I think I like my supporting character better

I've had a similar problem in a couple of my novels that I'm working on, where I would try to shoehorn a character into situations just because I liked them more than the ones who actually needed to be there (usually including the protagonist). But these scenes always felt forced, as if my preference for said character actually came through in the writing. My beta didn't pick up on it, and even after I mentioned it all she said was that this character did seem to come up a lot, not that it was particularly bad for the writing.

Now for me this was just an issue of favouring a certain character, but if I was in your situation, where I outright felt that my protagonist and another character should switch roles, here are some things that I would do;

- try to write a passage from the love interest's point of view. See if the narrative still fits with your story, and if it does then try some more, but if not, try and find out why.
- see how a dual protagonist approach would work, maybe not exactly 50:50 but perhaps it would help to see inside this love interest's head every so often? Get an outside view on your other protagonist's situation, see their development from another perspective.
- if it wouldn't be too much of a detriment to the story you want to create, try and change the things you dislike about the protagonist. Maybe she needs more motivation? A different voice or something to have a strong opinion on that distracts her from her problems? Maybe let some of her love interest's emotion soak into her, rather than just eclipsing her.

I hope my suggestions have helped, and if not then I hope someone else's can.

good luck!

Often. I don't worry about it, and even find it a good thing, but it definitely does happen.

Nothing new. Every reader so far has liked my deaf private investigator's assigned assistants better: An ASL interpreter and a deputy on loan as liaison for law enforcement. I like them better, too.

Yep. Wrote a romance novel. Fell in love with the bad guy. Multiple betas (and both my editors) said he was their favorite, too. Readers seem to feel the same way. Now he has his own sequel.

There's a highly successful author (R A Salvatore) this happened to. His dark elf character, Drizzt, was originally supposed to be the main character's sidekick. Now he's one of the most iconic characters in the fantasy genre.

Let it happen. If you like the secondary character better, maybe it's because she's genuinely more interesting.

I like most of my secondary characters better. I think it's partly because I spend less time with them. Also because they don't have these eclipsing, morose stories that tend to weigh down my POV characters. I write about things like mental illness and family violence and substance use, so the secondary characters are the ones who bring lightness to my writing. I love them in the same way that I love the people in my own life who give that positive texture to a grey day.

I don't think it's a problem. If you're finding your secondary character's story more interesting though, I'd think about giving her a crack in a new version, if you can be arsed.

I had this problem. In my romance novel, I found the romantic hero more interesting than my heroine, although she was the MC and it was from her POV.

So I flipped it. Now he's the MC and it's a crime novel (although with a strong romantic sub plot, and she does still have a POV)

I say try flipping it and see what happens.

I have a similar situation. My MC's best friend is a story to be told which when I'm done with book#1, I know where the idea for book#2 is coming from.

DancingMaenid said:

Have you ever started writing something and realized that another character captured your interest more than your protagonist?

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Continue investing until you're sure the reader is fully invested and then kill that character. Kill them horrifically, and let your main character find the body. Let the experience grow your main character until you, and by extension the reader, are fully invested in them.

DancingMaenid said:

Have you ever started writing something and realized that another character captured your interest more than your protagonist?

I'm working on a novel that has two lead characters: The protagonist and her love interest. The thing is, the more I write and think about this project, the more I like the love interest. I feel like she's a more interesting, complex character, and I like how she's developed.

Meanwhile, I feel like she's eclipsing the protagonist somewhat. The protagonist is a bit emotionally cold and depressed, and a major part of her character arc is that she doesn't like herself for most of the story. I don't think this is necessarily dull, but it does kind of feel that way when the love interest is a much more expressive, passionate character. The idea is that they balance each other out in a good way, but the love interest is just more fun.

Thoughts? Has this happened to anyone else?

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Yes, I've had this happen. Isn't that just part of the process of discovering what and who your story is really about as you write sometimes? Is there a reason the story can't be edited or rewritten so the love interest is the protagonist instead?

Magnus919 said:

Continue investing until you're sure the reader is fully invested and then kill that character. Kill them horrifically, and let your main character find the body. Let the experience grow your main character until you, and by extension the reader, are fully invested in them.

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George RR Martin, is that you?

I kind of like how that bends everything to the MCs development, but you also run the risk of alienating your audience.

That said, I've had two manuscripts in a row where the MC has personally killed the likeable supporting character, so who am I to talk?

I've had a similar situation - a secondary character who I just disliked (he was so smug and pretty!) so he ended up being the villain. He's much better at that.

As well as giving the love interest a more prominent role, I'd try and find the root of the problem with the MC. It sounds to me like she's fallen over the boundary from "enjoyably angsty emo type" to "irritatingly passive victim". Why? Is there any way you can get her to get off her behind and grab a bit more control of her own story? If she doesn't like herself, then that's a challenge for character development: is she going to get over that, learn to use it, or is it going to become a self-destructive tendency that will take her somewhere interesting?

Don't let her sit about on her backside and not pull her weight, if she's going to be co-protagonist, she has to earn it.

To me, your 'other' characters taking over is the story wanting to tell itself. I think there is an intuition or instinct at work here. Flow with it. My main work in progress involves three best friends: guy, girl, girl. The first two are a couple (and NO... its not a love triangle...). The guy was always the key character, but the more i write, the more the single girl becomes the star. I dont fight it. Its fun just to see where it goes...

Hell, this whole story was a tangent to tell the story of a key villain (the guy) in another story. It grew.

It's happened twice in my short stories. Rewrote them from the other character's perspective.

One of my characters in the WIP I'm querying is both a love interest and an antagonist. I like him the best in the entire manuscript, precisely because he's so twisted. I found his character really fascinating to write. I love my MC, Tashi, in all his neurotic glory, but Xian is my favourite.

Roxxsmom said:

Yes, I've had this happen. Isn't that just part of the process of discovering what and who your story is really about as you write sometimes? Is there a reason the story can't be edited or rewritten so the love interest is the protagonist instead?

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Doing this is usually a serious mistake. Liking a secondary character more than you like the protagonist should not be considered a problem. It's not a problem, it's not a bad thing, and it's not a reason to rewrite anything. Far more often than not, it just means you're doing the job a writer is supposed to do.

MythMonger said:

George RR Martin, is that you?

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Game of Thrones, Season 1, Episode 1, we all thought that Ned Stark was the main character. At least those of us who'd never read the books or the spoilers thought as much. My own suggestion supported the continuance of the perceived main character and leveraged the death of the more likable supporting character. Martin may have killed the main character in the first act to redirect attention to the supporting characters (who are now, by process of elimination, a cast of main characters).

I wrote a story in high school, but I trunked it about 8 months in. There was one character that kept bothering me, even after I trunked the novel. He was a side character, but for some reason bits and pieces of his backstory kept coming to mind, even after I trunked the novel. About a year later I decided to recycle that side character. I yanked him out of that story and put him in his own fantasy world and let him get in trouble. That story is my current WIP and it's turning into a really cool piece. Very glad I followed my intuition and explored that side character.

Go ahead and follow your instincts. Intuition is a very powerful tool for writers.

In my main WIP right now, I have six main characters, and I find them compelling to varying degrees based on my state of mind.

The most compelling one is NEVER the main main character. Part of the problem is he doesn't really have a backstory, having been created at the start of the story a la Superboy, but he's also kind of… generically a good person, just by default. He's not complex, he just does the right thing most of the time.

This is useful in-story, but means his behavior is very predictable and kind of boring. He serves as more of a foil to the other, more complexly motivated and backstoried characters. I still like writing him, but he's nowhere near as compelling as I feel the protagonist should be.

Of course, that's why I have five other protagonists, but the point still stands.

I have this going on in my WIP. Sometimes the MC isn't the most interesting character, but the story still needs to be told from his/her POV. I wouldn't do anything drastic like re-writing from the other POV just yet. Let the story and characters go. A secondary character that likable can really come in and light up a scene, and give the story that kick it needs from time to time. My WIP wouldn't work from this other, more interesting character's POV. But it's a good read coming from the less interesting MC's pov. Like being on the outside looking in and observing. Makes the the other character really jump off the page. I look at my MC as a means to get the story told. The other character is just an awesome part of that story.

I've read plenty of books where I liked other characters more than the MC. Most of the time that's just how the story goes.

Sometimes it's fine to like your supporting character more than your main. If that supporting character is interesting enough to carry a story, maybe that character should be the lead character and your hero should be a secondary character. In fact, the sidekick as lead character is a tactic seen in the most popular detective series of all time. Many people don't realize this, but most of the Sherlock books are written from Watson's perspective because Sherlock can be, well, you know, a jerk.

This happens to me all the time. I tend to favour my antagonist more than my protagonist. I tried to remedy that by writing a sort-of villain protagonist, and still ended up liking the person working against her more.
To be honest, I think main characters have extra pressures (real or imagined.) For example, your MC has to be likable or compelling in some way. A minor character can get away with a lot more in terms of negative traits that aren't resolved/remedied. A minor character can be seen in small doses, so their quirks can be interesting and not take over the novel. The MC has to (almost always) achieve their goal in the end. A minor character's story is wide open, which can make it more interesting, particularly to those of us who already know how our MC's story will end.

Magnus919 said:

Game of Thrones, Season 1, Episode 1, we all thought that Ned Stark was the main character. At least those of us who'd never read the books or the spoilers thought as much. My own suggestion supported the continuance of the perceived main character and leveraged the death of the more likable supporting character. Martin may have killed the main character in the first act to redirect attention to the supporting characters (who are now, by process of elimination, a cast of main characters).

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There is no single main character in ASOIAF. Some, however, do carry more plot weight and they feel more important: Tyrion, Jon Snow, Dany, and perhaps Arya. I haven't seen the show, but in the books, I never thought Ned Stark was anything more than a supporting character.

Those who have read my first book (not my first, but the one I call my first), like the secondary character more than the MC. I was surprised, but I don't see it as a problem.