NOT the protagonist.

[GodlyFantasy12]

Quick question!

Does anyone else find themselves liking a character in your WIPs that isn’t the MC better then the MC?

I find myself in that position sometimes, like now for instance, as I outline my large fantasy series.

I find myself liking a secondary character (who does have a POV) a bit more then I do the protagonist.

Perhaps it is because she’s just more fun to imagine and write? Or because of my big plans for her *retreats into the shadows, laughing maniacally*

 

 

Ahem. Anyway, thought I’d see what everyone else thinks about this and if anyone else has the same problem? Sometimes I think (for certain books) it takes a while for you to really understand/love the MC, so we tend to drift to side characters, villains, etc.

 

(And sometimes it’s just cuz we like them better 😂😂)

#IfMarcelDiesIRiot
#ProtectMarcel
#ProtectSeb

[Alien and Sojourner in a Foreign Land]

@godlyfantasy12 (Hello, too, ya know.) I have this problem all the time.

[Alien and Sojourner in a Foreign Land]

*cough* I mean, yes, I have this problem all the time. Unfortunately, sometimes I enjoy side characters more than main characters. Which can develop into a problem, as you might imagine. They end up being the most heart-felt characters in the story, especially when they die off. This just happened very recently…sad, very sad…he’s doomed, but still so hopeful, looking for a better future than the sorrow in his past. Oh, well. He gone. *goblin laugh*

[GodlyFantasy12]

@leon-fleming

XD. But yea, it can be a bit of a problem, luckily I had an idea the other day that made the MC a lot more likeable.

likeabler? 😂

 

I think some of it’s because this secondary character is a bit more fun, and I do have big plans for her later.

also I thought of her before the MC so….there’s that.

#IfMarcelDiesIRiot
#ProtectMarcel
#ProtectSeb

[Alien and Sojourner in a Foreign Land]

@godlyfantasy12 Yeah; great, then! I don’t really know half my main characters, unfortunately. I focus too much on side characters for improving the themes, and bringing out a much clearer, finished character arc for the main characters/etc.

Yeah; oh. Well, yeah, there is that, sure. (XD)

[Linyang Zhang]

@godlyfantasy12 As a person whose favorite characters in regular books is always that one really minor villain who gets killed off real fast, I can relate.

What I am about to say only applies true for my main series which I am working on. Not anything else.

See, I have so many characters for this one, and I switch POVs so many times, and the story is really in the plot and not the characters…well, I say I love all my characters equally, just some more than others.

At some point my POV characters are merely there to serve as a POV for what is happening around them. Inner monologue? Nonexistent. I always forget about monologue and feelings.

Anyway, most of my POV characters I created when I was young, so there isn’t much to them. However, the side and villain characters I created when I was old, so they are a bit more complex. I like them a lot. Such trash children. But at some point they will undoubtedly get their own POVs. When it comes to kill of a character that was created for death, I might shed a tear.

One day I shall try writing a book with no minor characters. Just nine named ones. Because after I name a character, there’s no going back. They’re officially a character of mine.

So, yeah. Big problem for me for one work, maybe not that big for smaller works. Also, I think that the more time you spend writing from one character, the more annoying they get, so…

Yeah.

Lately, it's been on my brain
Would you mind letting me know
If hours don't turn into days

[GodlyFantasy12]

@devastate-lasting and @leon-fleming

At least I’m not the only one lol. I think my stories are probably more character driven (and plot driven obviously) because I do like characters a lot.

So…bit of a story here:

I started this one series from Disney Hyperion (can’t remember that name of it at this point so hopefully no one is reading it. XD)

anyway, in the 2nd book they introduced a kid (think he was a kid) and I literally fell in love with him. He was my all time fav from then on.

And guess what.

They killed him in that same book.

I got so upset I cried and got rid of the 2 I owned and haven’t bought anymore.

because while it may have been a minor character to some, He was my fav!!

*takes deep, calming breath*

So I can understand getting attached to a character that’s secondary and then killing him (or her) off.

#IfMarcelDiesIRiot
#ProtectMarcel
#ProtectSeb

[Linyang Zhang]

@godlyfantasy12 The only series I can remember from Hyperion is Percy Jackson but I don’t think anyone important died in Book 2…

(And I don’t even get attached to secondary characters they’re more like third-tier or sixth-tier or something…ahhh)

To be honest if I start liking a character and they don’t die at some point then I start getting a little suspicious…

Lately, it's been on my brain
Would you mind letting me know
If hours don't turn into days

[GodlyFantasy12]

@devastate-lasting

It wasn’t Percy Jackson (Never read that series) it was about these kids who now travel/live underwater cuz of something going on above…

In the 2nd one, that kid’s name was Mako…

Sigh.

You will live on in my memory.

#IfMarcelDiesIRiot
#ProtectMarcel
#ProtectSeb

[Anonymous]

@godlyfantasy12 Just inserting my opinion real quick…

This is not a serious problem. Don’t worry. I, in fact, have an affinity for the one character EVERYONE hates–from the other characters in my books to all my readers. So…

I give almost every single character either a book just for them or a POV in someone else’s, so I don’t usually run into the “I like you way better than my MC” problem, simply because everyone’s a MC or I get to hang out with them just as much as if they were. I do have one book in which I do like a secondary–but POV–character who disappears halfway through the book (but does return in the third in the series as the MC) more than I like the hero and heroine. And I also happened to really like the victim in a murder mystery I’m writing so much so that I had a conversion scene for him before he died so that way he could go to Heaven. So…

I am having an issue in my current WIP, where I like only ONE of my four POV characters. As in, the other three are just exceedingly blah. So, in a way I have the exact same thing going on, but since she’s (1) still a main character to me and (2) a POV and (3) just naturally awesome anyway, it may be different.

@leon-fleming Your poor character. Lord only knows the horrendous torture you put him through…

[GodlyFantasy12]

@gracie-j

So the character I like is actually the 3rd POV character (there’s a total of…Ermmm…7 or 8…..) unless something changes XD

So I’ve got Arabella (Protagonist)
Her best friend November

And then Jocelyn (the one I’m liking a bit more then others)  and her pet/best friend Nyx

And then Grimm

Paxton

Luna

and the villain Corvina.

a lot I know, but if it makes it better, ur introduced to a new POV character each new book (until u reach like the last 3) and unless something changes. So it’s not all 8 POVs in book 1 lol

i like them all A LOT but some a bit more then others, and rn Jocelyn is one of my favs.

so there’s some of my characters even tho u didn’t ask 😂

#IfMarcelDiesIRiot
#ProtectMarcel
#ProtectSeb

[Anonymous]

@godlyfantasy12 That’s fine!

I actually have four first-person POVs in my WIP–currently; that’s subject to change (so, yeah, that’s a lot of Is and mes)–but I’ve done five first-person POVs in one book before.

For my WIP (which is a romance and the third in a series), I’ve got my hero, Keaton.

The heroine, Daisy.

The heroine from the first book, whose POV is in four of the six books in the series, Rina.

Her husband, Xavier.

And, possibly, the POV of the heroine from book 2, Crimson, later in the book.

Maybe the POV of the hero from book 2, Elliot, also later in the book.

And then a whole host of secondary/minor characters who all have just as much personality as the MCs and some of whom eventually get stories/books of their own.

I guess certain characters appeal to us more than others in our books, just as if they were someone else’s, so I wouldn’t say there’s an issue with that. Unless you don’t take the time to develop your main POV character, then you risk your story falling flat. Sometimes it takes switching the POV of the entire book to a different character. There are many books in which the main character’s POV isn’t present at all, and his story is told through the eyes of another character–which is sometimes the narrator and other times just another character walking right alongside the MC.

[GodlyFantasy12]

@gracie-j

True, and at least I’m not the only one with lots of POV characters lol.

I wanna write my big fantasy in third-person, but for my standalone I’m doing first person.

I am finding first person easier for me right now, but really wanna write in 3rd person for my big fantasy series. So hopefully I’ll get better at 3rd person.

#IfMarcelDiesIRiot
#ProtectMarcel
#ProtectSeb

[Linyang Zhang]

@godlyfantasy12 Oh, yeah, definitely use 3rd if you’re gonna have a lot of characters. Am currently using 3rd for my own big fantasy thing and it works way better than 1st.

And am also planning a standalone where I plan on using 1st person! Though I’m alternating between two characters so I don’t know how well I’ll be able to pull of their distinct voices…might switch to third then.

Third person I find is actually easier than 1st! (Or maybe I’ve been stuck in third for too often)… Because for me, 1st person requires you to create a new person and write from their thoughts and feelings, which is hard for me if I have too many characters, and jolting if you switch POVs very, very often. Third, on the other hand, requires almost no need to develop character voice. Or does it? I think it depends on the type of third…

(How large is your large fantasy series, btw? Just curious…)

Lately, it's been on my brain
Would you mind letting me know
If hours don't turn into days

[Anonymous]

@godlyfantasy12 I hadn’t intended to have so many… 😆

I started out writing exclusively in third-person, but first-person works best for my current series. Otherwise, I’m pretty much a strictly third-person writer. First-person is probably more fun for me to write in, since I get to really express who my character is through their individual voice, but third-person is possibly easier…since my voice comes much easier to me already.

I suggest reading books written in third-person to help you get better.

@devastate-lasting So true! First-person has drained me with my DotSS series, since I’m such a stickler for everyone having their own distinctive voice…but once I’ve found it, I’ve always had a LOT of fun writing in it, so…

[Author]

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