Brooke Reviews

This is the seventh installment of my New Novel blog series. Last week I wrote about making an unlikable protagonist sympathetic. 

I’ve been slowly but surely plodding along on this first draft of my new novel. I feel comfortable with my character’s voice and I enjoy writing from her POV. My supporting characters are interesting. The story is always on my mind. All good things, #amiright?

So I recently shared an important scene with my writers group because I needed some feedback. Something didn’t feel right but I didn’t know how to fix it. Long story short, their advice was to add more emotion to the scene.

When I revised the scene with their advice in mind, I was super excited about the result. *I don’t typically revise as I’m drafting, because I think it’s important to just keep writing and to keep moving forward. But adding to this scene was necessary to regaining my momentum.

Let me tell you what emotion is NOT. Emotion is not melodrama. If your character is angry or upset, he/she does not need to sob or fall weak-kneed to the floor in order for you to get this across.

So what is emotion? It’s what your character is thinking/feeling at any given moment. It’s your character’s reaction to being fired from his/her job, or meeting a new friend, or losing a loved one. Reaction is key.

WHY is the emotional aspect important? WHY should we give the reaction more attention/emphasis? I’ll give you 3 reasons.

If your reader does not feel connected to your protagonist, if they could care less about your protagonist’s situation, they’re likely to stop reading. This is especially important for me to remember because my protagonist, Gwen, is somewhat unlikable at the beginning. (I wrote about this predicament last week!)

So when I shared the latest scene with my group, they told me Gwen wasn’t really internalizing her feelings. Readers want to know what your POV character is thinking and feeling, and internalization is key.

They pointed out a few strategic places where I could amp up Gwen’s emotional reaction. For example, they were interested to know what was going on in Gwen’s head when she began interacting with another character.

The scene was important to me because it directly followed the inciting incident of Act 1. Therefore, this scene is largely about Gwen’s reaction to the inciting incident (the event that sets the story in motion!).

I received this comment from one of my group members: “Let 1st impression/reaction [to character x] show how things have changed.”

While writing the scene, I’d forgotten that everything Gwen is experiencing should be colored by the events of the inciting incident. She has a new perspective on her situation and the other characters. Therefore, she’ll make different decisions based on new information. She’ll be asking new questions. And as Gwen is processing her emotions, I have to tie it all back to the plot.

You don’t want to tell your reader that your protagonist is angry or upset or excited. Rather, show your character reacting emotionally.

In the scene, my protagonist Gwen is exhausted and annoyed. She’s still reacting to the inciting incident of the story, and she isn’t given much time to process it before she’s thrust into another surprising situation. So now she’s angry. In my head, I could visualize Gwen’s anger/anxiety and her resulting facial expressions. But it was difficult translating this into words.

My writers group recommended The Emotion Thesaurus. The thesaurus lists the physical signals, internal sensations, and mental responses associated with 75 separate emotions. For example, the book reminded me that someone who is angry might be sweating, cracking their knuckles, glaring, breathing noisily, or baring their teeth. Internal sensations include grinding one’s teeth, quivering muscles, a speeding pulse. I could then choose the “tells” that made sense for my character.

Hope this helps! Have you faced similar challenges? Please share your thoughts! As always, feel free to contact me if you have a question. 🙂

YA is populated with extremely flawed, sometimes “unlikable” characters. We grew tired of the seemingly perfect protagonists, so we were introduced to characters like Katniss Everdeen and Beatrice Prior, who are atypical because they’re guarded and tough and blunt – but no less heroic.

These characters can be difficult to write. We have to be careful not to turn our readers away. Rather, we want to draw them deeper into the story.

So how do we take protagonists with unlikable traits and make them sympathetic? *Notice I don’t use the term ‘likable’, because likability isn’t really the issue. We’re after characters who are layered, sympathetic, heroic.

My current work in progress is about a girl named Gwen who is rather spoiled, conceited, and somewhat selfish. While she’s incredibly fun to write, I have to be sure my reader will care enough about her to keep reading and experience Gwen’s growth.

I believe there are three important aspects to writing the unlikable yet sympathetic protagonist, and that’s what I’ve kept in mind while drafting Act 1 of my novel:

Arrogance and selfishness – not a great combination of traits for a YA heroine. I want to show my reader that Gwen is not a total jerk. So I introduce a little boy Gwen has a soft spot for and is fiercely protective of. They’re not related, but he’s like a little brother to her. When he’s hurt in the first few pages of the draft, Gwen rushes to his side to be sure he’s okay. She’s rude to everyone along the way, but it’s clear that she really cares for this boy.

Your protagonist can’t be a lost cause. Your reader has to recognize your protagonist’s potential, and often this means giving your character a desire for change/growth.

Gwen recognizes her flaws and has a desire to change, but she doesn’t quite know how to go about this in the beginning. The reader will be much more willing to accept Gwen for all her faults especially if she herself admits to being a huge pain. I think it’s so much worse when a person is horrible but thinks they’re God’s gift to society. (That’s just annoying. You’ve met people like that before, right?)

I’m talking about backstory. WHY is your protagonist selfish / conceited / rude / angry / bitter / guarded / fearful? What has caused them to be this way? We don’t want to give our characters excuses, per se, but realistically your character would have been influenced by something or someone in his/her past. (Again, this doesn’t justify the behavior, merely offers an explanation.) After all, the reader wants to sympathize with your character. Reveal backstory on a need-to-know basis, giving up bits and pieces at a time.

Gwen grew up without her parents (yes, I know it’s cliche). But she’s privileged and favored, and consequently has no friends because everyone hates her for it. (I’m trying not to give too much away, but there’s a bit more to it than that.) In short, she’s lonely, but can’t seem to help pushing others away.

Hope this helps! Have you ever struggled to write an unlikable but sympathetic character? What was your strategy, and what did you learn? Tell me more about your character(s) and how you made them sympathetic. Also, I’d be happy to answer any questions!

Thanks for reading,
Brooke H

WIP update: 8,983 words