Dear Authors.. Main Characters

dear authors is the series where readers chat about what we like and don't like to see in books my channel is dedicated to talking about books as a reader so every now and then I post a community tab asking my fellow readers what we like to see and we discuss here's a playlist if you want to catch up last time we talked about villains what we do and don't like in that regard this time we're gonna chat about protagonists what makes a protagonist great what makes them terrible I'm sure we have a lot to say and yes I'm sick I'm sorry that my voice is so terrible all the time these days I wish that girl protagonists didn't have to fit in I'm not like other girls who are basically just pretty tomboys who in real life are just a myth created by progressive masculine mind you can be girly and quirky without being cringy or weak yeah so we've actually talked about this quite a bit in this series the idea that a strong powerful woman has to act like a man don't get me wrong I was a huge tomboy growing up I very much didn't enjoy wearing dresses and liked to do all the physical things that boys were doing I played football I liked splitting wood and I didn't like girly things that was my personality there's nothing wrong with that type of girl but later on I realized I actually do like girl stuff too and now I like both there are tons of young and grown women that are super girly and super strong and powerful and confident and there are tons of girls that don't like dresses and don't like other insert typically girly things here that are super powerful and strong and confident so you're not doing wrong by creating a woman who likes certain things and doesn't like other things but it does seem like the only type of strong confident woman in literature is one type of girl and it is really refreshing to see different types of women portrayed main characters they make stupid decisions just to further the plot suck they can make bad decisions but it has to be for a believable reason like it fits their personality or they have a good reason personally I love it when main characters don't take themselves too seriously like they acknowledge that side characters villains are being dramatic man okay this is so accurate you guys one of the most annoying types of protagonists are the ones that constantly make dumb decisions actually I'm gonna use an example a publisher recently emailed me asking hey do you want an arc for this book it's this new fantasy book and it you know it's gonna be great and based off of the description based off the cover it looked awesome and I wanted to read it but I have two uncut reads and read a couple of the early reviews and pretty much everybody was saying this is such a cool world this is such a cool idea but the protagonist drove me nuts because she made every wrong decision and stupid impulsive choice that she possibly could and I wanted to quit the book just because she was so irritating this is not ideal we don't we don't like this when the protagonist cannot make an intelligent decision to save their lives and is constantly choosing the dumbest most illogical path for the sake of furthering the plot it drives us nuts actually once had an author reach out to me after I reviewed their book and talked about how the protagonist made the dumbest decisions in the world to to keep the book going longer the author saw my my review emailed me and said you have to understand that I have to keep the story going somehow and the thing is if you can't keep the first of all authors don't email reviewers to argue with them about their reviews but if the only reason you can further your plot is by making your characters really really stupid then you just need a stronger plot when an introverted main character is still an introvert at the end of the story because introversion is not a character flaw to overcome ooh I like that this is obviously a positive thing that's a very good point I think just in general there are there's one type of protagonist and there has been one type of protagonist for a long time and anytime we see someone that has different personality traits it's just so nice to see when the main character is really flawed people in real life aren't perfect at all so it not only makes the character more interesting it also makes them more relatable I agree with this I just recently read a book the hearts of visible Furies this book basically had no plot it was all about the characters what isn't usually my style but I ended up loving this book because the main character was so amazing and I didn't even like the main character in the first half of the book I found him really frustrating because we started with him as a kid and he grew up and we saw him make so many bad and selfish decisions but I saw so much growth in him that by the end he was one of the most incredible characters in the world and watching him form into that person was an amazing experience for me and made him feel so real that's actually not what this commenter was talking about at all the point is just because the character has a flaw doesn't make them unlikable in fact giving them flaws it makes them feel real and when they become great characters it makes it feel earned because you watched them grow ideally they grew slowly so that it felt natural and not abrupt there's a difference between being really stupid and choosing a the dumbest route you could possibly take for the sake of furthering the plot and just being a flawed character that sometimes treats people badly or makes a big mistake because of impulsivity or whatever sometimes showing your flaws is very different from being one big walking flaw don't get me wrong I do love following really morally great people - there's just varieties of great a great main characters to follow this is oddly specific but humor I love what a main character has sass and is able to crack jokes as well as they can fight I don't need my main character to be broody make edgy all the time I agree characters that can crack jokes a lot and that are super funny not every hero needs to be so young and clueless I love heroes that have lived some life and can be more mature also it just seems to make more sense for backstory when the character has lived more life not every twenty-year-old has had enough trauma for three lifetimes so I guess this is probably more directed at young adults because in adult literature we have young protagonists as well as adult protagonists so I don't really feel this frustration as much because I read quite a bit of adults so I have plenty of adult protagonists that have already been through life but I do agree with you I hate it when main characters are described as artists but their POV never refers in any way to that an artist would pay attention to architecture in the plants of the places they're in notice things like a pretty portrait in someone's room and describe things in a colorful way I like that that's a good point and that just adds a lot of personality to it seems like I read quite a few books that have very bland protagonists it could be an incredible world and an interesting plot but the main character is just a blank wall and that's unfortunate because I like liking characters I like connecting to the people that I'm following for 500 plus pages an easy way to give them a little bit of personality and not make them feel like a useless lump is by adding little things like that they're an artist let them see the world in an artist in an artistic way I can't remember what book I was reading but the main character oh now I remember I think it was letters to the Lost the main character is a photographer and I was reading a scene man this was so long ago I was reading a scene where she was talking about a statue that she wanted to take a picture of and she was thinking about exactly how the light was hitting it and some other artsy stuff and Corey was reading it over my shoulder and Corey got so excited because he was like that is how photographers view the world he said I'm always looking for my light I'm always checking to see how light hits things and when the light hits something just right I want my camera on me because that is what makes a picture or one element that makes a picture I don't know I'm not a photographer but different people who are passionate about different things they view the world through a different lens and such a simple way to give your character something that's uniquely theirs is by figuring out what lens they view the world and letting that be incorporated in their narrative voice if it's in first person or just in the way they they interact with the world if it's in third person those little details make characters actually real and stop them from being just a blank slate that said I'm gonna mention something that I mentioned in my villain thing because this is a pet peeve of mine one thing I hear all the freaking time is this character was intentionally boring and completely personality less because the author wanted the readers to project themselves on to the characters no they didn't I call BS on that because never have I ever heard an author say I intentionally made my character boring as boring could be because I wanted my kiddos to project themselves onto the character never have I ever heard an author say that that is only what I hear readers say when they're trying to make an excuse for a boring character I do think that people genuinely believe that so I'm not like calling people liars or anything I just don't think that that's I just don't think that that's what authors are actually doing I don't think any author actually sets out thinking no no I don't want personality on my kit main character I'm intentionally leaving that out I want my main character to be totally forgettable completely personality list totally my numbing ly boring to read I'm doing that on purpose for my readers I have never heard an author say that and they don't think any author actually sets out with that goal I think sometimes authors just do a bad job at writing main characters and then readers are like oh no it I'm sure it was intentional like they just wanted me to have the experience of being the main character I'm sorry but you can make the most interesting layered character that feels like a real human to me and I get just as involved in the story and feel like I'm going along with that character just as well as I do any other type of character if a character has a personality I'm not suddenly like oh I can't participate in this story instead if there's a really bland boring main character my only reaction is oh my gosh I'm tired of following this person they make this really cool world seem so dull it's something I have strong opinions on please stop trying to write stuff you don't know about when writing an Asian character for example try to know more about the culture do your research yeah we can't ever expect an author to know everything there ever is to know about something but there are so many books where it seems like hardly any research at all was done giving an example that's way less significant than race if an author writes about a hobby that I actually care about like let's say that an author decides hey I want to write about rock climbing and then they decide I don't need to go rock climbing to know this or even talk to someone who's ever been rock climbing I probably get the gist of it an author as well within their rights to do that however me someone who deeply loves rock climbing and grew up doing it and a father who was very passionate about it and it was one of our biggest bonding points it's gonna really irritate me if you say everything wrong about rock climbing and just make up stuff that you think sounds right it'll draw me out of this story it'll make me distracted by the inaccuracies so I can't focus on the plot it'll just be annoying it's not gonna make me put down the book but it's gonna be annoying now add in something that's actually important like a culture and it's just a good idea to do some research they just have to feel like real people real people make mistakes they fail they get overwhelmed they give up heroes who always win and never get beaten or boring so we hit on this a ton in the villains video and I completely agree we just want real people not the person that will never be defeated not the person that can never lose a fight not the person that's bland as a sandbox what I'm so bad at deciding what is bland we just want an actual real-life person adding layers and personality to a character whether they're the most epic fighter in the world who also has weaknesses or they're an introvert who stays an introvert we just like characters that are layered and that feel human and when we walk away from the book we feel like we got to know a person instead of read words on a page my cat is kicking around a ball and making a ton of noise right outside the door so if you hear it that's him characters who actively seek out adventure instead of it just falling into their lap their fate isn't predestined it's what they choose to make it I very much agree with this I've read quite a few stories where it feels like the main character is just there and being jerked around by the plot what the plot decides for them that's what happens to them they never take initiative they never fight for what's right they never make decisions it's just what's happening around them is what's happening to them and they're going along with it and fate falls into their lap that's not a very compelling main character and it's not a very satisfying story our characters that make decisions characters that choose their fate characters that fight for what they believe in this is far more interesting than a character that gets jerked around by the story okay this goes along really well with the first one in the video also if the main character has an I'm not like other girls complex show her rejecting it that complex is realistic it happens to many in real life girls but many get over it so let the main character get over it embrace their feminine traits and be better for it so I think the main issue with I'm not like other girls is that girls are awesome I like being like other girls girls make great friends I have many women in my life that I hope desperately that I can someday be more like being like other girls isn't a negative thing I like being a woman I don't need to be more like men in order to like myself I don't need to hate on other women in order to show that I'm cool too when the main character isn't a complete narcissist I hate when all the side characters entire being just revolves around the main character I really struggled to like a character that just completely takes everyone around them for granted and only concentrates on the main characters problems it also makes me dislike the side characters because it makes them seem spineless I like this because one of the things that will sell me on a character and on a book overall faster than anything else is strong platonic friendships take the gentleman bastard series a lot of people hate on books two and three because book ones plot was really really strong I think book twos plot was really really strong but some people don't like it and then book threes plot really wasn't as strong this is my favorite series ever and I see the flaws and I don't care about them why because Locke and Zhang are two of the best characters I've ever read and their friendship is unmatched I love the plots in all three of these books I think that they're all really fun and engaging but I read these books for these characters and this is speaking as someone who very much likes a strong plot in their books I read these books for these characters their friendship their diehard loyalty the fact that they would do anything for each other I've never read a romantic love as strong as this platonic friendship that's how much they love each other and it's beautiful nothing will sell me like friendships and main characters that don't need anybody's help and everybody else else around them is stupid and incompetent and should just leave them alone those main characters are not likable to me because because nothing will get you through life like a French and characters that acknowledge that and find that there's nothing like it man just stand-up books that's not to say that a narcissistic character can't be interesting if that is their story that could be a lot of fun to read but if that's not the point and the character is just narcissistic because they're the better than everyone else it's less interesting ooh okay this commenter worded my rant earlier very very well I love main characters who aren't just tools that fulfill the goals of the good guys but actually have their own goals which affected the rest of the world basically I hate main characters who are blank slates for us to see ourselves in because I just can't relate to characters without goals of their own this is an excellent way of putting my personal rant about blank slate characters I yes I can't relate to a character who has no personality no goals no agency of their own that's not something that that's not a character I can project myself onto I'd rather have a character that I can learn from and that I can watch grow and be inspired by then a character like I don't want to follow a character that is a blob I really just like main characters that are perceived as heroes heroines by everyone else I absolutely love it when the main character could easily be labeled the antagonist if the story was told from a side character's perspective I also really like it when the author doesn't force us to see the other characters through the main character's eyes I will still love and relate to the main character but I can also disagree with the main character whenever there's a conflict and recognize that they are in the wrong while the side characters are in the right yes layered flawed characters and morally great characters are so great bad when they are very good at several crucial things from the get-go or talented pick up things fast with zero effort and don't have to really work for anything as the story progresses I mean who for example fights or throws magic around like a seasoned pro after a few weeks or months of training I like my main characters especially the younger ones to suck at some things for a longer time so it feels like they really earned it the final result hard agree watching a character finally defeat the big bad or the antagonist or not defeat them but come really close whatever the story is feels so much more satisfying when we watch the character fight to get there but when a character is just magically awesomely good at everything there wins really aren't satisfying at all a main character having conflict with another character or a villain yeah sure but a main character who has conflict with themselves about the choices they need to make and things they need to overcome within oneself always makes things 100% more interesting and adds an extra layer of depth yes please just give your main character personality same alright we've gotten to the point where I've been scrolling for a while and everybody's saying the same thing so I think we've gotten the general consensus we like main characters that are layered filled with personality not a blank slate that are flawed potentially morally gray and even if they're not morally gray at least they make legitimate real mistakes not because they're stupid and can't make a single right choice throughout the entire book because the plot is so feeble but because they're human also there are so many comments about not like other girls I feel like at this point everybody should know that they're not like other girls trope is not popular but you still read it so let's say it again women are great there's nothing wrong with being like other girls just make them Laird because we happen to be Laird - that's it for our discussion about protagonists be sure to check out the community tab because there were tons of great answers there and continue chatting about it down in the comments what is your favorite and least favorite Texas antagonist I post videos every Sunday Tuesday Thursday and Saturday I'll see you guys again soon [Music]

Channel: Merphy Napier

Views: 425,144

Rating: 4.9570217 out of 5

Keywords: dear authors, writing advice, read, reads, reader, reading, booktube, booktuber, main character, protagonist, how to write, author, writing, writer, artist, dear, how, to

Id: r7XY_zccfQw

Length: 19min 50sec (1190 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 11 2020