forum Help?

Started July 05, 2021 by Deleted user

tune

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I'm afraid that my audience will have a hard time connecting with to my protagonist and I really don't want her to be bland. It also may be hard for her love interest to fall in love with her if Ashley isn't at all exciting. If anyone could give me some advice on how to make her more likable/any tips in general about how to improve her? Everyone's advice is appreciated! Invalid Character

So she's not too over the top to the point where she can't be related to. I quite like her in general, but I do still have a few things that might be holding her back from being fully relatable and likeable.

1. She's 103 pounds and 5'7. That's severely underweight. Unless she has a medical problem of some sort (whether it be an ED, metabolic issue, etc), you certainly need to change this, as it kind of represents a really really skinny character as kind of the "norm." It also says she beats herself up over her sexuality in the weight section, so I'm a little confused about that. Also there would need to be a lot of outside pressure for her to hate herself that much over her sexuality. Like she lives in a big homophobic community, her parents/family hate her for it, etc. If it is an ED, that's a big issue to tackle, and if you are, you need to be upfront about instead of implying things. If it's something you have experience with yourself, obviously you're at liberty to write what fits your experience. Just be very very careful about the risk of glorifying skinniness and eds, as it's unhealthy for the audience to consume and also kind of alienating for some.
2. Her stance on sex kinda bothers me. Coming from an ace-spec person, it almost makes her sound stuck-up. Why does she care so strongly what everyone else is doing with their bodies? Why does she care they "don't have deep relationships"? Maybe she's not interested in that, and that's fine. That's her sexuality. But just judging others for having casual sex seems like it's some moral high ground that most aros/aces do not have.
3. Give her some goals. You want us to root for your protagonist, give us something to root for. She's got plenty of hobbies, likes, etc to bring her to life. But where's she going?

I'm really, really sorry if I offended you in any way! Thank you so much for the advice. It was extremely helpful and it was deeply appreciated. I'll be sure to edit her page!

Nah, I'm not offended, it just felt a little off in a couple of places was all! Glad I could provide useful feedback.
Love her design btw! (Definitely not bc I'm dying to color my hair blue or anything)

Hehe

In my opinion… Ashley isn't bland. Far from it, actually. If you want to make her more interesting, think of things for her that you don't hear normally. Maybe she has a unique perspective on something? Or a unique trait or characteristic?
Also, often love interests fall in love with the things most people don't notice. The way she moves, maybe one of her vices, or maybe something most people don't like is the very thing her lover admires.

This is very rambly but I hope you get the point…

I get the gist :)
Thank you both so, so much!

oki