How to Write Stories People Will Love

Question 87: Characters with negative attitudes

JeLisLesLivres asks: I have a character who is really angsty and negative and all that. What's the best way to portray this character?

There's a fine line between negative and whiny. In the past, I've written at least two characters that were accidentally whiny rather than the angsty I was going for. Here's how that happened...

Readers Don't Like Ungrateful Characters

It's natural to lament about your unfortunate circumstances. Most people can relate to drawing the short straw in life. What makes the character annoying is when they keep complaining about things despite all the good things they have going. Or worse, they complain about the good things too. They complain about everything. They hate everything.

A situation that might seem unbearable to the character might be envious for a reader. For example, a character might complain about how his mother drives him to school every single day and how embarrassing it is. There will be several readers sitting there thinking, "What? I had to take the bus!" or "At least you have a mom who cares, geez."

It's okay for characters to complain. Just make sure they also express positive feelings about something. At least one thing. Maybe the teachers suck and the parents suck and the siblings suck, but at least he can always go running to forget it all. Characters that are 100% gloomy all the time are just depressing.

Complainers are Often Whiners

A huge mistake I made was having the character complain a lot about their circumstances. Self-pity, no matter how real and widespread, feels pathetic to a reader. It's a downer. It's like listening to someone complain about their job all day long. It's draining.

One way to make characters instantly likeable is their attitude despite their circumstances. The reader will know how awful the circumstances are by the things that happen to the character. The character doesn't have to complain for the reader to know it's bad. This doesn't mean the character has to be a ray of sunshine despite being poor and downtrodden. They can be a surly sourpuss, but still have resolve to overcome the circumstances. Characters become whiners when they complain without trying to do something about the thing they're complaining about. The friend who complains about their job is a whiner when they make no attempt to get a better job.

Make the Complaining Funny

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman is basically a story about a grumpy old man who complains about everything. The neighbors, the stray cat, the way people drive, everything. What makes the book so entertaining is the hilarious ways he expresses his complaints. His backhanded compliments are also entertaining. In the end, you learn that he's a good man because of all the good deeds he does despite the constant stream of negativity. Here's a quote from the book, from when he's helping a neighbor learn to drive:

"Now you listen to me," says Ove calmly while he carefully closes the door. "You've given birth to two children and quite soon will be squeezing out a third. You've come here from a land far away and most likely you fled war and persecution and all sorts of other nonsense. You've learned a new language and got yourself an education and you're holding together a family of obvious incompetents. And I'll be damned if I've seen you afraid of a single bloody thing in this world before now... I'm not asking for brain surgery. I'm asking you to drive a car. It's got an accelerator, a brake and a clutch. Some of the greatest twits in world history have sorted out how it works. And you will as well." And then he utters seven words, which Parvaneh will always remember as the loveliest compliment he'll ever give her. "Because you are not a complete twit."

Remember Why Readers Read

Readers want to get away from their own lives for a short while (or sometimes a long while). They want to read about someone conquering, doing, loving, achieving, or whatever verb it is that the reader isn't doing for themselves. Story circumstances may be bleak, but characters--whether they have positive or negative attitudes--need to give the reader some kind of hope. Readers like to imagine themselves as the conquerors, doers, lovers, and achievers they read about. Maybe they already experience self-pity and awfulness. Readers want to feel good, so even if your character is a swirling cloud of negative blabber, offer a ray of hope. This can be in the form of positive actions, funny dialogue, or resolve to overcome the circumstances.