Writing Likable Flawed Heroines

Giving a character a sense of humor usually goes a long way to making them likable. Did your crit group say what they don't like about her?

What is admirable about her? Would she rush out in traffic to save a kitten? Have a secret goal of becoming a nuclear physicist which makes her study surreptitiously at night, despite her goth, I-hate-everything persona? Did she love her grandma so intensely that she volunteers at the local nursing home? Does she have a real bad crush on a guy, but instead of doing the normal dumb teen thing she does anonymous acts of kindness towards him, just for the pleasure of making him feel good?

People are complex. There's something good about her too. Find it and show it to us. And make it an important part of the story. That way we'll put up with her faults, hoping that she'll outgrow them, or at least let her good points take the foreground.

I know the number one thing for me is understanding why a person is the way they are. Did she go through something traumatic as a child? Was she abused? That sort of thing always makes me sympathetic, even with a completely terrible person. As long as I understand them, I tend to accept bad behavior and hope that they'll be redeemed. If it's just a case of she had a helicopter mom or she was spoiled and has never faced any kind of hardship, then I agree that sense of humor might be a good way to go.

I agree with sunandshadow. Did your crit group tell you what they didn't like about her? If you have an idea what the problem is with readers, then it will be easier to address it.

Dittoing everyone. Basically, you don't need to mask her flaws, but you need to show the underlying weaknesses. There has to be something there that the reader can identify with, you know?

I can't give you any specific suggestions because you haven't mentioned her specific flaws, but in general her behavior itself isn't quite as important as the reasons for that behavior.

Don't apologise for her flaws. Humour and self-knowledge might make an unlikeable character likeable.

I don't write romance, but...

I recently read Dorothy Koomson's The Chocolate Run(excellent book, btw,) and found myself thinking, "Yeah, I'd really like the main character as a friend."

She wasn't a doormat, but she was a good friend and a good person. Flawed, sure, but those flaws did not make her immature or acerbic. She did her best to be a decent friend/daughter/sister/co-worker. She was downright likable, and all I wanted was for her to get her man by the end.

So maybe think about what traits you like in a friend. What draws you to the people for whom you care? Selfish and immature isn't it, I'm sure.