Characters

How to Write an Unlikable Character: 3 Writing Tips

First, what is an unlikable character?

There are probably a few similar definitions out there, but I’ve always thought of them as characters I wouldn’t want to be friends with or invite over for dinner.

Maybe they’re the “mean girl” stereotype, destructive, or self-destructive–whatever the case may be.

The bottom line is, they’re not someone the average person would choose to spend time with if they were to meet in real life.

I’ve seen a lot of talk about unlikable characters in my time as a writer, and it’s something I’ve thought a great deal about.

It’s come up in workshops, in rejection letters, and even in reviews of some quality books. Traditionally, it’s seen as a negative note; “This character is too unlikeable.”

I think there’s a flaw in this note. To me, it seems like it’s missing the true character issue.

I don’t believe characters always have to be “likable” but I do think readers need to either relate to the character or understand why the character acts the way they do.

To me, understanding a character is essential. Relating to them is nice, but I don’t necessarily need that in order to enjoy the story.

So, if you’re writing an unlikeable character, or if you’ve ever gotten a “too unlikeable” note, here are three tips to consider:

1) Make sure you understand the motivations of your unlikable character

If you’re writing a character who’s out of control just because that’s how they are, then they’re not going to come across as very believable.

In real life, everybody does stupid things and everybody makes bad decisions. But we always have our reasons.

The same should be true for your character. If your character can’t help but be destructive, there has to be some underlying issue.

It might be inherently psychological or it could be that something happened to make them that way. Either way, you as the writer have to understand why they behave the way they do.

Once you do understand your character’s motivations, make sure you share them with your reader fairly early. I’m not suggesting an info dump in the first chapter or anything like that, but if you want your reader to follow this character, it’s important to get them on the character’s side early.

I would say before the halfway point, your reader should have some understanding of your character’s motives.

2) Give them redeeming qualities

People are very rarely one-sided, so it can be difficult for a reader to understand a character who is.

If you have a character who is constantly making bad or selfish choices, give them another side to complement that.

Maybe their life and relationships are a hot mess but they’re an amazing parent. Maybe they do some immoral actions for the sake of someone worthy. Or maybe they have a big secret they’re carrying around that would in some way explain their actions.

There are a lot of directions you can take this.

If you’re having a hard time, consider what or who your character cares about and why. The “why” might point you in the direction of something redeeming. These traits will make your character more interesting and help to draw your readers in–whether they like them or not.

3) Have at least one character who does understand your unlikeable character

The company you keep says a lot about you, so if you surround your character with good people, or at least one good person, who understand your character, it will create curiosity in your reader.

They too will want to understand the character.

You can also use these people to help explain your character’s struggles. If there are other people in the character’s life who are rooting for them, it will be easier to transfer those emotions to the reader.

However, in order to pull this off believably, you need the elements above to be working as well. If your character has no redeeming qualities or believable motivations, then these understanding characters are going to look like doormats who unnecessarily put up with the unlikeable character.

No one will come across as understandable or relatable, which won’t help your story or your character.

I hope this helps you write your unlikable character!

Now it’s your turn: Have you ever been told you have an unlikable character? Have you ever read a book with an unlikeable character? If you have, did you understand the characters? Do you think this influenced out you thought of the character? Tell me about it in the comments!

How to Use Character and Plot Together in Your Novel

By Meghan Leave a Comment

I’m sure it’s not news to you that character development and plot are two of the most important elements of your novel.

The best stories are able to find a good balance between the two, but that doesn’t always come easily.

For me, the biggest game changer came when I was introduced to this character-centric, three-act tension plot structure, which I adapted slightly to meet my own needs. You can visit the link for a full break down of this plot structure. For the sake of this post, here’s a visual:

This structure originally comes from Peder Hill. Unfortunately, his site is no longer running. If you’re interested in more of an explanation on this structure, I did a post all about it.

This post is going to look at how I use this plot structure to help with my main character and plot development at the same time.

Give your main character one developmental goal

Because this is a character-driven story structure, I always start with my main character’s development.

But of course, character development can be a challenging balancing act in itself.

If your character changes too much, it might come off a little unbelievable. If they don’t change enough then they can be frustrating or uninteresting.

One thing that’s helped me believably grow my characters is to narrow the scope of their development. I tend to focus on one specific lesson they need to learn or one skill they need to develop.

Once I know what my character’s developmental goal is, I use the plot structure and the points of crisis to create situations that back my characters into corners and gradually teach them what they need to learn.

Link those situations to major plot points

Once I have my character-based points of crisis in place, I tie each point to my plot.

This gives each point of crisis an overall plot push and some level of character development, which balances the book.

To maintain that balance outside of the crisis points, I tend to focus more on the plot leading up to each point, and the character response/fall out after each crisis point.

I’ve found that this contributes to increasing the tension leading up to the event, then gives the book a good emotional release/calm after. I then hand the story back over to the plot to start building up to the next point.

That’s not to say that there isn’t some overlap of both elements before and after. It’s just a matter of which element is the priority.

This Method in Action

The first time I used this method was with Crossing the Line. My main character, Jocelyn, was kidnapped by a North Korean spy agency as a kid and raised to become one of them.

The book picks up ten years after her kidnapping when Jocelyn is looking to escape from, and get revenge on, her captors. But in order to make that happen, she’ll need to work with the agency she spent her life fighting against.

I knew Jocelyn was raised in a traumatic environment. I also knew because of that it would be very difficult for her to trust people.

So, I decided early on that trust was the big developmental lesson I wanted her to learn by the end of the book.

To that end, I developed a series of events where she would first have no choice but to trust the people in her new agency, until she ultimately made the choice to trust them on her own.

Each of these events became a point of crisis that I paced throughout the book using the structure above.

From a plot standpoint, I was lucky. Since it’s a spy book, it made sense for each crisis to happen when my characters were on a mission. Each of those missions then, in some way, contributed to the overall plot. (Which was Jocelyn’s attempt to escape and get revenge on her kidnappers.)

How did I get here?

If you’ve read the post on this plot structure, you know this was designed to prioritize character.

Earlier drafts of Crossing the Line were much more character focused. Each mission was in place to serve the character.

Because of that, the missions were more independent of one another. One of the first notes my editor gave me before she even bought the book was that the missions should be connected and the plot more centric.

She was absolutely right. Thanks to this plot structure, it was a fairly easy fix. Her note also helped me realize the full potential of this structure and how each point of crisis can serve both character and plot to create a balanced and solid story.

I hope this gives you some idea how to use character and plot together!

Now it’s your turn: How do you approach character and plot? What works really well for you? What do you struggle with? Tell me in the comments!

How to Create Strong Characters: 3 Writing Tips

By Meghan 4 Comments

I love reading strong characters, and I love creating them even more!

A lot of advice on how to create strong characters tends to start with a character questionnaire. (Here’s an example if you’re curious.)

While these questionnaires have some great things to consider, they never helped me to create strong characters.

I always felt like it was a little too much too fast. I used to be overwhelmed by the sheer number of things to consider. So much so that I would try to power through these question without really digging in and getting to know my characters like I needed to.

So instead, I created some questions of my own.

How to Create Strong Characters: 3 Writing Tips

I developed this process pretty organically. I learned what I needed to get excited about my characters and truly bring them to life.

Now it’s what I use as the basis for ALL of my major characters. I’ve never seen anything that looks like my initial approach online, which is why I’m sharing it with you!

Here are the three big areas I think about any time I want to create strong characters:

What happened to your character before your book starts?

When I first come up with an idea, I tend to have some loose details of what happened to my characters before my book starts.

Before I do anything else, I take the time to really develop these events. Most importantly, I want to know what happened in my character’s past that defined them. What shaped them into the person they are at the start of the book?

For example, when I started planning the Raven Files, I knew it was going to be a book about a girl who was kidnapped by an enemy spy agency when she was eight.

I also knew she would be eighteen when the book starts. So before I started writing I sat down and thought about what it would be like for my character to be taken from her parents so young, what her training was like, what her life was like at this enemy spy agency, and what some of her defining missions were.

All of this not only gave me a seriously strong sense of my character, but it also got me really excited to think about the story I was planning to tell.

How to Create Strong Characters: 3 Writing Tips by Meghan Rogers - in photo: writing tip: consider what happened in your character's past that defined them

Who is your character at the start of the book?

Now that you know what shaped your character’s past, it’s time to think about how those events truly impacted them and made them into the character that they are at the start of your story.

Did events of the past traumatize them? Or do they find themselves anxious in certain situations because of something that happened to them? Are they super confident in one area of their life for a specific reason?

Go through your character’s history and ask yourself how affected your character would be by each of their key life events that happened prior to the start of the book. Then ask yourself how your character deals with or shows that impact.

Every single event may not have a lasting effect, but finding the ones that do can be key in understanding who your character is at the start of your story.

Once you know who they are, you can figure out how they develop.

How to Create Strong Characters: 3 Writing Tips by Meghan Rogers - in photo: writing tip: consider who your character is at the start of the story and who they need to be by the end

Who do you want your character to be by the end of the book?

I also like to think of this question as, “what should my character to learn by the end?”

The idea is, once you know what you want your character to learn or who you want them to be, you’ll be able to develop a reasonable path to help get them there.

For instance, in the first book of the Raven Files, I knew my main character came from a traumatic environment. She was raised to trust no one and fight for her life on a daily basis.

The biggest thing I wanted her to learn by the end of the book was how to trust other people and let other people help her. With that in mind, I was able to plot out a variety of situations where she would first be forced to rely on other people and trust them. Then as we get deeper into the book, she could begin to make the choice to trust them.

Knowing where I wanted my character to end up made plotting believable development so much easier than it would have been had I not known where I wanted my character to grow by the end.

I hope this helps you create strong characters!

I kickstart all of my characters by figuring out these three big questions. I’ve found it not only helps me develop my characters, but it also makes me really eager to write. I hope this helps you as much as it helps me!

Now it’s your turn: What approach do you take when you’re trying to create strong characters? What big questions to do you ask that you’ve found to be really helpful? Let me know in the comments below.