How to Break the Rules (and Steal the Spotlight)

Why do other people's unlikeable characters keep getting published, but not yours?

The Biggest Myth

We’ve all been there. I know I have. I once had someone return a draft of my second book, Second Life, with the note, ‘I’m just not sure about Julia? Am I supposed to like her?’

Writers get this all the time. Agents, editors — all the gatekeepers standing between you and a publishing deal — love to scream it. ‘Your characters need to be likeable."

So what do we do? We tweak, we soften, we try to make our protagonists more palatable. Because that’s what we’ve been told to do. That’s what’s going to unlock the book and make it a bestseller.

No one wants to read (or watch a show) about ruthless billionaires backstabbing each other, they say. Who cares about a manipulative woman who fakes her own murder, or a dying chemistry teacher who becomes a drug kingpin? And please take your story about a group of narcissists, cheats and liar on a luxury vacation and make the characters more likeable.

The problem is, that advice is bullshit.

Succession did OK. People love to hate Amy in Gone Girl, or Walter White in Breaking Bad. And White Lotus? Well that’s doing pretty well, too.

None of these characters are nice. Most people would run a mile from them in real life. Yet we can’t stop watching and/or reading.

So why do these characters get published—while yours get rejected for being ‘unlikeable’?

So if ‘likability’ isn’t the secret ingredient, what is? The answer is something which can often look like likability, but is very different. These are all characters we can’t take our eyes off, even when we’re appalled by their behaviour. Why? Because they’re magnetic.

Three ways to create a magnetic character

There are things you can do right now, that will unlock your characters. And they might make all the difference, between a Walter White or a Marla Singer for example, and…

And who? That’s kinda the point. Characters who don’t have at least one of these three things don’t tend to stick in the mind...

1. The easiest way to make an unlikeable character magnetic is by eliciting sympathy. Even if they’re awful, do we understand why?

Take Amandaland, which has been on TV in the UK recently. Amanda is a vain, self-centred snob. But pretty early on we meet her mother — a woman for whom Amanda will never be good enough — and understand why. We have sympathy. We can see why she is like she is.

So, if you keep getting rejections because of an unlikeable protagonist, spend a bit of time thinking about why they behave like they do. Give us a reason.

2. Sympathy isn’t enough, though. Many rejections are for one reason. As well as being unlikeable, the character is passive. So you need to make them proactive.

Your character can’t just sit around being awful. Amy (Gone Girl) didn’t just sit and moan about her life and marriage, crying into a tub of Ben and Jerry’s. Walter White, on learning about his cancer, doesn’t just accept the situation. Even villains captivate us when they refuse to sit still.

3. Finally, the other big game changer is expertise. It makes us root for characters, even when they’re terrible people. We love watching people who are brilliant at something, even if that ‘something’ is deception, manipulation, or crime.

Look, Walter White isn’t ‘just’ a chemistry teacher. He’s a genius who synthesises the best drugs and then creates an empire. Amy Dunne isn’t just a narcissist, she’s a ruthless, master-strategist who runs rings around everyone. Tom Ripley isn’t just a bit of a cad. He’s a chameleon who can become anyone.

So, here’s the thing. A character doesn’t need to be likeable—they just need to have at least some of each of the above, any combination can work. If they don’t, they’re not magnetic and we stop caring.

Where’s this trend is heading

If you think we’ve hit peak villain, think again. This isn’t a passing trend. The White Lotus proves that we love watching morally bankrupt people implode, and season 3 is already set to up the ante. The next wave of storytelling will push this even further. Writers are experimenting with characters who aren’t just flawed—they’re outright villainous.

So, don’t play by the rules.

You don’t have to make your characters ‘nice.’ You have to make them magnetic, and here’s how you actually get a character past the gatekeepers:

Does my character have a decent amount of some combination of sympathy, proactivity, and expertise?
Am I making them drive the story, not just react to it?
Have I given them something they’re exceptional at?

Which character have you hated but couldn’t stop reading about? Let’s make a list in the comments!