• The Power of the Unlikeable Protagonist🔍
• Do You Need to Like the Characters in a Book to Enjoy it?🔍
• Should a novel's protagonist be likeable?🔍
• Readers Must Sympathize with Characters🔍
• The Dangers of Creating Likable Characters🔍
• Should fictional characters be 'likeable'?🔍
• Writing Likable Characters Isn't The Goal🔍
• Do characters really need to be likeable?🔍

The Power of the Unlikeable Protagonist - Writer Unboxed

At some point in our writing career, we've no doubt been told that our protagonist should be someone readers want to spend time with–someone ...

Do You Need to Like the Characters in a Book to Enjoy it?

ve seen some people say that "characters don't need to be likeable", and while I totally respect anyone who feels that way, it's just not ...

Debate: Do Characters Need to Be Likable? - McIntosh & Otis, Inc.

Even if everyone else hates you, if I find something in you that makes me smile, something that draws me to your character, I will most likely ...

Should a novel's protagonist be likeable? - MAGGIE JAMES FICTION

'I have to like the main character in a novel in order to enjoy reading it,' a friend once told me. 'If I can't like them, then I need to ...

Readers Must Sympathize with Characters - Linda S. Clare

Writers often hear that their Main Character should be likable. Or compelling. Or sympathetic. What do all these terms have in common? For ...

The Dangers of Creating Likable Characters | Building a Novel

The flip side of this is that you can't start with a perfect character. They need to suck at something. They need to make mistakes. They need to ...

Should fictional characters be 'likeable'? - N S Ford

It's a common complaint in book reviews that the characters in a book are unlikeable. My question is, do we need to like the characters in ...

Writing Likable Characters Isn't The Goal - Author Arabella K. Federico

Why? Because our characters do not need to be liked by readers, they're not sentient to our eyes upon them; they have no concept that their ...

Do characters really need to be likeable? - TalkToYoUniverse

What is the critical criterion? My answer is going to seem overly simple, but I think characters have to be relatable, not likeable. There has ...

Fiction Q&A: The importance of a likeable protagonist - Kristen Stieffel

And that's the key. The character need not be likeable as long as she's someone we can feel empathy for. So another trick for introducing the unlikable ...

Likeable Characters—Yay or Nay? - Mark H. Parsons

(1) Don't have an unlikeable main character. (2) You don't have to have a likeable main character. The first is one of those 'conventional ...

Are Male Characters More Likable Than Female Characters?

Rule #1 of writing fiction in the 21st century: All characters must be likable. Sure, sure… but what does “likable” mean?

How to create a likable character: Protagonists - Magictizing

The writer can base the protagonist on themselves whether it's their own personality or something else that has inspired them to write the character. But one of ...

The Pros and Cons of Writing Unlikable Characters

I think it takes extra skill to write about an unlikeable character that readers will want to read about. But having them grow to be likeable ...

The Essence of Standout Characters - Storm Writing School

Protagonists need reader identification and allegiance, but that alone doesn't make them standout characters. A great character needs to evoke a strong ...

How to Write an Unlikable Protagonist - Blue Pencil Agency

When your main character is a villain, you often need ... When the lead is a bad guy, the reader will want to connect with the characters around ...

I seem to have trouble with character description at times. I would ...

Readers connect with main characters that they can easily relate to. Characters must feel authentic to be credible and believable. You want your ...

What's up with needing characters to be likable? - K.W. Taylor

Would we really want to see them as the sole protagonist? Main character status for someone flawed, funny, and dangerous is bound to ...

I Like Likable Characters - Slate Magazine

... can do is write protagonist who is—oh, the horror—likable. ... As a writer whose main characters have been both praised and criticized as likable ...

The strength of your character's likability - Write about what?

It's not physical strength but integrity that counts. Readers do not respond to characters in the same manner that they respond to real ...