So, lately, I've been thinking about the idea of having a protagonist that is not only unlikable, but dislikable. A protagonist that the reader may connect with, but not necessarily in a way that they like. I thought this might be a message tool, to get the reader thinking about the same questions that the protagonist has. For example, I recently started a story using this type of protagonist (at least, I'm trying), and she has a certain viewpoint that is flawed, but --hopefully--opens questions to readers.

So, I guess I have a couple starter questions for this topic. Has anyone else ever done this? Do you think it will work, or, perhaps, the reader will not properly connect to the protagonist and find the story boring. Thoughts?


Oh, and I should mention that I'm trying this out in first-person POV.

I've seen this concept done before. I think to keep people interested you have to make them like that character first and then show them the bad side. If you start off being angry with that character then you won't really care what happens to them as much and the book won't hold as much. Also avoid making it so we just feel bad for them because of those flaws. That takes away from the fact that they have to change and makes the reader blame the situation more. Okay, that's all I've got. Hope it helps

I have done this before, sort of unintentionally. One of my protagonists - Gavin - has some very ominous flaws and when I started writing him I didn't exactly intend to make him this kind of character, but he turned out that way despite.

I have always read books that do similar things, I think it works very well. It is a good concept.

Thank you, both. I'm currently trying to separate the character from the situation in the reader's perception, so that it's apparent that even though she was treated wrongly, her actions are still wrong, too. The hardest part seems to be keeping it from going over the top. I keep thinking of mean things she could do, but I don't want to make it seem unrealistic.

That is true. People aren't usually just 100% mean. I say it sounds like an interesting concept, though.

I second what Riniel wrote, too.

eru

In one of my books my protagonist is not at all nice, he changes though. If I would have someone be "evil" I would definetly have them turn over at some point of the book.