forum the character you hate to love

Started February 13, 2018 by @itskayhere

tune

how do create a character that you hate to love, like they haven't done anything wrong and is a great character/person, but you cant seem to like them.

If you don't want your reader to fall in love with a character, make something about them unlovable. Are they bitter? Are they snappy? Controlling? How about cowardly? Or maybe they don't listen to other's ideas and that later gets them into trouble. What is something that would keep you from really liking a person? Maybe also ask a few other close friends that question to get an understanding of what people don't love about others. Maybe they support a good cause, but they just aren't helpful or pleasant.

Hope this helped;)

~Natalie F

While I agree with everything Natalie stated, I would also like to add that this particular character could be rather blunt or extremely sarcastic. From my experience in life, people tend not to gravitate towards sardonic or overly-opinionated people. However, if he or she is a character you want your audience to love, yet feel guilty about loving them, perhaps make it so that they actually have your protagonist's best interest at heart (assuming he or she is not the protagonist). If this person is the protagonist, show a positive side to them that others do not get to see very often.

If that doesn't work, you could always create "The Perfectionist." You know, that person everyone loves to hate because they ALWAYS appear to have everything together, which sometimes makes your protagonist (or others, if said character is the protagonist) look bad. In small words, jealously could be the main reason the reader would hate to love this character. Personality wise, he or she is a 10, but their "inability" to fail makes your character feel insecure, which triggers the jealous that results in the misguided hatred.

I hope this helps! (: