Yesterday, in my brick-and-mortar IRL class, we were talking about the fun of writing "bad" characters. Sort of the way actors enjoy playing villains. One class member who's writing about a war photographer in Vietnam said, "She's such a fuckup, I love her." I thought: this is a character I want to read about.
So often, part of the baggage with which we burden our main character is the demand that they be likable, or reasonable, or good. Sometimes, I think, because we see them as stand-ins for ourselves. It can be so freeing to let go of that.
Later that day, I asked one of my online students, whose main character was very hemmed in by expectations (those of other characters and maybe also, I suggested, those of the author): What do you think his evil twin would do?
If you're not ready to let your main character be unlikeable, can you imagine their evil twin? Take a scene in your current work that feels boring or static, set the timer for ten minutes, and let that evil twin handle the situation. What happens?
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