Writing What makes a character unlikable ? ( An alternative to Yorth's thread)

[LostinMovement]

According to you, what are the certain pet peeves and mistakes that a writer should not fall into when crafting their protagonist ?

 

[maharlika]

super flawless character!! extremely irritating

 

[NiQuinn]

Some writers (possibly me too) would want their characters not to be incompetent and be tempted to give them more skills than would make sense. I recall reading a story where the MC was an amnesiac woman who had, for some reason, intimate knowledge of guns and ammunition. Also, MC was incredibly intelligent and was good with business, hacking (vomit), can cook well, and was an ice-cold beauty.

*Flips table three times then burns it.

Further into the story, it's shown that she's the lost child of a multi-billionaire couple who somehow are in hiding from more powerful enemies.

Maybe it's the fault of the CN genres but it was painful to read. Suffice it to say, I dropped it.

Another mistake of a writer would be an inconsistent portrayal of a character described in the synopsis. For example, the novel blurb describes MC as a bullied, quiet, self-deprecating woman trying to do her best to change for the better. Then comes the first chapter and MC is shown as a boisterous, borderline cantankerous woman whose snide comments have left people irate at her. I mean, what? I thought it was a scene from the future where she already changed and we'd get flashbacks. But no. MC was really that way. So what was the deal with the blurb? I got so confused so I moved on.

 

[augustwrites]

I think it depends on what you’re going for. I dont think there’s anything specific that you can’t put in a protagonist. You can make evil, arrogant, and mean characters as long as you also give them characteristics that the reader can empathize with.

In my experience, unlikeable protagonists are ones that readers can’t relate to in any significant way.

To give an example, I recently read some reviews of a novel where the readers complained that the character talked and wisecracked too much. They found the constant jokes and blabbing annoying.

I think you can still have a protagonist that does this by adding some back story as to why they do it. Maybe they had an abusive parent that forced them to be quiet throughout childhood and this is his way of overcoming that trauma. Or maybe this is what he does when he gets nervous because of x reason.

If the protagonist is doing something undesirable, we should understand why it’s happening, and the reason should be relatable. And any good protagonist will have at least one trait like this. Because if they are “perfect”, they also run into the problem of not being relatable.

Just my two cents... or uh two dollars (answer ran a little longer than I intended haha).

 

[PrincessFelicie]

It's really easy to give the 101 advice of "don't write Mary Sues nor its variants", but it's one always worth restating. There are technically ways to write "perfect" characters, but that requires realizing there's more than one way to be perfect - and then the character is less an unreachable, unbelievable "perfect", and it's more that they're mature and have their shit figured out, they know what does and doesn't work for them and act accordingly.

Wait, I'm getting off topic.

A bad (as in evil or unpleasant) character can still be likeable. A bad character that gets their shittiness constantly excused by the other characters or by the story, less so. A bad trait should (as a general rule) always lead to either character growth or karmic retribution.

 

[NotaNuffian]

A main character that the readers can relate, or in my case, the author must be able to create. Ffs I tried to write a character similar to Fang Yuan, being evil for the sake of power, and I have a difficult time to pen down anything. I tried to create a Gary Stu and I found myself wanting the MC to die the most horrible death before I can even write the skeleton for the tenth chapter. I tried create a MC that isn't me, talkative, likable and stuff and found myself blanko, with nothing coming up, so I tried to paraphase from other works I found myself hating the MC and me.

So I am just trying to write a dude who gets fucked and try imagining myself in the situation. He is neither too good or too bad, not an extremist, he needs character development at a reasonable pace that some readers might find slow and rage quit. Too OP and he becomes stale and require more OP enemies, which then becomes a deadlock. So he must gain skills through hardwork and some luck, straight out because I don't know how to write a genius character who can recite War and Peace at ten years old.

 

[Ungrave]

I'd say my biggest turn off is a character that can't read the mood, acts pointlessly rude, and never does any self reflection. Perhaps it's a weird genre that people like for some reason, but I just don't see why anyone would like a protagonist who is a general nuisance to everyone, and never actually contributes to their community other than being strong enough to beat down literally everyone. It also doesn't work well when they aren't strong, and they still act in that way.

 

[Khiricastares]

Inconsistent characters, or else not having a balance between redeeming traits and flaws. The only thing worse than a character who has metaphorical schizophrenia, is one made by someone who has no idea what a positive and negative trait are, and why it's important to have both. If characters are defined by their suffering and hardship, then they need to actually suffer some hardship and make mistakes. Maybe characters which never grow is one of the worst? It's guaranteed to get boring.

 

[Suryae]

Characters with a political opinion. Period.

 

[AliceShiki]

Not directly related to the protagonist, but I think it's very easy to make an unlikable antagonist... And while that can be an option, it's generally an undesirable one.

Like... Take a look at Voldemort (from Harry Potter), what's likeable about that guy? He is a racist idiot with no motivation other than killing people because of his lust for power and his idiotic racist ideals... He is unrelatable, he is a terrible character. No sane reader would get interested in Voldemort because he is by a large margin the worst character in the series.

And you don't want one of your leading characters (yes, the main antagonist IS a leading character) to be your worst character. That spot should be reserved to unnamed side character A.

Compare that to Galbatorix (from Eragon), he is a tyrant, he is oppressive, he is someone the good guys obviously have to oppose... Yet, he brought progress to the kingdom, he is trying to find a way to regulate the usage of magic and he realized that nobody regulated the job of the Dragon Riders that were regulating other people's lives, so he did something about it. He is still clearly an antagonist, he is not the character you want to win... Yet you can relate to him, you can see that his goals make sense, even if his methods don't, that makes him quite the interesting character and he helps the Main Character grow, for he faces a dilemma of going against the villain because of morals, or accepting what the villain is doing because it can lead to positive outcomes in the long run. The old dilemma of rather or not the end justify the means is always a good thing to play at~

So uhn... Personally speaking, nothing makes me dislike a villain more than if he is evil because he is evil. He doesn't need to have a greater big reason to do what he does, he can just be a psychopath for all I care (for example Cell from DBZ is basically a psychopath, he thinks about destroying the world because he liked seeing the scared face in Trunks' face. And yet he works fine as a villain IMO), that much is fine, but he needs to have a sensible reason to what he is doing... (even if that reason is just being kinda crazy) Instead of... Well, being a racist, greedy, wanting to dominate the world or something. Those are just not interesting at all.

Those are my two cents on what makes a villain likeable/dislikeable at least, hopefully it wasn't too confusing... >.>

 

[Kalesterine]

A lot of types. I hate the righteous type(eg; the mc in my disciple died yet again) most. It honestly gets on my nerves when the authors feel the need to make their characters morally correct. The other type is the insane type. I read a story where the mc was fine with anyone as long as their didnt murder women or rape women. What the hell??? Last but not least, the yare yare type. Their love interest could pin them down, tell them that they love the mc and the mc would be like yare yare he meant it in a friendly way

 

[Jemini]

I think you need to specify whether you are talking about a villain, a protagonist, or a member of the supporting cast. There are different things that make a character unlikable depending on the role. However, there is an interesting quirk with the villain characters where the reader can wind up loving to hate that character.

I would have to say though, the single #1, 2, and 3 thing that ever made a character unlikable to me (and it is a single thing that is so bad it takes up all three of the top 3 spots) is an abusive character who is 1. a member of the supporting cast who is 2. abusive toward the main character and oblivious to the fact they are even doing anything wrong in it, and worst of all, 3. the author somehow thinks the abusiveness makes the character charming and can't even see that they have written a horrible person.

I have seen this come up in some 90s and early 2000s era harem anime, and I hated it then. For some reason, there seems to be some authors on this site who saw that and couldn't see how much of a horrible idea it is, and let me tell you, this trope is even worse in written form.

Characters with a political opinion. Period.

Oh yes, this is why I always tell people it is never a good idea to use your characters as political mouth pieces. However, this only counts for IRL politics and philosophies. (So, for instance, don't just avoid commenting on Donald Trump or the Gaza strip, you should also avoid commenting on Marxism and Capitalism.) However, it's perfectly fine to comment on the in-world politics of your novel. (So long as the in-world politics are not a thinly veiled parallel to IRL politics.)

 

[Daitengu]

There's a... (cough)few(cough) things that I can think of that makes a bad character.

1. The character never learns. It's fine for throw away idiots and generic thugs to not learn, but the main cast including villain should have the ability to learn from their mistakes. Example: Keitaro from Love Hina. Never. Fecking. Learns. To. Knock. How can anyone expect this guy to go to the best University when he never learns to knock as a manager of an all girls apartment complex.

2. Gender bias. Except in purely physical matters of heavy labor and sexual preference, gender doesn't matter(unless it's a societal plot point like the Drow in D&D or chauvinists). The best martial artist where I live, is a tiny 5'2" Chinese woman named Grace. She knows and teaches Kung Fu, Aikido, Judo, Karate, and Tai chi. Oh, and she plays violin. My uncle, who has his own Dojo, claims there's no one in the city who could beat her.

3. Small dick 'alpha' males as the protag. All that flexing, but ya can't back it up.

4. Forever 'beta' male protags with a harem. You know they aren't going to pick a wamen, but the wamen loves him so. The only reason Kirito got with Asuna in SAO was because Asuna was the one to pursue the hardest and fastest, literally Jumping his D.

5. Paradoxical mentality. You survived all the battles in a VR death game. Suddenly you're fighting for your life IRL, and ya just can't do it. WHY?! The hell is the difference!?

6. Stockholm syndrome as a strategy for romance. It's a popular thing to rape/capture a waman till she loves the raper/capture in Chinese webnovels and JP hentai. What kind of retarded characters?! I blame Disney with Beauty and the Beast.

7. Suspension bridge effect as a strategy for romance. It's also popular to rescue wamen, and they fall in love with their rescuer. IRL 'MAYBE' for a bit, but it usually ends when they actually get to know the man. You know, since she's just a trophy anyway(I save, so mine!).

8. Author projection characters. It's a terrible disease. The main symptoms are, being/getting OP. Events occur in a too convenient way for the MC to win. The struggle is only real for a fraction of the time for this character than it is for literally everyone else. Relying on cheat gimmicks instead of actual skill and hard work. (This is why I like Randidly Ghosthound. The man works, and works HARD, never stopping to get an edge.)


PS: The difference between being wealthy and 'rich' is all in how they flex. A rich person flaunts how they have money and are rich. A truly wealthy person, doesn't give any Fs and would just tip a house to someone who was a great server all casual like.

 

[Imbreak]

In the end it depends on the readers themselves. In my story, a lot of people like the MC being powerful, yet vulnerable to some things but there are people who just says that the MC is beta or weak or a coward -_-

For me, an unlikeable MC is a hypocryte. Others, I can still ignore and enjoy the story, but when he becomes a hypocryte, that's it.

 

[CupcakeNinja]

According to you, what are the certain pet peeves and mistakes that a writer should not fall into when crafting their protagonist ?

I can stand a lot of shit. But being a goody two shoes, saying naive things, doing naive things...thats what i hate. Like its cute if lolies do it. But in a male mc? Yeah don't fucking get me started on the hero types who never REALLY finish the job cuz morals suddenly become more important that actually helping long term

 

[IvyVeritas]

In addition to avoiding a Mary Sue who's good at everything, I'd suggest also avoiding the anime stereotype of the loner/neet/emo male character who doesn't like anything or anybody, but for some reason the story has all the other characters just falling over him (especially the female characters). It comes across as author projection from an author who is desperate for friends but doesn't want to make the effort of actually making friends himself.

 

[NotaNuffian]

In the end it depends on the readers themselves. In my story, a lot of people like the MC being powerful, yet vulnerable to some things but there are people who just says that the MC is beta or weak or a coward -_-

For me, an unlikeable MC is a hypocryte. Others, I can still ignore and enjoy the story, but when he becomes a hypocryte, that's it.

@Imbreak so are you ok if the MC confess that he is a hypocrite to the reader? Like, just drop a line say "Ima hypocrite," in a self condoning manner, not sarcastic tone.

 

[AliceShiki]

2. Gender bias. Except in purely physical matters of heavy labor and sexual preference, gender doesn't matter(unless it's a societal plot point like the Drow in D&D or chauvinists). The best martial artist where I live, is a tiny 5'2" Chinese woman named Grace. She knows and teaches Kung Fu, Aikido, Judo, Karate, and Tai chi. Oh, and she plays violin. My uncle, who has his own Dojo, claims there's no one in the city who could beat her.

I actually like if Gender Bias is portrayed in the novel, but like... It needs to make sense.

For example, if I see a medi-fantasy novel with women and men being treated equally and working fine... I use my suspension of disbelief to consider that okay.

On the other hand, if I see a medi-fantasy novel a reincarnated Female Protagonist that has to deal with men thinking she is unable to do jobs that she is perfectly capable of, simply because she is a girl... This will get me a lot more interested in the novel~

Having the novel depict actual historical problems caused by gender bias is something that gets me hooked really easily~

 

[Daitengu]

For example, if I see a medi-fantasy novel with women and men being treated equally and working fine... I use my suspension of disbelief to consider that okay.

On the other hand, if I see a medi-fantasy novel a reincarnated Female Protagonist that has to deal with men thinking she is unable to do jobs that she is perfectly capable of, simply because she is a girl... This will get me a lot more interested in the novel~

Having the novel depict actual historical problems caused by gender bias is something that gets me hooked really easily~

Yeah, that's societal plot. Thus my D&D drow example, where the concept is flipped on it's head, and women are in the lead, and men are second class citizens. Also their generally highly evil actions. Mainly because Loth is evil AF.

 

[LimaBean]

A static character, they make no changes in their personality, they don't improve themselves emotionally or mentally, or they're just an overall lustful/wrathful character. For instance, when a MC that molests someone, but they're given a pass because they're the protagonist, is a bad character. A MC that kills or takes revenge for a small slight, is a bad character. Those two traits are just a big "no" for me.

Or if one were to write lustful or wrathful characters, there should be a future development for them to improve. I don't see the point of keeping a MC with bad characteristics if they don't improve as human beings.