Two part question

[Liquid Ice]

So, first is a quest mechanics question. How do you handle multi-character storylines? I have ideas for people from Liquid's past to come after her, and I would like to write about things that they do when not around her. Is this done under her account or do these characters need their own profiles/user names?

Second is a more theoretical question. Does a character have to be likable to be well written and engaging? I was given some rather disturbing feedback about Liquid's character from a long-time friend of mine. I was told that not only could my friend not bring themself to care about Liquid as a character but my friend found themself hoping that she would fail. Now, Liquid is designed to be an anti-hero of sorts but I'm pretty sure that's not what my friend meant. Now, this isn't just a question about my character but also in general. Does a character need to be someone that you would befriend in the real world for you to like the character and enjoy reading about them?

[Cyrus the virus]

Don't feel like every post you make has to be from your character's perspective. On my Izvilvin account, I've done whole quests that don't even have him in it. Just write from an omniscient or separate perspective, whatever you like.

Your friend's comments are fine. Characters absolutely do not have to be likeable. In fact, I'd love to find some who aren't. I love characters that I hate.

[Karuka]

Hah. Some of our best liked characters are the assholes. You hear more "ooh, Storm Veritas" than "Oooh, Damon Kaosi." So long as the character is played in an engaging manner, true to him/herself and clear, she ought to score well here.

About the first question...I'd say yes, you ought to register them under separate accounts.

[Call me J]

So, first is a quest mechanics question. How do you handle multi-character storylines? I have ideas for people from Liquid's past to come after her, and I would like to write about things that they do when not around her. Is this done under her account or do these characters need their own profiles/user names?

Every character that has its own individual story that you focus on should have their own account. If the character is perpetually a second banana for Nienna, and Nienna appears in every thread this person is in (or at least, Nienna is an important part of every story involving this character, keep her/him on the Liquid ice account.


Second is a more theoretical question. Does a character have to be likable to be well written and engaging? I was given some rather disturbing feedback about Liquid's character from a long-time friend of mine. I was told that not only could my friend not bring themself to care about Liquid as a character but my friend found themself hoping that she would fail. Now, Liquid is designed to be an anti-hero of sorts but I'm pretty sure that's not what my friend meant. Now, this isn't just a question about my character but also in general. Does a character need to be someone that you would befriend in the real world for you to like the character and enjoy reading about them?

Not necessarily. The character has to be one that illicits some kind of a reaction out of me though. A character I don't care about is a character that I don't want to read. With an anti-hero, sometimes I think the characters cast in the roles make better villains unless the story makes it so that I want to see their success for the betterment of the general world around them. Sometimes, I want characters to fail (and here i mean fail as in fail in their endeavors, not fail as in the writer gives up on them) because they're characters I detest. However, I still like reading these stories, because who doesn't love seeing the bad guy get their comeuppance?

[Liquid Ice]

Okay, so I am getting that if they come in hunting Liquid and then decide to join the Bandit Brotherhood and raise sheep, they get a separate account. If they spend months hunting Liquid, fail and get murdered they don't.

As for the ant-hero thing, sounds pretty tricky. Any feedback on the character would be useful, since it is really hard for a writer to tell if she's making you hate the story or in a good way hate the character.

[Karuka]

Act only in your character's best interest, and to hell with any and everyone else. Even if it means hurting other people.

[Call me J]

Well here are a few good rules for making an anti hero more likeable.

1) Make the villain terrible by comparison. If you have an anti-hero, having a villain as bad as say Magneto, makes the story less compelling. Shades of grey are good, but there still needs to be contrast between the protagonist and antagonist.

2) Make the character's quest seem urgent because it helps someone really good. Maybe your anti-hero is doing something for personal gain, but there is a little old lady who gives candy to the kids in the neighborhood who desperately needs the anti-hero to succeed.

3) Make people like the anti hero for reasons other than personality. Sometimes anti heroes get by on their gimmicks, or because they're so suave and cool that people like them. Other times, its because the anti heroes are humorous.

[Liquid Ice]

Act only in your character's best interest, and to hell with any and everyone else. Even if it means hurting other people.

Well, I have a good idea of who Liquid is a character and where I plan on taking her, I'm just asking for advice and constructive crit on how effective my writing is with what I'm trying to do, that make sense?

[Skie and Avery]

Setting the mood does wonders as far as how your character is taken. Sometimes a character doesn't even have to do awful things to be cast in a bad light. The way you display their inner workings and morals will do amazing things.

We once had a guy on a forum I posted on who was really nice and helpful. He did a lot to point new members in the right direction, answer questions and pretty much was cool with questing with anyone. You'd think he would have a lot of friends around there. He mentioned once in a debate that he didn't feel that murder should be a crime. He tried to explain it and though he'd never killed anyone or expressed an interest in killing people, and as I said before was very nice, there was a lot of anti-that guy sentiment running around. His beliefs made him a villan more adequately than his actions did.

[Cyrus the virus]

It went deeper than that, I think, but let's not start talking about that stupid situation :p I had long forgotten!

But that really is a good example, yeah.

[Doomsday]

writing good anti-heroes can be tough since they tend to have aspects that make them un likable by nature. The easiest way to make an antihero that people will want to get to know is with snappy dialogue that might put a smile to the readers lips and that in itself can be tough. Quentin Tarantino is a master of this and if you watch his movies you can see how his word play makes you root for characters you'd normally root against. If you want to see a great anti-hero in a fantasy setting and written you should try reading Steven Brust's Vlad Taltos books. Oh and speaking of Vlad Taltos you should really try first person perspective, Anti-heroes really benefit from the style as it lets you paint them as complete beings a bit easier than the 3rd person perspective. Anti-heroes are tough to write because you have to earn the right to like the character and you can't really do it with actions since many of the actions are going to be selfish and for selfish reasons but once you earn the respect for the character it's much more memorable than the typical hero that rescues damsels from dragons just for a kiss and a father's thanks^^

[Ashiakin]

Your first question seems to have been answered, so in response to your second: I really don't think so. You don't have to comfort people in order for your writing to be engaging and interesting. If people are reading to be coddled, they should honestly find something else to do with their time.

I think, though, that if you have an anti-hero or villain who is well-written, the reader can end up liking them or identifying with them no matter how unpalatable they are. I mean, most people end up wanting Robert De Niro's character in Taxi Driver to succeed. If you do it well enough, even really twisted characters can be likable. Not that they have to be likable to be engaging.

[Caden Law]

Balancing an anti-hero is a tough thing. From my experience, it helps if you give them a layer beyond the whole amoral badass thing. Wolverine and Batman both have younger sidekicks that they act parental to for instance, and Han Solo was balanced by the rest of an ensemble cast consisting of a whiny farmboy-turned-messianic samurai, a bitchy princess and a wookie. Hell, Dirty Harry went through how many token sidekicks? Find some backdoor way to humanize the character.

Beyond that, it's just a matter of personal tastes. Your friend's probably jaded by seeing one too many antiheroes, since there really aren't a lot of true, honest-to-god heroes running around anymore.

As for multi-character storylines...it depends on the size of the cast.

For a small cast, you can get away with just picking one character and sticking to their perspective 90% of the time. For a larger cast, it depends on how many are redshirts and how many are actual people. For a really big cast, you need to decide early on who your core characters are and then try to stick with them; everyone else is pretty much expendable.

[Lodekai]

Hmm... actually first person writing might not be a bad way to go with Liquid. Since she's grudging to reveal herself to anyone, even a vague third party audience, maybe just showing how she herself sees things would give an appropriate window into her mind.

((This is LI is that isn't obvious))