Comments on: What Makes a Character Likable?

By: Grenac

Grenac — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 05:27:55 +0000

Ick, I almost made Ianthe a whiner without realizing it. Good thing I changed her in time

By: B. Mac

B. Mac — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 16:19:33 +0000

By: Blatter

Blatter — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 12:45:50 +0000

Is there any article I can find that goes in depth into how to make your character “not” a Mary/Gary- Sue? All I can find are questionnaires to see if you’ve already made the blunder. An in depth character design article that specifies on Anti-Mary-Sueyness would be ideal but something similar will do.
Hope somone will help.

By: Wings

Wings — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 01:09:30 +0000

@HiddenTiger

Depends on the powers, I’d think. If it’s a directly physical thing, like giant wings or super strength, then it might seem kind of illogical for it to spontaneously appear at a certain age – that seems like something that would develop better young. Mental abilities, though, could work better if developed older.

- Wings

By: B. Mac

B. Mac — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 00:43:22 +0000

Well, you know the universe you’re planning a lot better than I do. Personally, I’m fond of characters that are more inexperienced with their powers and superheroics because I think they’re usually more relatable. Additionally, a character that is newer to the world of superheroics will gradually learn what’s going on, which helps the readers naturally learn for themselves what’s going on.

Finally, I think that a newer character has higher obstacles to overcome within his team. A character newer to the team is probably going to have to fight harder for acceptance and learn the ropes than, say, a longtime veteran or team leader. (One interesting twist: What if the team leader is new?*)

*For example, in real life an American ROTC graduate becomes a 2nd lieutenant and may command a platoon of ~40 men at the age of ~22, even though he has considerably less military experience (none!) than all of his noncommissioned officers and most of his enlisted men. In business, an outsider may be brought in as an executive (which will surely annoy any subordinates that had been competing for the job themselves). In the police, someone may be brought in from Unit A to lead Unit B, particularly if the police leaders do not like the way Unit B was running. There are a lot of dramatic obstacles for the outsider to overcome before he/she can win over the team.

By: HiddenTiger

HiddenTiger — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 16:29:57 +0000

Right now I’m trying to figure out what age heroes develop their powers at, etc. Most novels and comic books seem to have their abilities develop around puberty, but that would be difficult for the universe I’m planning. Do you think I should have the powers develop young, seven years of age upwards, or older at ten or eleven years old?

By: B. Mac

B. Mac — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 10:21:19 +0000

Ah, your explanation of “active” makes more sense–I think that’s a pretty good in-story reason why it falls mainly to teens to save the world.

By: HiddenTiger

HiddenTiger — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 06:27:32 +0000

Thank you for that, I’ll fix it up! However, an explanation of the ‘active’ thing- in the universe I am writing, heroes are unable to work past their twenties due to health problems arising from their powers. The retired heroes usually return to normal life or help mentor younger heroes.

By: B. Mac

B. Mac — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 03:09:01 +0000

Hello, HiddenTiger! Some thoughts and suggestions:

Are you writing a novel or comic book?

“Ember is a sixteen year old heroine with bright red hair. Ember is tall and thin, with dark brown eyes and light white skin.” I’d recommend against leading with visual details like this because I don’t think they develop the character all that well. Relatedly, I think that colors tend not to be very interesting unless they somehow show us something important about the character. For example, why does it matter that her eyes are brown instead of green?

“She is… so calm she borders on emotionlessness.” I really like this! It suggests that her calmness might be both an asset and a flaw. I think this makes for a better lead because it’s interesting and does a better job introducing her than the colors of her features.

“She has a dry, witty sense of humor, in which she points out flaws in proposed plans.” I think you might be able to show her sense of humor more, perhaps by giving an example of one of the flaws she points out.

“She is a tough fighter, but overly cautious and careful, refusing to do anything without planning it out first.” Could maybe be more active. Maybe something like “She is a tough fighter, but overly cautious and bad at improvizing.”

–”She is the oldest active hero.” Active feels a bit strange here. Would “She is the team’s oldest hero” fit?

–Since the character has enhanced speed, I think you probably don’t need to mention the reflexes. (I don’t think I’ve ever encountered a speedster without great reflexes).

–The combination of superspeed and superstrength may make it difficult to challenge her. Greatly diluting one or the other (so that she’s a pretty strong speedster or a pretty fast tank) might lead to more interesting fights.

–”Slaughter is a fifteen year old villain whose mind has snapped.” Since the character’s mind snapping seems pretty significant, it may help to briefly explain what happened.

“With long black hair, tinged green skin and light brown eyes…” The green skin helps create a creepy impression, but I don’t think it’s important enough to mention this early. Also, I don’t think the long black hair or brown eyes are as interesting.

–There seems to be a bit of a discrepancy between Slaughter’s mind having snapped and her being an intelligent mercenary. It might be more interesting if she had a goal beyond money?

–”Slaughter is a fifteen year old villain… Slaughter was once a heroine alongside Ember until she vanished. Years later, she reemerged…” So how old would she have been when she started out as a hero?

–There seems to be a lot going on here in terms of traits (untrustworthy/deceitful, ruthless, intelligent, linguistic, hot-tempered, homicidal, sharp-tongued). I would recommend focusing on a few that matter the most. In a synopsis of this length, I don’t think the languages or deceitfulness need to be mentioned. (Unless deceitfulness is a crucial aspect of the character, like Wormtongue or Iago or a congressman, I think it’s covered by ruthless).

–I think most editors can figure out what you mean by “pyromanipulation,” but if this is a novel, I would recommend simplifying it to just “the ability to control fire.” It feels more natural, I think.

–I think you can cut “capable of making her hands heat up and glow,” because 1) the glowing doesn’t sound very important and 2) heating up her hands seems a bit redundant by her ability to manipulate fire.

By: HiddenTiger

HiddenTiger — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 21:45:39 +0000

I’m writing a new superhero story, and I was wondering if these characters are any good. Thanks.

Ember is a sixteen year old heroine with bright red hair. Ember is tall and thin, with dark brown eyes and light white skin. She is elegant and collected, so calm she borders on emotionlessness. She has a dry, witty sense of humor, in which she points out flaws in proposed plans. She is a tough fighter, but overly cautious and careful, refusing to do anything without planning it out first. She is the oldest active hero, who is emotiannaly scarred from her brother betraying her. She locks herself away from other people, and refuses to make lasting relationships. Her powers are flight, enhanced speed, super strength and reflexes.

Slaughter is a fifteen year old villain whose mind has snapped. With long black hair, tinged green skin and light brown eyes, Slaughter was once a heroine alongside Ember until she vanished. Years later, she reemerged as Slaughter and proceeded to kill as many people as possible for unknown reasons. Slaughter is untrustworthy, deceitful and ruthless, as well as intelligent. She is skilled with weaponry and speaks three languages fluently. She is hot tempered and volatile, with a sharp tongue. Slaughter is usually a mercenary rather then planning any schemes of her own; she helps other villains as a sidekick. Her powers are pyromanipulation, super strength, and cabable of making her hands heat up and glow.

By: The ReTARDISed Whovian

The ReTARDISed Whovian — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 08:23:04 +0000

Wings:

I love that part. I also found the scene before that hilarious, where (Spoilers) Zuko is practicing his speech about how he is good to a frog, and when he utterly fails the frog jumps on his head. I laughed so hard at that, but I don’t know why. Also, in a later episode, they are all around a campfire.

Aang says: This is just like old times.

Zuko: If you really want it to feel like old times again, I could… chase you around for a while and try to capture you.

I liked Zuko in the first couple of seasons, but he quickly became my favourite in season three. I loved seeing all his character development; how he changed from being obsessed with honour and violent to a somewhat more cheery guy who joked around a little. He had a few Crowning Moments of Awesome, too.

Also the amount of crap they get past the radar in that show. TVTropes has a long list.

(End spoilers)

By: Luna Jamnia

Luna Jamnia — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 23:32:43 +0000

Same, RB!

By: Ragged Boy

Ragged Boy — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 22:21:35 +0000

I’m still without internet. I’m just dropping by to say hello and let everyone know I’m still alive. Good luck in whatever everyone is doing!

By: Wings

Wings — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 19:56:46 +0000

I actually watched an Avatar marathon the other day (I was really, really bored) and did find some of the scenes during *spoiler* Zuko’s Heel Face Turn rather funny, it showed off a side of him that, being an ultra-serious villain, we never saw before.

Why am I so bad at being good!?!

- Wings, with a seriously weird sense of humor

By: Tom

Tom — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 10:51:39 +0000

Okay, maybe protagonists should have good intentions, but that’s definitely not the case for villains. It’s easy to make a likable villain who has no good intentions (see Sylar, he just wants braaaaaaains).