Your favorite kind of character and that thing you hate.

#1
Describe you favorte kind of character, and the kind of character you hate. It can be a common archetype, personality, background, or even your preferred bust size.

My favorite types:

- A young talent. A character which has potential to be a very capable person. Has decent skill and a good head, but far from the best. Perhaps also a bit idealistic.

- World-weary adult. A capable adult too tired to change the world. This character knows things but too jaded to do anything more than what nneed to be done to survive and keep the loved ones safe. Probably a mentor.

Those I hate:

- OP character. Especially if said character is a annoying idealist or easily bring about rapid revolutions with minimal problem or opposition. Bonus hate point if those revolutionss are so basic people should have figureed it out ages ago. They don't look strong or smart, they just got plot bonus and make everyone else stupid.

- Fan(Author) service character. It's ok to have  beautiful girls and handsome men around, but skimpy dressed giant breast cat eared loli with zero sexual awareness is just too much.

RE: Your favorite kind of character and that thing you hate.

#2
the kind of character i hate is probably
-pathetic, whinny

-don't use their heads to analyze the situations around them (in most case, well, stories actually doesn't really have plots, scenes, etc. that require MCs to use their head instead of being 'heroic')

-MC that keeps on winning thanks to plot armor+willpower

-MC that can't do things 100%-ly, in other word, plot armor for antagonists

-o'-rightegous

-idealistic

-OP, like Ominipotent type of OP, OP but not 'being able to solve everything while acting 'kool'' is no problem

-dense as fk for apparently no reason (typical JP's LN/WN MCs)

-no balls MC (the type that don't 'eat food' eventhough it's served in front of their noses)

-(>3-4)harem MC (though it's more because of how shallow those harem fictions often turn out to be)

-moral high-ground MC (mostly because of how cliche' it's and how ppl often use certain developments over and over to describe those morals)
e.g: i must free the slaves, i must hate slavers, i must treat slaves so damn well, and when slaves offer themselves to me, i've got to refuse because i 've high moral and i'm 'kool'
e.g: someone betrayed me but because of some circumstance, oh, i'm forgiving, let's all forget about it
etc.
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what i like a character to be? well, anything without those that i hate

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it's actually really depends on how the fictions go, is the character developments simply bad? or is the materials that they use, to desribe the MC just simply cliche' or insensible? or eveything just shallow?

RE: Your favorite kind of character and that thing you hate.

#3
Writing a realistic 'idealist' would be quite a challenge. Many idealist in the real world uphold the idea while also know its problem.

For example: Slavery. Realistic informed idealist would be aware of the social dependance of slavery and the problem from abolishing slavery too quickly (Sudden huge number of unskilled people who never planned their lives and don't know how to leave.) They also should be able to argue against slavery with more than just repeating 'slavery is cruel'. They could grudgingly let slavery continues because they cannot do anything about it or push to a better planned abolision of slavery.

RE: Your favorite kind of character and that thing you hate.

#4
What do I like in a character?

A likable character doesn't need to be a likable person, I think depth and purpose are more important. A character can be irritating at times, maybe a bit random, so are people, it's interesting to delve deeper into a character than two sentences of character-concept. If a character can somehow influence my emotions, it's already a good character. Even if said characters irritate me. I may grind my teeth by times, I may get frustrated, but that's still much better than the "Actually, I don't care."-attitude.

Though a good character imo should have a purpose in the story, other than being deadweight for the others. If you're constantly asking yourself, why a certain character is there, it's hard to excuse. I saw an old cartoon recently, there was that typical annoying character, who does more bad than go- well, the only good thing he did were to cover his own mistakes, though he was on the MC's team. I was always wondering: They may be friends, but that one couldn't carry his own weight, it'd be better for him and the goal to let that character do something entirely else. Especially since there was no growth there...

Growth is another good keyword: I like growing characters. Just a personal reference. Doesn't need to be a straight growth, set-backs, bad phases, stubborness and other hindrances are all great, as long as it's headed to "being more."



What I don't like?

Well, not that much of a fan of OP-MCs, that aren't gag-related. It usually leads that the character feels cheap, as most people around them actually earned their power, they tend to bully people at some point (especially those "koolz"), and beating people up with such a difference in power just feels like bullying. Though most antagonists start to use cheap methods by themselves so that the MC won't be judged as harshly. Sadly, with great power doesn't come great consciousness.

I also dislike the token love-interest. Mostly, because it's often the same character-type in small variations, and those characters fall apart the moment you take "is in love with" or "is desired by" from the whole equation. If it's done well and the characters are characters beyond being love interests, I tend to like them. Especially if they also have to work hard for the affection they want to have.



For me, a good character is more defined by the way they're written than what personalities they bring to the story. I know that I like clichés, I think they're cliché because they're likable for many. Though just because you start from a cliché, it doesn't mean to stop there. Make the characters wholesome! ;)

RE: Your favorite kind of character and that thing you hate.

#5
'kentusrpg' pid='827655' dateline='1504643916' Wrote: A likable character doesn't need to be a likable person, I think depth and purpose are more important. A character can be irritating at times, maybe a bit random, so are people, it's interesting to delve deeper into a character than two sentences of character-concept. If a character can somehow influence my emotions, it's already a good character. Even if said characters irritate me. I may grind my teeth by times, I may get frustrated, but that's still much better than the "Actually, I don't care."-attitude.

lol. I hope more readers realize this for themselves.
Check my fictions
"Invincible"
"Gamer of the Dead"
And the newest  "Slam No Basuke"

RE: Your favorite kind of character and that thing you hate.

#6
'Tanaka Tomoyuki' pid='827661' dateline='1504672265' Wrote:
'kentusrpg' pid='827655' dateline='1504643916' Wrote: Growth is another good keyword: I like growing characters. Just a personal reference. Doesn't need to be a straight growth, set-backs, bad phases, stubborness and other hindrances are all great, as long as it's headed to "being more."

I also dislike the token love-interest. Mostly, because it's often the same character-type in small variations, and those characters fall apart the moment you take "is in love with" or "is desired by" from the whole equation. If it's done well and the characters are characters beyond being love interests, I tend to like them. Especially if they also have to work hard for the affection they want to have.

I hope you realize that Kenta and Kyou need to grow because...to be honest, you seem to have kept them quite the same and made their relationship very stagnant and repetitive, using the same cliches of abuse and chastising over and over again. And you seem to reset any development each volume in favor of said slapstick cliches of Kyou abusing Kenta, and neither of them seem to grow. You might want to take that advice and also apply it to your own story.

And I have to say...your other heroines appear to be the token love interests themselves.

Of course, I stopped reading your story quite some time ago, so maybe you have realized that and changed and developed the characters, but I remember they were quite stagnant even in volume 3, and the "token love interest" or harem member 2 in volume 2 turned me off.

While I don't mind the criticism, this is not the place to discuss my story, so if you're interested into what I do with my story and why I disagree with you, send me a PM, and we can talk in a more appropriate setting.

This is a thread about what you like or dislike about a character, and your reply doesn't add anything to this topic.

RE: Your favorite kind of character and that thing you hate.

#7
'Tanaka Tomoyuki' pid='827663' dateline='1504675535' Wrote: I just found it odd that you claim to like growth and dislike token romantic interests when the first seems missing in your story and the second is present. I just thought it's related to the topic because it has something to do with the characters you like and dislike.

If you disagree, then that's fine, I'll assume you rewrote or made a lot of changes during the period I stopped reading. That means I have a lot to catch up on.
Well, I guess you like my characters enough to consider to re-read or continue my story, if I were to rewrite it, even though you've decided to drop it. Thank you for this investment into my characters. ;)

What kind of characters do you like?

RE: Your favorite kind of character and that thing you hate.

#8
(A favorite kind of character and that 'thing' I hate... I assume the 'thing' doesn't refer to just characters ;)

I am heavily invested when it comes to characters. If a character can play with my emotions, then I applaud and keep reading.
(I do admit, I have a weakness for a romantic sub-plot.)

That said, I am also a tough audience for writing style, and what I just cannot enjoy anymore is a novel with both: "too much telling" and "passive voice". (Telling is boring and passive voice just makes the story move WAY too slow for me.)
Sometimes I can still enjoy a story with one or the other, but never both.

RE: Your favorite kind of character and that thing you hate.

#9
'Chiisutofupuru' pid='827671' dateline='1504703942' Wrote: That said, I am also a tough audience for writing style, and what I just cannot enjoy anymore is a novel with both: "too much telling" and "passive voice". (Telling is boring and passive voice just makes the story move WAY too slow for me.)
Sometimes I can still enjoy a story with one or the other, but never both.

Well, I guess it's hard to avoid telling much in a novel, since there is no "show"-element.

But I also don't like to be dictated what to think about a character, or that the subjective perspective of the narrator is always the actual standard of the story, I like to try to change perspectives and if I have the feeling, that my own image and the narrator's image differ, but are still somewhat logical, I applaus the writer for making a character more complex than the narration tells.
Maybe it'd be worth an own thread, what we like or dislike in writing style and why. :D

RE: Your favorite kind of character and that thing you hate.

#10
Like -

  • I have a strong preference for villains and anti-heroes.

  • Sometimes like yanderes when it comes to anime/manga--depends on the level of crazy though.

  • Would like to see more male yandere characters.

  • Bloodthirsy characters.

  • "Rough around the edges" types of characters - male or female.

  • Sassy, witty characters.

  • Intelligent characters--especially ones who could become the bad guy with the right push.

  • Characters who do terrible things for the "right" reasons.

  • Emotionally complex characters.

  • Hot/badass guys (just being honest here. xD)

Dislike -

  • Characters with a lack of consistency

  • Characters whose actions don't make sense--or worse, are contradictory to their established personality.

  • Goody two-shoes. (Can stomach it if this changes throughout the course of character growth, but I usually only stick with these type of stories in order to root for the villain tbh.)

  • Sheltered characters.

  • Overly innocent characters.

  • Naive (especially willingly-so) characters.

  • Willingly ignorant characters.

  • One-dimensional characters (male or female.)

  • Characters who lean to far to an extreme--such as characters who are either 100% emotionless, or characters who are nothing but a ball of emotion. I can't relate to super emotional characters, but I also can't relate to characters whose emotional capacity is equal to that of a sidewalk.

  • Super religious characters (spiritual is fine, but I stay away from stories and characters that seem to have heavy religious undertones or seem to be trying to convert people.)

  • Characters who are smart enough to know they're being abused, but stay with the abuser anyway.

  • Characters that torture animals.

  • Characters that are somehow like...12 different races all at once.

I could go on and on, but that covers most of the big ones I can think of off the top of my head.

I'm also with Chiisu on being difficult to please when it comes to writing style, but not for the same reasons. I have a hard time turning "editor mode" off in my head when I sit down to read something. If there are too many mistakes or odd phrasings, it becomes distracting and detracts from the story for me. Since I don't often have a chance to read it frustrates me when I have to re-read a sentence many times over to determine what the author actually meant.

I can give it a pass, to some degree, if the author is young and/or are still in the process of learning English--and I'm often happy to help.

That said, not everyone is open or willing to accept corrections. I have been yelled at or cursed at for offering to help people before, or for pointing out typos. Regardless of how nicely I do it. So, I've stopped doing that unless I know the person or the author notes include and open invitation for corrections.
Looking for stuff to read? Click below to navigate to my stories.

https://i.imgur.com/r6iTizF.jpg

RE: Your favorite kind of character and that thing you hate.

#11
Hm... characters I like.

I like the world weary old person. Who's done their amount of fuckups, but learned from them. They don't necessarily have to be moral paragons, but such a person usually comes with a certain wisdom that prevents excesses.

I also like characters that start out as the average person and whose rise to power, prominence or infamy is actually somewhat restricted and determined by the abilities they should have. Basically people playing on a hard mode that's determined by more than just the power of their foes, but also the environment they have to deal with.


Character traits I hate...

Honestly I loathe sociopath protagonists. For some reason tagged as "anti-hero-lead" here. A rabid murderhobo isn't an anti-hero it's a villain-protagonist. An anti-hero is a person that's unqualified for the role of a hero thrust in such a position. Ron Weasley as opposed to Tom Riddle. Anyway, I like characters come with a minimum of morals and more respect for life than the average gamer has for mobs.

Otherwise I dislike genius protagonists. I either can't connect to them as a reader or it comes off like someone playing on easy-mode.

Finally a character should be more than just a raging asshole filled with flaws. I like flawed characters, but it should be balanced with likeable attributes and attitudes.

RE: Your favorite kind of character and that thing you hate.

#12
Like:
This one kinda spoils many of my stories, but... xD
Completely unassuming, crazy, super OP (by far the strongest of the world) secondary character. Extra points if s/he is old. For example: An old beggar who can't even walk without a cane going around saying he is by far the strongest, people look at him like "WTF? You can't even walk without help." Then he kicks everyone's ass. It's not that fun if he is the MC, so it has to be a secondary character. (So the MC also thinks "WTF is this old man saying?" Or he can believe him and have him as a mentor) Someone has to be the strongest on the planet, so it's best if s/he is a janitor who is sealing his powers or an old beggar (Think about it, how can a crazy beggar survive in a world full of constant attacks and wars living on the streets until such an old age? Well, it makes sense if he's the strongest man on the planet).

Any mentally unstable OP character. (A more general one than the previous, and I like it less than the previous, but still love it) Extra points if it's not the MC.

Dislike:
Characters that self sacrifice for things not worth their sacrifice. It's okay if it's something important for them, like their girlfriend/lover, a cat, the world, their cause, but if it's for anything... Worse if they expect or encourage others to sacrifice for anything. For example: "OMG, the guy who abused my girlfriend is going to die, I need to sacrifice myself to save him!" ... Nah, just let him die, he deserves it. x: Even if it's a random guy on the street you don't know. Unless the character is certain he isn't at that much risk, he should let him die, no need to treat his life as if it wasn't worth anything.

Inconsistent characters, unless there is a reason for it. (In which case they aren't really inconsistent. It's just that the reader doesn't know it)

I also don't like bad grammar. But that's not a character.

RE: Your favorite kind of character and that thing you hate.

#13
Favourites: Totally useless characters that by rights should not be able to accomplish anything meaningful, so more interesting plot happenings have to occur to allow for any kind of progression. Although I'm not too fussed if there's no progression from the lovably hopeless and I'll gladly read of their enduring determination in the face of constant failure.

Larger-than-life characters. I love it when they're packed full of personality, even to the point of being an archetypal caricature (not so much stereotypes though).

Hideous characters. There's not enough of them. They're usually safe from flimsy romance sub-plots that undo many others, and it's just more interesting in general when everyone isn't a total babe.

Comic relief characters. They have saved many narratives and are usually so undervalued.

Not so fond of: ANGSTY, TOO EDG3, miserable-backstory-cliche sympathy grab characters, especially as mains. They're exhausting.

'Chosen one, nobody help me' characters that whine about how hard it is having their responsibilities but every time someone offers to help, they shut them down and mope some more.

Self-righteous characters that never listen to anyone else.

Characters that writers have tried so hard to make fully relatable and "realistic" that they're just hollow shells with absolutely no personality at all. I'd rather have a character who is interesting but I don't relate to than one that is completely bland.

RE: Your favorite kind of character and that thing you hate.

#14
Well this is a large field. There's a lot of archetypes to speak of, but I took the time to think about it and narrow down my list.

What I like is conflicted characters. I like reading an idealist's monologue, only to find themselves betraying their own ideals because the circumstance forced their hand. A smart person who knows what the right thing to do is, but does the opposite because they can't control their emotions. A heartless devil that does whatever needs to be done for the greater good, only to find his long-lost emotions come back to drag him into insanity.
I like watching those characters change, whether for the better or for the worse, as they are swept by what the world pushed unto them. Maybe they turn good, or maybe they turn a villain. I don't care much about their personal views. It's the fact that they can't control anything that makes me identify with them.
Paul Redeker from Max Brook's WWZ is the third example; a genius who buried his emotions to deal with the violence he saw daily, called a devil because of the plan he made to sacrifice thousands to save the human race, only to break down into the psych wards because Nelson Fucking Mandela hugged him.

What I don't like is unconflicted characters. Not much explanation needed; characters that stay the same without any major change throughout the entirety of the story. Sadly, this is the majority of main characters in the stories I see, especially in the Young Adult genre and WNs/LNs. I suppose there's a reason why they call it "light" novel.
https://image.ibb.co/fLhqAH/Fay_and_Friends.gif << Clicky!

RE: Your favorite kind of character and that thing you hate.

#15
Types of characters I like:

- Thoughtful - Things before doing something and doesn't act on impulse.
- Considerate - Considers those around him and things before doing.
- Hardworking- Posses a certain goal that they want to achieve and works hard for it.
- Mercilessly Intelligent- I don't know what word to use this but I hate when a character lets their enemies go and those enemies predictably come back. Just kill them or something.


Characters I hate:
- Annoying children- Those who act like they are kids whilst being grown. Unable to let things go or making a huge deal out of dumb little things.
- Stupid- Acting on impulse over everything. Either both when fighting or meeting other people.
- Too Nice- I like the main character too, although be nice to certain people in his life, know that there are enemies and bad people out there.
- Op For No Reason- No work, they just walk and increase strength at every step they take.

RE: Your favorite kind of character and that thing you hate.

#16
I like character with depth, that grow during the story "realistically". I like when traumatic events that happen to them leave scars, but the character still has the strength to overcome the ordeal and heal, but changes and mature along the way.

Many character from "Legend of Korra" are my favorite. Korra and Asami are the one I like the most.
Troubled characters from GOT. Jaime Lannister in the first place.


I also like characters that are overpowered beyond belief. I like to see their inner perception of the world completely clash with the perceptions others have of them.

Ainz from Overlord is a prime example. In his mind he is a good guy trying to spread his name. His minions sees him as god with unfathomable wisdom. Every other inhabitant of that world percieve him as an irreversible threat that cannot be opposed. And he is so overpowered that nobody can do anything about him. Like a force of nature.

Saitama from One Punch man is another, Shiro from Kumo Desu, Shin from New Gate, etc...


I'm trying to write a character that is a combination of the two categories in my story.
https://www.royalroadcdn.com/reyadawnbri...TcjPAk.jpg
Twilight Over Arcania - My take on the resurrection theme

RE: Your favorite kind of character and that thing you hate.

#18
Favorite Types
- The calculative and mercilessness character. Someone who plans ahead and act cruel when it calls for it.
- Anti-heroes. Someone whose in the grey area, do what s/he wants within their limits.
- Redeemable characters. I do enjoy seeing characters who realizes their wrongs and tried whole-heartily to make things right. Or someone who can get past or recovers from their trauma and gain strength from it.
- Vengeful characters. People whose sole purpose in life was to destroy someone else or get back at someone. Filled with hate and malice. Well, only if it was justified.
- Yandere. Because how crazy they can be.


Hated Types
- Wimpy/whinny MCs who has the power to make a change or do something positive but didn't do jack sh*t.
- Women who threw themselves to MCs. They did something nice or solve your problem on a whim and the girls will fling themselves to MC. Hated especially if the MC was unimpressive, uncaring, and/or cowardly.  
- Characters who were willing and knowingly to be manipulated.
- Characters who were nobles. From what I been reading, most of them were written to be corrupted and done heinous inhumane things. These the characters I love to hate, at the same time I wished to see less of them.