Making your character(s) likable

[Coco82]

How do you go about making your character(s) likable if they have some bad traits? I know not all character are meant to be liked, but some are, and if they are human (lol) how do you deal w/that?

Francisco

[Cyyschn]

Don't make their bad traits the focus. Make sure the reader knows that the character is a good person (show--don't tell). Also, you could create sympathy for the character by giving them a problem readers will want them to overcome.

Something like that.

Cyyschn

[Jamesaritchie]

To be honest, I never give a passing thought to making my characters either likable or dislikable. I concentrate everything on just making them real.

[Coco82]

Yeah, but if a character, esp. a main one, isn't likable doesn't that do something to the book?

[maestrowork]

There are many good stories with not so likeable main characters...

If you write a story with great characters, your readers will go for the ride.

[detante]

Thomas Covenant. Man, I hated that guy. But I still read all three books in the first trilogy.

I don't worry about whether the character is likable, unless it is a barrier to writing the story. If I can't stand spending enough time with this character to finish the story, that's a problem.

Jen

[Jamesaritchie]

A character usually needs to draw empathy, not likability. Some of the best and most memorable protagonist have nothing at all likable about them. The reader just needs to understand what the character is going through, and empathize with his reactions to the challenges. Not agree with them, but understand them.

[NicoleJLeBoeuf]

You are a stronger reader than I, detante. ;-) (OTOH, I adored Mirror of Her Dreams.)

I treasure the single rejection letter I received from M.Z.B. which stated that while my story was well-written, my main character just wasn't likeable enough to sustain interest. Give me a rejection letter that tells me what's broken any day of the week!

[katdad]

There are several ways to do this.

If you're writing a farce or comedy, then you can make the bad traits silly or laughable.

If the novel is serious, then you should have one of two things -- either have your character trying to correct his problems, or imbue the character with other traits that make him interesting.

Look at Hannibal Lecter. He's a cannibal for pete's sake! Yet he's interesting and therefore intriguing.

[Jamesaritchie]

I treasure the single rejection letter I received from M.Z.B. which stated that while my story was well-written, my main character just wasn't likeable enough to sustain interest.

I think MZB put that in every rejection slip, and sometimes included REALLY nasty comments.

[debraji]

Interesting is more important than likable.

[NicoleJLeBoeuf]

I think MZB put that in every rejection slip, and sometimes included REALLY nasty comments.
*Sigh* MUST you crush my joy? Ah, well. It was perfectly accurate, though--the main character of the story in question was an utter snot, deflecting the reader's interest in her fate the way Wonder Woman's bracelets deflect bullets. The story is in drawer-mode at the moment, but I have ambitions of reworking it soon and sending it out to meet the nice people.

[anatole ghio]

A character usually needs to draw empathy, not likability. Some of the best and most memorable protagonist have nothing at all likable about them. The reader just needs to understand what the character is going through, and empathize with his reactions to the challenges. Not agree with them, but understand them.

I couldn't have said it better myself!

- Anatole

[Nateskate]

I definitely draw on my own likes and dislikes. And yet, I may not always give a specific example in every case. In one case, I never specified the race of a character, because I wanted to leave that to the reader's imagination. "Dark skinned" is relative, and can be Mediterranean rather than African.

In the fantasy, the person was from the south (obviously not the south pole) and was handsome and dark skinned. Now, this may be different than others would do things; since I wanted to create a sexual tension between this character and a young woman, I tried to leave this as a "salt to taste" issue. Some want to make him darker and others would want him to be lighter. That's bizarre, but I wanted to appeal to a wider audience, so that they could see this match as being possible. So, I allowed their imaginations to fill in the blanks.

[maestrowork]

Nate, I think you mixed your posts for "likeable" charcters and "what do my characters look like" threads...

[azbikergirl]

My crit-readers at first comment that my MC isn't likable because he makes promises and then doesn't keep them, but he's a sympathetic character that they come to love by the end of the story (so they tell me). Heros don't have to be perfect, but I think the empathy thing is the key. It helps to make the reader feel sorry for them in some way.

(Hi. I'm new, by the way)

[katdad]

MC isn't likable because he makes promises and then doesn't keep them,,,
I'm presently writing a series of private detective novels. My protagonist is not the knight in shining armor of the typical PI (Spenser for example).

Instead, he's quirky, petulant, and vain. He also ticks off his pals and associates, and screws up routinely.

Yet I am endeavoring to create a sympathetic character, if not especially likeable. I want the reader to find connections with the protagonist because we're all human and we all fail. And I also want to have my PI slowly grow and mature, become a better person throughout the series.

If you would take a look at my Mystery webpage on my website, you may find some things that are pertinent to your own character. This page includes an analysis of my reasons for creating a relatively disagreeable protagonist.

Sam's Mystery Page (http://www.waas.us/mysteries.html)

By the way, I'm an old motorcycle rider myself, since I was 17, and have owned numerous bikes. One was a 500cc Kawi H1, and my most recent was a 750 Ninja.

[Nateskate]

You are right Maestro. I've been in sleep deprivation mode and its showing.