my stories tell their own tales, and in these two cases the problematic characters started as people you might encounter in real life. People hurt by events. People who choose to act like a victim. So many do. In the beginning.
In the first case, the problematic character aligns with the antagonists to carry out a grudge, and his actions come off as juvenile. Especially true—since the person he blames is not only the primary main character but also his mother. His character arc is discovering how to forgive and finding the courage to recognize and fix mistakes. He's the paradigm for what's stuck in the alien civilization encountered, and what's wrong amongst the castaway humans desperately seeking a new world. His eventual revelation cascades through all the characters he interacts with.
In the second case, the problematic character blames herself for an understandable momentary lapse that ends with her daughter in a coma. The MC starts the novel as self-loathing, unable to forgive herself. She finds herself in another world, where she is the key to lost magic and all that is good and evil(††). When she discovers the god in the native religion is called The Daughter, it convinces her she's deluding herself, that she's a horrible person trying to escape richly-deserved guilt. She comes off as whiny and lacking courage. In the beginning. It's a reluctant hero arc, about finding the courage to forgive oneself enough to help others overcome what you can't. It's also about the power of being a mother.
In the first case, nobody liked how the flawed male MC acted as a foil to the remaining female MCs, but especially toward the main MC: his mother. One might even characterize his peculiar unlikablity as not coming across as being "man" enough.
If the second case, by the end of first book, the MC recovers her perspective. She learns she can take responsibility for what happened to her daughter without letting it keep her from doing what she must. She helps the people in the fantasy world avoid the disaster her appearance in their world foments, finding the courage help others even if she can't help herself. She brings back the lost magic, which defies the Daughter religion, thus in their context she ends up embodying both good and evil. It's the self-perspective she realizes describes her own self, something she needs to deal with in the second book.
Can a story recover from a character not being initially likable?
I know what I think about this, but if you've read this far, I'll leave that as food for thought, or discussion.
With the perspective of having put novels "in the drawer" for two decades, I am about the rewrite them from scratch using the originals as a story treatment. If you've been following me, you'll know they'll be rewritten in first person, not the original third person. I'll write the flawed MCs differently. How could I help but not? In the case of the fantasy novel, I may write the daughter's story first.
As far as my current work, goes? Yes. My devil-girl is likable. She has a uniquely acerbic sense of humor and is honest to a fault, despite being slightly evil and verifiably more-than-slightly criminal. Flawed characters are the best. (†) I will admit only to 9.
(††) She shares similarities the MC in the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, but crippled with a decidedly feminist twist as she earns her self-agency.
#BoostingIsSharing
#CommentingIsCool
#character #characterdesign #fiction #fantasy #sf #sff #sciencefiction #writing #writer #writers #author #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon