[ SECRET POST #2816 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2816 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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[Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child, Pendergast series]


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06.
[Oblivion, Vicente Valtieri]

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08.
[Teen Wolf]


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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 010 secrets from Secret Submission Post #402.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ], [ 1 - posted twice ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

What makes you stop caring about main characters

[(Anonymous)]

So I had a talk with a writer friend today who was having anxieties about writing and after talking about it I wanted to ask other people.

As a reader, what makes you stop caring about the main characters and what happens to them? Why? What could be done to avoid it?

Re: What makes you stop caring about main characters

[peablossom]

Them being boring usually does it. Are they completely bland? Are they way overpowered? Are they always perfect and right? Then I'm not going to care. Do they not act like real people? Again, I'm not going to care. Do they cross a moral event horizon and the narrative does not acknowledge it in some way? I'm not gonna care anymore.

Re: What makes you stop caring about main characters

[philstar22]

I need some reason to root for them. They have to be at least somewhat sympathetic. Grey characters are good. Complete assholes are not my cup of tea. Also, when they do something wrong, I don't want the narrative to try and justify what they did or make clear that the writer doesn't understand that what they did was wrong.

Re: What makes you stop caring about main characters

[kaijinscendre]

When they don't learn. For instance, Supernatural. It is the same fucking thing every season. Brother A keeps a secret from Brother B, Brother B suspects something, Brother A lies to keep secret, Brother B finds out, Brother B and A break up for an episode, Brother A or B gets in great peril, Brother A or B rescues Brother B or A, RINSE AND REPEAT.

They never learn from their past mistakes and I just could not take it anymore.

Re: What makes you stop caring about main characters

[(Anonymous)]

When I feel sure that nothing is actually at stake. This actually works both ways: I'm just as likely to lose interest if I'm sure that everyone's going to die horrifyingly as I am if I'm sure nobody's even going to scrape their elbow. If I know how it's going to end, why bother continuing? If the characters don't actually have any impact on how things unfold, that's also annoying.

To avoid it, I'd say let good things and bad things both happen to your characters. Let them be hurt, but also let them save the innocent townspeople. Also, make sure that their actions have some impact on what happens - they decided to try climbing up the cliff, so they fell and hurt themselves, or they decided to try climbing up the cliff, so they found the thing that will let them save the town.

Re: What makes you stop caring about main characters

[(Anonymous)]

When nothing about them ever changes. This is more a thing for tv series, but it can apply in long-running series as well. For tv writers it's that "status quo is God" mentality, never allowing relationships to advance beyond WTOWT, or having major traumas/loss be forgotten in 2 weeks. It's boring and frustrating.

Re: What makes you stop caring about main characters

[cushlamochree]

Being annoying and unlikable, I guess. That's not entirely a moral judgment, although there are times when it can be. But for the most part, if I don't enjoy spending time with the main character or sympathize with them at least on some level, I'm not going to care about them.

Spoilers for Book of the New Sun

[cbrachyrhynchos]

Unreliable narrator + evil did it for me. Decided I couldn't care to decipher his bullshit.

Being boring.

Re: What makes you stop caring about main characters

[morieris]

If their story doesn't go anywhere.

For example, the former big plot of Ever After High is that Raven does not want to be the Evil Queen. Her roommate wants her to be so she (Apple) can live out her destiny., so she doesn't sign the book that binds her to her story, and it's a huge fucking deal.

YET there isn't any real consequence. Some students want to abandon their destinies, others don't, and now the story is at a standstill. It just came out LAST year.

It seems to be slightly resurfaced in the Thronecoming preview we saw a few days ago, but they're just going to drop it again.

Re: What makes you stop caring about main characters

[(Anonymous)]

I can't think of an example atm, but I hate main characters were a lot of their interaction/dialogue is their sob-story backstory. I love it when it's shaped who they are and it's something they struggle with internally that can get resolved, but when they just go on and on about it without a glimmer of putting whatever it is to rest it just makes me faceplam so hard.

Re: What makes you stop caring about main characters

[(Anonymous)]

That's difficult to answer. If I already love the main character, there's not much that would make me stop caring about him/her, especially in longer shows. What would make me stop caring would be the plot in such instances, I think.

If it's a book I'm usually more picky... but that's still more about the other characters than the protagonist. If the love interest is a boring bad-boy jerk popular brooding mysterious cookie-cut-out it doesn't matter how much I like the main character, for instance.

I guess if they are just normal/average nice guy in a plotty book I might be bored? I'm more picky about male main characters than female, I think. The only archetype for female characters I don't like is the stuck-up cheerleader type. But they aren't usually the leads anyway. Yes, I only read YA. Lol

Re: What makes you stop caring about main characters

[(Anonymous)]

I hate it when characters are dumb and make dumb decisions purely for plot convenience. It's one thing to have a character who's not the brightest bulb in the chandelier and not everyone has to be a rocket scientist, but keep it consistent: don't have smart people acting ooc stupid just because the scene needs them to make a really silly mistake.

Which is why I hate most of the horrible misunderstanding type plot devices in romance novels, or when people have to blunder out and endanger themselves just so they can be rescued.

Re: What makes you stop caring about main characters

[feotakahari]

I don't think there's a single thing that will always drive me away from characters. For instance, I tend to dislike characters who could clearly solve their current problems if they learned from their past mistakes, but I'm okay with them if it's an established part of their character that they DON'T learn from past mistakes (e.g. a lot of tragic characters.)

Re: What makes you stop caring about main characters

[(Anonymous)]

When all they cared about is getting laid (or kissed, if it's YA/teen), even though there's high stakes.

Re: What makes you stop caring about main characters

[(Anonymous)]

When the text is constantly spelling out how much i should care about the character. Lije Doctor Who had their period of constant BUT WAIT THERES ROSE

Re: What makes you stop caring about main characters

[loracarol]

I tend not to like characters that are assholes, even the "charming" ones. (See: Tony Stark).

Usually, though, I still care about the character, I just don't like them; but the way that the fans treat the character can really make me stop caring. (...See: Tony Stark. Again. Sorry. >_>)

Re: What makes you stop caring about main characters

[imperion]

Petty rivalries over the main LI when there are higher stakes involved. (i'm looking at you grisha trilogy) and people who make idiot decisions but never learn from them and continue making idiot decisions. After awhile, I get annoyed and stop caring.

Re: What makes you stop caring about main characters

[dancing_serpent]

Characters being hypocrits - when they reprimand/hate/look down on others because of certain behaviour, but it's a-ok when they do it themselves. Ack!

Re: What makes you stop caring about main characters

[(Anonymous)]

If they don't grow and learn from their screw ups.

Example: Kim Harrison's Rachel Morgan (The Hollows Series)

We're at the last book and I swear this girl child hasn't learned a damn thing. This is particularly bad because she's the POV character as well.

Main Characters who don't know the job they are supposedly doing.

Example: Seanan McGuire's October Daye

Half Faerie investigator who knows jack shit about the Fairie she's supposed to be investigating (and protests she doesn't want to learn) and doesn't know how to investigate.

Serial Love Interests

Example: Cassie Alexander's Edie Spence

Four books, four boys. I can't even get attached to them before she's onto another one!

Whiny main characters in general. Okay, yeah, I know, out of your depth... crying about it every sixth page is not actually interesting.

Obviously, I've been through a lot of books lately... tossing them across the room.

Re: What makes you stop caring about main characters

[(Anonymous)]

I guess the whole thing becoming stale and awful? I used to really like Dean Winchester and now his face just reminds me of how annoying it is to watch a show and see it steadily going downhill.

Re: What makes you stop caring about main characters

[(Anonymous)]

When characters are noticeably different from how everyone in the show perceives them, and that's not the point. Example: characters saying the MC is always right or a good leader or something, the MC is clearly not this, but the show/book sort of morphs around their bad decisions anyway so characters can keep praising the MC.

Re: What makes you stop caring about main characters

[darkmanifest]

When they never do anything right, or they do everything right, when they do objectively idiotic things, but the narrative keeps pushing the notion that what they did was flawless, and worst of all, when they do fucking nothing and are just passengers in their own story. Main characters need to fuck up and be called on it, but they also need to have some victories and give me a reason to cheer them on, and they absolutely have to be active participants in what's going on around them. I actually don't mind if they're otherwise bland or just viewfinders for the universe or even out-and-out evil, just...give them something to do, let some of those things be stupid, let some of them be awesome, let them be people.

Re: What makes you stop caring about main characters

[dethtoll]

They have to be fairly boring and generic or otherwise uninteresting in ways I can't usually explain. Like I really don't care about Rick or Carl in the Walking Dead; it's the other characters that make that comic for me.

Re: What makes you stop caring about main characters

[(Anonymous)]

Lack of character continuity. I HATE that. It'll turn me off of a character really fast. Hate it when a character is smart then dumb, caring then callous, loyal then indifferent to their friends, or single episode sexist or just when the writers can't decide what/who a character is.

Re: What makes you stop caring about main characters

[riddian]

Probably a lot of things, but the big one coming to mind is if the character does something bad and the author/story doesn't acknowledge it as such. Making mistakes and such is good, but not when the story pretends no mistakes were made. It will keep bothering me and make me resent the character.