McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft

How likeable does a main character have to be.

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Chaos985:
I'm thinking about a sci-fi space story. in the books, the main character has huge charisma, most story characters love him.  Readers might not feel the same way.

Its hard to describe why, but think Lex Luthur without the psychotic obsession to take over the world in 20 minutes, and a lot of charisma.  He has a understanding of "good" and an understanding of why people who follow that path win.

WonderandAwe:
Your reader has to be at least sympathetic to the main character.  You might hate what they do, but you should at least understand where they are coming from. 

Abstruse:
Depends on your audience.  You want someone who your audience will identify with.  Most people who read a lot -- I hate to say it and don't take offense, I'm one too -- are not the most social people in the world.  We sympathize with the nice guy who gets screwed over.  We want someone who everyone hates even though he's doing the right thing.  It's the reason why characters like Harry Potter, Spider-man, Harry Dresden, and others like them are popular.  They all do the right thing regardless of the consequences to their social lives.  They're persecuted for doing the right thing.  They're more or less loners who have a few close friends.

I can't identify very well personally with someone who's super-popular that everyone loves and adores.  It just rubs me the wrong way, reminds me of the people I typically hate on sight.  The only reason I can stand Bruce Wayne is because I know that it's just a disguise Batman uses to function in normal society.

Okay, I'm rambling...but you get the idea I hope!  The character doesn't have to be likable to the rest of the world, as long as WE love him.

The Abstruse One
Darryl Mott Jr.

the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh:
Very few people are unsympathetic to themselves.  Very few people do not see themselves as on the side of good in their own life. The trick is to get inside their head well enough and make their problems and their perspective convincing.  What they are actually doing is kind of secondary.

It's an interesting exercise to write things from the viewpoint of someone you personally would find morally repulsive and see if you can make them sympathetic.  I recommend it - as a learning exercise, not necessarily as a way of generating marketable fiction.

Chaos985:
the character will appeal to some people though. I know i cant be the only one tired of heros who repeatedly have the chance to kill the villan, but dont because its the wrong thing to do.  Then when something finally happens that they have to, they spend the next 5 chapters worring about whether they did the right thing.  This character runs into problems, he will usually try at least once yo deal with it in a diplomatic manner.  If it dosent work he shoots it, and moves on.

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