Characteristics You Hate in MC's?

[CJ Knightrey]

I was just wondering, are there any specific character traits that you just can't stand to see in MC's? They may not bother you if they appear in other characters, or maybe it bothers you no matter which character it's present in.

For example, I can't stand main characters who who whine and constantly allow themselves to be victims of their circumstances rather then actively finding solutions. That goes for any character, but specifically MC's.

 

[buz]

There was a horrible movie done in 1988 called Alien from L.A., which features Kathy Ireland in the role of Epitome of Horrible Main Characters. The character is annoying, stupid, has two random dudes fighting over her for no reason whatsoever, does nothing, and is stupid some more, before the end where she takes off her nerdy glasses and becomes more confident in herself because she doesn't have glasses anymore. And she has Kathy Ireland's voice, which is unfortunate.

(MST3K did it, which is why I've seen it, and I do recommend that version. )

I also hate Holden Caulfield and any character who reminds me of him.

 

[lorna_w]

hmm, I've seen Alien From LA, too, and though I'm a fairly straight women, I can see the reason guys fight over Ireland, even with that voice.

Weakness, stupidity (I can't get into books or movies about nice retarded people, I'm afraid), whinging, dithering are unattractive in characters, and bigotry is hard to embrace (though I'm sure a great author could make me forgive it for awhile). Cruelty to animals puts me off.

 

[JCedonia]

I don't like characters with low self-esteem, especially in romances, nor characters who don't have hobbies or pastimes. What do they do all day?

 

[CJ Knightrey]

I also hate Holden Caulfield and any character who reminds me of him.

He'd probably think you're 'phony' for saying that, haha. I completely agree with you there. I can't even use that word anymore without thinking of him and it makes me sad.

 

[Buffysquirrel]

Hmm, interesting question.

I really disliked the MC in Temeraire, but I'm not sure it was because of traits in him so much as a lack of traits. He just goes along with everything. In fact I think he has many of the aspects of a Gary Stu.

Ah, philanderers. I hate them .

 

[Lhipenwhe]

Characters who can weather great traumas or change without the appropriate psychological effects. It's not too common (and I need to read more books), but I get pissed when writers heap tragedy on them without showing more then a crying session and a bunch of saccharine exchanges with other characters. It's lazy, the tragedy is a poor excuse for character development, and makes me wonder if the characters aren't some kind of cyborg, alien, and/or emotionally stunted.

 

[MVK]

Generally characters who are too passive. My 'book I'd throw if it was not a Kindle' moment was a MC that went to a church to find the ghost who had tipped him off to a murder and who he believed had more valuable information. He arrives at the chirch in time to see something literally dragging the ghost into a wall and devouring it. I expected him to try and help. Or show some emotional reaction of surprise, horror, frustration, or at least 'what the hell?' Instead he watched until it was done and went home to get dinner while apparently feeling no emotion at all over what happened. This bugged me quite a bit.

 

[Allen R. Brady]

I'm generally not interested in heroes who are the bar-none, hands-down best at what they do. Or the ONE who is prophesied to deliver us all from the evil Fillin the Blank.

I'm most interested in underdogs with limited skills and resources, who ideally need to think their way out of their problems.

 

[triceretops]

I'm tired of seeing alcoholic or drug-dependent MCs, who still manage to function in spite of their addiction.

 

[LJD]

TSTL (too stupid to live)

 

[Buffysquirrel]

I can't stand characters like Madame Bovary who do the same thing again and again expecting a different result AND expect some other person to be the solution to their problem. Gah.

 

[SomethingOrOther]

I'm okay with anything as long as the character is compelling and portrayed well. If they aren't, some of their salient traits might serve as scapegoats for their suckiness until I realize I only hate them because they are unconvincing, uninteresting, poorly written, etc.

 

[dawinsor]

TSTL (too stupid to live)

Yes!

 

[Kerosene]

Addictive
"Sherlock Holmes" inspired. House was the limit, after that, it's beating a dead horse.
Overly-obsessive
Goofy - All MC's should be to a point. But when's it's a constant thing, no.

 

[Kitty Pryde]

TSTL (too stupid to live)

YES! This is a big one for me. If someone is genuinely unintelligent, he could well be a compelling character. But when she is allegedly of average intelligence yet fails to make the simplest of connections I find it enraging.

Hmm, interesting question.

I really disliked the MC in Temeraire, but I'm not sure it was because of traits in him so much as a lack of traits. He just goes along with everything. In fact I think he has many of the aspects of a Gary Stu.
.

I hated that guy too, mostly because he was right on the front lines of ENSLAVING AN ENTIRE SENTIENT SPECIES AND HE DID NOT GIVE A CRAP. (I hear this might be addressed at the end of the book or in later books, yet I don't care. "Slavery is bad" is something the protagonist needs to know when the book starts. As revelations go, that's right up there with "hitting friends in the face with a shovel is mean". It's not the first book I've read that doesn't acknowledge that fact.

Also, any MC who rapes someone, and then the author tries to make me sympathize or give a crap about them. I shan't.

 

[Jamesaritchie]

Characters who can weather great traumas or change without the appropriate psychological effects. It's not too common (and I need to read more books), but I get pissed when writers heap tragedy on them without showing more then a crying session and a bunch of saccharine exchanges with other characters. It's lazy, the tragedy is a poor excuse for character development, and makes me wonder if the characters aren't some kind of cyborg, alien, and/or emotionally stunted.

I've been through my share of tragedies, and my share of such things as getting shot at. So have a bunch of other people I know.

And history, including history now in the making, is full of such people.

Most of us don't even have a crying session, let alone any severe psychological effects.

I'd rather not read about main characters who do fall apart when tragedy strikes.

What you call "emotionally stunted", I call emotionally stable.

Most real people can handle everything life can throw at them. The few who can't are simply the squeaky wheels that get all the attention.

 

[sunandshadow]

It's not as intense as hate, but I'm tired of MCs who have no self-insight; they head blindly toward a goal that will obviously not make them happy, or they pretend their desires don't exist because those desires aren't acceptable or strategic.

 

[tlbodine]

I've been through my share of tragedies, and my share of such things as getting shot at. So have a bunch of other people I know.

And history, including history now in the making, is full of such people.

Most of us don't even have a crying session, let alone any severe psychological effects.

I'd rather not read about main characters who do fall apart when tragedy strikes.

What you call "emotionally stunted", I call emotionally stable.

Most real people can handle everything life can throw at them. The few who can't are simply the squeaky wheels that get all the attention.

I think that's exactly what gets to me, personally, about the "let's cry it all out, say our i-love-yous and move on with the plot" thing, actually. It seems to suggest that all people always deal with catastrophes in the exact same way, which is not only wrong, it's off-putting.

 

[Ralyks]

Self-absorption. (Not introspection, but absorption.)

 

[jjdebenedictis]

The last MC I can recall that I really hated was apparently supposed to be appealing because she was so hard-nosed.

She started by killing her friend while he's trying to explain why she should not kill him, then goes to a bar and acts hawt while getting drunk and obnoxious.

Perhaps she was redeemed later in the book. I didn't get that far.

A protagonist has to have some tiny flicker of humanity visible past all the kickass, cool-kid bad-assitude.

I suspect this is the mirror image of the problem of passive characters--the protagonist also needs a tiny flicker of bad-assitude visible past their snivelling, too-stupid-to-live dish-ragginess.

 

[Ketzel]

I am put off by MCs like Spenser or Jack Reacher, stereotypical macho alpha-males who spend most of their time rescuing women who fall in love with them, and the rest of the time beating bad guys to a pulp or shooting them.

 

[donroc]

I'm tired of seeing alcoholic or drug-dependent MCs, who still manage to function in spite of their addiction.

This and TSTL.

 

[Fins Left]

I hate MCs who are writers and especially MCs who write novels.

I recently read a book where the MC was a mid-40s writer in the process of divorce who was writing a book about a mid-40s MC writer in the process of a divorce. Of course, the MC was utterly perfect in all ways and the book wraps up with what most every woman would wish for as a divorcee.

 

[ladyleeona]

Whiners. Oh man, the whiners. A little whine is fine. When a FMC is a whiney doormat, just shoot me.

The trait that annoys me in female characters is frequent decisional-whiplash. Aka, those whose stories could be summarized in dialogue like this:

I AM TOUGH JADED MAN-HATING WOMAN BECAUSE ALL MEN SCREWED ME OVER AND THEY ALL SUCK HATE HATE HATE HATE.

*five minutes goes by*

Oh hey, sexah-ass mans, I think I love you. Let me have your babies.


(I think this might be an actual excerpt from something I just read.)

TSTL (too stupid to live)

And this.

I am put off by MCs like Spenser or Jack Reacher, stereotypical macho alpha-males who spend most of their time rescuing women who fall in love with them, and the rest of the time beating bad guys to a pulp or shooting them.

Reacher's my honey.
~ll (sometimes shallow)