I started this article thinking, "I love unlikable characters!" However, once I started writing out my comment, I realize that I have a caveat. I love COMPLEX characters - but I won't necessarily root for just anyone. Deadwood, for example, sounds like a show I would turn off. I don't need my characters to be liked by other people in the text, but I need their values to align enough with mine for me to root for them. I think that's one of the reasons why Courtney Milan and Mary Balogh are some of my favorite historical romance authors: they tend to write good people who aren't sure what the best thing to do is. And that's also why I'm not a fan of alpha heroes who are out there getting drunk at boxing clubs...I just have trouble rooting for them! If they start out getting drunk at boxing clubs and then it's revealed they do that because they have some misguided motivation and really they just want to save puppies, then I'll gobble that book right up. But if they're just doing it because they don't know how to process emotions, I'll find something else to read.
I love reading about unlikable, annoying, etc. characters finding love because I think I'm probably an unlikeable character, and they deserve love! If they can find love and an HEA, so can I!
I started this article thinking, "I love unlikable characters!" However, once I started writing out my comment, I realize that I have a caveat. I love COMPLEX characters - but I won't necessarily root for just anyone. Deadwood, for example, sounds like a show I would turn off. I don't need my characters to be liked by other people in the text, but I need their values to align enough with mine for me to root for them. I think that's one of the reasons why Courtney Milan and Mary Balogh are some of my favorite historical romance authors: they tend to write good people who aren't sure what the best thing to do is. And that's also why I'm not a fan of alpha heroes who are out there getting drunk at boxing clubs...I just have trouble rooting for them! If they start out getting drunk at boxing clubs and then it's revealed they do that because they have some misguided motivation and really they just want to save puppies, then I'll gobble that book right up. But if they're just doing it because they don't know how to process emotions, I'll find something else to read.
I love reading about unlikable, annoying, etc. characters finding love because I think I'm probably an unlikeable character, and they deserve love! If they can find love and an HEA, so can I!