This is what I want and what I need is my Project Succession character to feel very three dimensional.
Honestly, I am going to be so real with all of you, I do NOT WANT Aeris to be likable. What I mean is that I want her to feel Aeris feel human in many ways, but relatable and understood in other ways.
Aeris is a non-human creature living on an alien planet. So, I want her to feel like a human being in various ways, but engaging and relatable in other ways. Not just Aeris, but a large majority of the characters, especially the recurring ones. They are more than a trope or stock character with a blank, uninteresting slate personality and character overall.
The thing is Aeris is interesting and engaging, but I don’t want her to be drastically neglected in terms of characteristics in order to be likeable. I prefer if Aeris was understood, at best related to, and readers engage with her character and personality. I mean I would not mind if Aeris was likable and unlikable by different readers, though overall they get her and understand what kind of person she is and her goals.
Aeris along with the other characters are complex, mainly Aeris. She is a doer more than a thinker until she reaches a point where doing and thinking is going to be more substantial. I know giving my characters flaws and obstacles of every kind is worth it, along with focusing on how they handle the situations.
Overall, I don’t want to destroy my characters for the sake of making them super liked, because to be honest, do you like every human being, regardless of their positives and how crazy they are? I mean I am going to explain to you in the best way that I can.
I want them to feel interesting, engaging, understanding, and relatable, but the readers can discern if they are easy to like or dislike based on their actions to what comes their way. I don’t mind if they characters are loved or hated as people, but as characters they are well written and done in an engaging way.
I want my Project Succession characters to feel human, but more so causes readers to look at them like “this is a very interesting character with some complexities that are very engaging to me. I like this character, but it’s not enough love nor hate them.”
DOES ANY OF THIS MAKE SENSE TO YOU? I am curious.
Thoughts and feelings?