How to Write Unlikeable Characters
We all love a good baddie, don’t we?
Villains often make for some of the most compelling characters in fiction, and yet if they existed in the real world, we could never endorse their actions or behaviour, let alone be friends with them. We love them as literary creations even we detest them from a moral or ethical standpoint.
Fiction is full of unlikeable characters. It’s said that every hero needs his nemesis. For every Holmes there must be a Moriarty. Storytelling requires conflict. A novel containing only decent, helpful, kind human beings, who do everything in their power to facilitate the protagonist’s progress, would be no fun to read – or to write.
The chances are, then, that at least some of the characters in your story will be unpleasant, hostile, aggressive, cruel, cold-blooded, inhumane, boorish, or just downright annoying. So how do you go about crafting an effective unlikeable character – one who is both believable and interesting? How do you write unlikeable characters?
Defining ‘unlikeable’
Let’s get a few things straight first. We’re not talking here about characters who are unintentionally unlikeable – for example, protagonists who are too perfect, too wooden, too passive, or not emotionally engaging enough. Characters can come across as unlikeable simply because they are undeveloped. Equally, we’re not talking about characters through whom an author might filter their own offensive or objectionable view where that view poses a risk of real harm: writing that is in and of itself violent, sexist, racist, or ableist.
In this piece, I’ll be focussing on characters who are intended to be unlikeable: villains, criminals and evildoers, plus other antagonists who are not necessarily evil but who nevertheless act as rivals and competitors to your protagonist, presenting obstacles that must be overcome.
Providing a rationale
Just like your protagonists, your antagonists require a certain amount of psychological depth in order to seem believable and authentic. Rarely does anyone behave completely arbitrarily. No one chooses to be evil or mean-spirited simply for the sake of it. Characters who act in this fashion tend to come across as one-dimensional.
What is it that motivates your character to act in a villainous, treacherous, selfish, vulgar or irritating way? There should be some sort of logic or rationale to their behaviour – even if it is warped or twisted.
Furnishing your character with motivation doesn’t necessarily mean inserting some tragic or traumatic event into their backstory in an effort to explain or justify their actions. On its own, this strategy rarely gets to the bottom of why unlikeable characters behave as they do. We are all shaped by our past experiences, after all, but that doesn’t make us bound by them.
Understanding their ambition
It’s more likely that the key to understanding your character’s motivation lies not in their past, but in their future. Consider their ambition. What are they looking to achieve – and, most importantly, why?
If political power is their goal, what do they imagine they will do once they’ve attained it? If what they want is to beat your protagonist in the grand final of the singing contest, ask yourself: what will it mean to them and how will it make their own life better?
Depending on your character’s role in your story, their ambition needn’t be grandiose; it can be petty or mundane. Indeed, villains and antagonists very often have similar ambitions to the rest of us.
They might be seeking love or personal fulfilment. They might wish to retrieve a lost possession, or something that has been wrongfully taken from them. They might simply want to return home.
Whatever your unlikeable character’s ambitions are, try to communicate them on the page, either explicitly (e.g. through dialogue) or implicitly (e.g. through their actions).
Adding ‘likeable’ elements
The point of delving into your antagonist’s motivations and ambitions is less about making them relatable, and more about giving them depth. Whatever their failings – and no matter how despicable they are – there will always be some underlying element of them that is human.
Why not go one step further and add some positively likeable traits? A character who has no redeeming features whatsoever is rarely as interesting as one who possesses some virtues. Indeed, the conflict between a character’s likeable and unlikeable aspects is a large part of what makes them compelling. Positive traits that your antagonist might reasonably possess include: a sense of humour; honour; loyalty; resourcefulness; eloquence; and even modesty.
It is worthwhile remembering, too, that antagonists and protagonists are often near-reflections of one another, rather than polar opposites. How many times have you heard a villain say to a hero, ‘We’re not so different, you and I’ – or some variation on that theme? Whatever traits one of them possesses, the other one may very well possess too.
Perhaps your unlikeable character wouldn’t be so unlikeable if they had made slightly different choices in life. Perhaps a small part of them would like to be a better person, but they don’t know how, or they can’t do it without some help.
Towards redemption
People change. Characters change. Protagonists go on journeys both literal and metaphorical, and so do antagonists. Friends can become enemies. Enemies can become friends.
There is no reason why your unlikeable characters have to remain unlikeable throughout your story. Allowing them to grow in response to their experiences can help you to deliver narrative closure and ensure a satisfying ending.
It may be that redemption is not possible for a particular character. They may be unable or unwilling to alter their perspective, or otherwise make the necessary change in their life. For many, the prospect of redemption will always dangle tantalisingly out of reach.
Sometimes, though, the mere prospect is enough to keep your antagonist striving and struggling – against their long-held beliefs or their baser instincts.
And it is in those deeply personal struggles that the essence of good storytelling can be found.
James Aitcheson is a novelist, literary consultant and creative writing lecturer based in Nottingham. A professional writer since 2010, he is the author of four historical novels set in medieval England, including The Harrowing (Heron, 2016), which was a Book of the Month in The Times. He received his PhD in Creative Writing in 2021. He is currently an Associate Lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University and an Honorary Visiting Fellow at the University of Nottingham. Writing historical fiction? You can book James as your TLC Editor by sending us an email.
