Moments in your novel that made you hate your characters

DamaNegra · Jun 3, 2008

Partially inspired by the thread with the similar name

What moments in your WIP or completed novels have made you REALLY hate your characters? And I'm not talking about the 'bad guys' that are supposed to be hated, but slip-ups and mistakes 'good' characters have had that made you hate them, even if for a moment.

I just realized I absolutely loathe my MC. She's fascinating in the way a car accident with lots of blood is fascinating: you just need to keep on watching to see what else can go wrong. If I met her IRL, I'd punch her in the face.

So?

heyjude · Jun 3, 2008

Good thread idea!

My MC is a good guy but he's... hmmm.. Okay, I'll just say it. He's stupid. Not very bright. He tends to do his thinking a bit below the belt.

Kalyke · Jun 3, 2008

My character was getting a bit predictable. I knew that he would always at least attempt to keep his nose out of the gutter. He then went home did something "naughty" to his girlfriend while she was sedated, and I thought: Woah-- He's got more perversity in there than he's showing. I didn't like him, but then I liked him again because he'd been giving me glimpses into his "Achilles Heel" and now he'd let it surface. I started to think, I wonder what else he does when no one is watching? Interesting.

Shadow_Ferret · Jun 3, 2008

My MC is me. So how could I not but love him?

DamaNegra · Jun 3, 2008

Shadow_Ferret said:
My MC is me. So how could I not but love him?

*must... resist... joke... no use*

Oh, well, I'm sure the rest of us can find plenty of stuff to hate about your MC, then

tehuti88 · Jun 3, 2008

I don't think I hate ANY of my characters! o_o Not even the despicable bad guys whom I would punch or loathe in real life. For some reason, I can tolerate such people when they're figments of my own imagination, whereas if they were real I would detest them. Odd.

I do have some characters that I don't care for much because I can't figure out how to write them, though. The Egyptian god Horus in my novel about him is the best example. He comes across so stale and dull and he's the main character! For any other character, even all of the supporting ones in that story, it's so easy for me to make them likable (to myself, at least) and interesting, but him...it just hasn't worked out yet. Irritating.

I just thought of two secondary/minor characters of mine, named Alec and Will, who I don't really like...they're both VERY detestable, abusive, manipulative, selfish jerks. Thing is, I have lots of other characters like that too. I guess the mitigating factor is that my other jerkish characters have redeeming qualities (however minor) whereas these two don't. They're just rotten through and through (even though Will is kind of unbalanced so maybe he has an excuse). So...I guess I don't like those two. I won't go into the specifics of why, though, as I'd like to keep this PG.

Hollan · Jun 3, 2008

I have a character who's so set in his ways and downright terrible that he has hires someone to assassinate my MC (who's the reincarnation of a god), then has his own granddaughter murdered to cover it up and make her look guilty of the assassination attempt. Yeah, he's pretty despicable. He'll get what's coming to him.

Stephanie Secrest · Jun 4, 2008

DamaNegra said:
What moments in your WIP or completed novels have made you REALLY hate your characters?

It's not that I hated-hated my main character. At first, I thought it was because I had spent a whole month heavily revising the first two chapters for a contest, and I had just gotten tired of dealing with her. But no... I still get annoyed when I think how my MC needs to get a spine at the end of chapter 1. Which she does; it's totally her goal in the story, but still.

I had to stop doing anything on my WIP for six months after that deadline because Lauren's lack of spine frustrated me so much.

Storm Dream · Jun 4, 2008

For the majority of the book, my main character is really, really abrasive. She's not sympathetic to the other characters, she's very get up and go let's MOVE. Not mean, just...sort of in her own thought bubble.

The one I really didn't like at points, though, was another major character (who, to her credit, went through a lot of mental trauma)...there came a point in the story where I was thinking "B*tch, get over it, you're screwing everyone over!" I thought about softening her up a little, making her a little bit more amiable, but then she wouldn't have been herself.

There's another WIP in there somewhere with a clueless MC...I stopped writing that one. I draw the line at clueless. (or at least vapid.)

traininvain · Jun 4, 2008

My MC and her love interest have a pretty rocky and antagonistic relationship. At one point, the love interest gets on the MC's best friend's case and basically tells her she has no idea what real problems are, and oh yeah, that he thinks she's kind of a whore. As soon as I wrote it I considered scrapping it, wondering if it was too harsh, but I decided to keep it for a few reasons--

1) I didn't want him to be this super likeable charming guy that would make the reader question why the MC doesn't fall right into his arms;
2) it's offset by the fact that the MC immediately calls him out on it and gives him hell, allowing her to display her loyalty to her best friend;
3) it worked for a later scene in the story, giving a motivation for a big favor that the love interest does for the best friend to make amends

I wanted the characters all to be flawed, and not just flawed in easy ways (like, "oh, she doesn't realize her own worth/beauty/amazingness!" or something), even if that means acting in nasty ways. I think I did an okay job of making the love interest work to be redeemed for that scene, though, without having him grovel or have a sudden transformation.

David I · Jun 4, 2008

I never hate my characters. I even become sympathetic to the ones I originally built as objects to loathe.

What my characters do makes me cringe sometimes--but how can I hate them when I understand exactly why they are the way they are?

JustGo · Jun 4, 2008

David I said:
I never hate my characters. I even become sympathetic to the ones I originally built as objects to loathe.

What my characters do makes me cringe sometimes--but how can I hate them when I understand exactly why they are the way they are?

And here I got all excited about hearing you bash Carla...

Oh, well. I feel the same way. I can't even hate my most bloodthirsty, ruthless, greed-driven, unredeemable character, because even he's a part of my own heart, an aspect of my mind made flesh.

If I hate the way I've written a character, I simply find out what I did wrong and rewrite as needed.

Joycecwilliams · Jun 4, 2008

I don't hate any of my characters either... Am I doing something wrong??

Kalyke · Jun 4, 2008

tehuti88 said:
The Egyptian god Horus in my novel about him is the best example. He comes across so stale and dull and he's the main character!

A guy who has had his dad cut up in teeny-tiny pieces like that probably has some angst issues, and he's probably a mamma's boy.

SPMiller · Jun 4, 2008

Clearly I'm the odd one out. I have no problem hating characters I create. Me knowing where they come from does not give them a free pass to do whatever they like. Although I withhold author-intrusive judgement, I do judge characters in my head while I write.

And since I don't believe in cosmic justice, my villains sometimes don't get their comeuppance, which is infuriating to me. That's how my stories go: they write themselves and I'm just a vector for them to infect my readers' minds. I try to intrude as little as possible.

Matera the Mad · Jun 4, 2008

Bloddy dingbat keeps shrugging. Needs to have his shoulders shoved out of sight

Both he and MC#2 are too unsure of themselves. In the sequel, MC#2 is talking to his older brother, and bro offers to do what I'd like to do -- shake him upside down to get the sh*t out of his head.

triceretops · Jun 4, 2008

My forest ranger really falls in love with his girlfriend. But when he finds out that she has wolf DNA in her blood, he gets roaring drunk and paranoid, then points a gun in her direction. Heartbroken, she waits for him to pass out and then runs away to end it all.

That dirty no good stinking son-of-a-bitch! I hate his guts for that. Normally he a pretty decent Joe. But what a bad show of judgement on his part.

Tri

sadron · Jun 5, 2008

Oh yes. My MC was blind and did not see an enemy in disguise. He was a bit stupid also.

Pachydermia · Jul 23, 2008

the main girl (not my MC) fainted four times in 10 pages.
*facepalm*

simplyaven · Jul 23, 2008

I don't have such moments in the novel. I do respect my both main characters for being so devoted and complex personalities. I'd like to be like them but I'm not brave enough, I guess.

sharla · Jul 23, 2008

Matera the Mad said:
Bloddy dingbat keeps shrugging. Needs to have his shoulders shoved out of sight .

That makes me laugh!!!!! :roll:

Mine keep scrubbing fingers through their hair and raising their eyebrows... didn't realize that till I did a 'find' on it and had to tell these people to quit!

The only character I really don't like is my MC's mother. She's really nasty. I don't want her to be that bad, I wanted to give her a few redeeming qualities, but the inner b**** keeps coming back out anyway.

CreativeDreamer · Jul 23, 2008

I generally like to make my "good guys" with flaws. The trick is to have the reader love your character even if they don't see eye to eye with them. And yes, I have wanted to smack a few of my MC's more than a few times.

lexxi · Jul 23, 2008

David I said:
I never hate my characters. I even become sympathetic to the ones I originally built as objects to loathe.

I would have to agree with that. Often my characters act in ways that make other characters hate them, but I can always at least see their point of view.

I may sympathize more with other characters, but I do sympathize even with the hated ones. Or the ones who do some objectively bad acts.

KTC · Jul 23, 2008

My main character, Maggie, taught her 13 year-old son how to smoke. Not only taught him how, but bullied him into joining her. I was not impressed at all.

creamofmushroom · Jul 23, 2008

when they ran out of control and the plot ran out of control

Moments in your novel that made you hate your characters

Mexican on the loose!

Making my own sunshine

Court Jester

Mexican on the loose!

Mackinac Island Fanatic

Stage name = Chainsaw Sally

Into the blue memory

bonafide hustler

Digging through graves of giants

Prodigiously Hanged

Bartender, gimme a Linux Mint

Writing Dark Fantasy

What's up??

bold enough for both those XXs

Stand in the Place Where You Live

>_<