I'm currently working with a very thorough and helpful beta reader to improve my first chapter, and what she has been repeating is that the MC isn't likeable. I love him (like a sad beaten canine pet?), but I'm not the one who's supposed to buy the book.
Now, I've always had a weakness for the tragic characters, the doomed, those who've spun a cocoon of darkness around them and the zipper is stuck, those whose tiny and rare glimmers of hope are destroyed by another failure, loss, or abuse. And MC's story is one big slide downhill. He has good qualities, like he's caring, funny, loves animals, tries to provide for his family.. But he still can't get his shit together. He's not a fighter. He remains a good person who makes sacrifices for others until the very end, but he's not doing much to try and improve his own lot. On the contrary, his pimp nailed it when he said he's letting others mess him and his life up so he doesn't have to blame himself for his situation, or work too hard to change it, fail, and be disappointed.
I enjoy setting up a happy character and then breaking their spirit bone by bone, until they have my permission to die.
But as I'm reading up on how to create a likeable character, it's always the same: give him flaws, but make him a fighter who overcomes challenges and ends up shining brightly blah blah blergh I hate those. There are enough success stories, and they bore me. I'm not writing for money; I wanna sell but not at the cost of writing what I care about.
So does a character really need to be or become a winner?
Likeable Character = Success Stories only?
Now, I've always had a weakness for the tragic characters, the doomed, those who've spun a cocoon of darkness around them and the zipper is stuck, those whose tiny and rare glimmers of hope are destroyed by another failure, loss, or abuse. And MC's story is one big slide downhill. He has good qualities, like he's caring, funny, loves animals, tries to provide for his family.. But he still can't get his shit together. He's not a fighter. He remains a good person who makes sacrifices for others until the very end, but he's not doing much to try and improve his own lot. On the contrary, his pimp nailed it when he said he's letting others mess him and his life up so he doesn't have to blame himself for his situation, or work too hard to change it, fail, and be disappointed.
I enjoy setting up a happy character and then breaking their spirit bone by bone, until they have my permission to die.
But as I'm reading up on how to create a likeable character, it's always the same: give him flaws, but make him a fighter who overcomes challenges and ends up shining brightly blah blah blergh I hate those. There are enough success stories, and they bore me. I'm not writing for money; I wanna sell but not at the cost of writing what I care about.
So does a character really need to be or become a winner?
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