Time to take an opposite viewpoint to stir some trouble. (Relax, no politics.)
Author Barbara Delinsky wrote a piece called 5 Rules of Writing. I have to disagree with her on one point:
Create Likable Characters
Here's her advice (paraphrased): Create likable characters. The reader has to care to move on. You need a sympathetic character in an untenable position to hook the reader. I've had editors and agents say this to me, and so if people in the business are saying it, it's probably true? Sure, if you want to follow the crowd. There is a perk for stepping out of the box, away from the herd. To that advice, I say au contraire...
Honestly, I'm tired of all the 'nice' characters. I know a lot of nice people. I like to think I'm a nice person. Maybe that's why I'm drawn to bad boys/girls. It's easy to love the hero, but few love the villain/unlikable character who is a necessary part of the story and without them, we'd be bored. So I say let's salute the 'unlikable' character.
Did people like Snape before we found out his secret? No. We loved to hate him, comparing him to some of our teachers.... Other characters- Lisbeth Salander in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. While she's not a villain, to me she's unlikable because she's hard and cold. But then you learn her story... What about Dracula? He's killing people and in some versions of this story, there is no redemption. Raise your hand if you'd like to have a chat with Hannibal Lector - (no hands up). Let's go classic; does anyone really like Miss Haversham in Great Expectations? She wastes her life, pining for some jerk who stood her up on her wedding day. There is no liking Charles Manson, unless you're as weird as him. And Frankenstein? I don't think anyone has shown him the love.
How vanilla if we didn't have these characters! But one thing that we forget is that even unlikable people have their story, and unlike Snape or Lisbeth, not all of them have redeeming qualities. There is nothing noble about Manson, or Lector (okay, he didn't eat Clarice, but it's only because he's enjoying a game of cat and mouse, not because he's a gentleman). How about Mean Girls (2004 movie)? How could anyone like the characters played by Lacey Chabert and posse? And what about Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer? Yeah, he changed later on, but initially we loathed him. And what about Darth Vader? That menacing breathing, that black cloak... He was way more interesting than a young 'nice' Anakin.
Unlikable characters fascinate us. They add spice. They have stories from a different perspective. So I'm not going to make all or even important characters 'nice' because I want to see things from the other side. I love stories where you have an unlikable character who draws you in and fascinates you before you learn the how/why he is like he is. And sometimes you don't learn why they are like they are- like Stephen King's evil clown Pennywise in It or Alien. How about Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta in Pulp Fiction? You never want to run across them, but yet... you secretly are drawn to them.
Embrace the darker side, the unlikable person. They will enthrall you...
Muahahahahahahhaa...
Char
Honestly, I'm tired of all the 'nice' characters. I know a lot of nice people. I like to think I'm a nice person. Maybe that's why I'm drawn to bad boys/girls. It's easy to love the hero, but few love the villain/unlikable character who is a necessary part of the story and without them, we'd be bored. So I say let's salute the 'unlikable' character.
Did people like Snape before we found out his secret? No. We loved to hate him, comparing him to some of our teachers.... Other characters- Lisbeth Salander in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. While she's not a villain, to me she's unlikable because she's hard and cold. But then you learn her story... What about Dracula? He's killing people and in some versions of this story, there is no redemption. Raise your hand if you'd like to have a chat with Hannibal Lector - (no hands up). Let's go classic; does anyone really like Miss Haversham in Great Expectations? She wastes her life, pining for some jerk who stood her up on her wedding day. There is no liking Charles Manson, unless you're as weird as him. And Frankenstein? I don't think anyone has shown him the love.
How vanilla if we didn't have these characters! But one thing that we forget is that even unlikable people have their story, and unlike Snape or Lisbeth, not all of them have redeeming qualities. There is nothing noble about Manson, or Lector (okay, he didn't eat Clarice, but it's only because he's enjoying a game of cat and mouse, not because he's a gentleman). How about Mean Girls (2004 movie)? How could anyone like the characters played by Lacey Chabert and posse? And what about Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer? Yeah, he changed later on, but initially we loathed him. And what about Darth Vader? That menacing breathing, that black cloak... He was way more interesting than a young 'nice' Anakin.
Unlikable characters fascinate us. They add spice. They have stories from a different perspective. So I'm not going to make all or even important characters 'nice' because I want to see things from the other side. I love stories where you have an unlikable character who draws you in and fascinates you before you learn the how/why he is like he is. And sometimes you don't learn why they are like they are- like Stephen King's evil clown Pennywise in It or Alien. How about Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta in Pulp Fiction? You never want to run across them, but yet... you secretly are drawn to them.
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| Photo courtesy of Vijay Putra, Pexels, Inc. |
Muahahahahahahhaa...
Char
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