Imagine this: You are in a car driving down the road when you stop at traffic. You notice from the corner of your eye the flashing red and blue lights of the police. This forces your gaze from the road to a car turned over. From the distance, you can just make out a person trapped in the vehicle. They are unconscious. Smoke bellows from the engine. First a little like a blown-out candle. Then, just as the traffic starts moving, red flames lick the engine. You should look away, focus on the car in front of you, but your neck turns to watch the scene.
Why can’t you look away?
The answer is simple: you want to know what happens next.
Is the man saved? How do the police respond? Will the protagonist (you) help?
As a new writer, I have found it much easier to write a compelling story (with higher stakes) if I hate my main character. Here are the reasons:
Conflict
The hard truth is, as writers, we instinctively love our characters. After all, we did create them and, like any good parent, we want our children to succeed. This makes for a terrible story.
Wait. Stop right there. No, this does not mean you can’t write a happy ending or have good things happen to your protagonist. But if you ever find yourself stuck on writing what happens next, this is a bright red flag that you are writing a sheltered character.
This is what you need to do: first, consider what your character wants. This is normally an internal or external goal.
An internal goal relates to the inner world of the protagonist. For example, finding courage, learning to forgive, or sticking to their morals.
An external goal relates to the outside world of the protagonist. For example, in the Lord of the Ring the goal is to destroy the One Ring…you get it?
Then, make it hard for the protagonist to achieve it. Each chapter should be worse than the last. Create such a memorising plot that your audience is up until 3am because they must ‘finish one more page.’
Of course, let your protagonist win occasionally. Or if you really want to hate your protagonist, give them a false win.
A false win is when the protagonist thinks they have won, only to discover in some unforeseen way that they have not.
Tension
We touched briefly on this above, but tension is the question of whether the protagonist will achieve their goal or not.
More on how you can create tension via plot structure coming soon. Specifically, the rising action (the beginning of tension from the inciting incident) must continue to increase through further trials, obstacles, and/or challenges (internal or external) that your protagonist will face. These events take the protagonist further away from their goal.
At the climax (the point of no-return), this tension should be at its peak. This is where something unexpected often occurs in storytelling. Maybe, a false-win?
The climax is where the “how” of achieving a goal must shift. For example, say you have a character with a strong sense of what is right and wrong (black-and-white thinking). At the peak of conflict (the climax), this character suddenly realises the only way to achieve their goal is to commit an immoral act but it will save others. Will they be able to sacrifice their morals and if so, how will they change as a character? How does their outlook on the world shift?
This is the “peak” of conflict — a place tension led us to.
Final thoughts
So no, you don’t have to hate your protagonist, but you do have to write it as if you did.
What are the benefits of having terrible things happen to your protagonist?
It hooks readers early on — they become emotionally invested and immersed in the world of the protagonist and their life.
The struggle to achieve a goal is entertaining. Readers want to see how characters grow and change (or alternatively, readers may want to see how a character refuses to change and where this may lead them in the story).
A good conflict does not only have to impact the protagonist. It can also change the way your reader views their world outside the book. More on how a writer can purposely and skilfully influence their readers with a strong message coming soon.
In summary, give your reader’s what they want. High tension, high stakes, and a good conflict.
Do you hate on your protagonist? Share you thoughts with me.
Your in writing,
Lillian