I'm currently writing a novel which has an anti hero, but I have a lot of difficulties making him realistic. Do you have any tips of how to write such a character realisticly (is that a word??)? Or maybe some examples of well written, 3 dimentional anti heroes?
When it comes down to making them realistic it's not much different from creating any other character. Rather than specifically focusing on the fact he's an anti-hero just work on developing a strong, believable character. There are many threads dealing with how to make realistic characters - like this one.
Yeah, Yoshiko is right; developing an anti-hero is the same as developing a hero. You have to be careful, as with any character- make sure your anti-hero always acts as they would. Don't make the character act like an asshole just for the sake of acting like an asshole, and you do have to be careful not to make him/her into a comic-villain or something. My MC is also an anti-hero: people dislike him because they see his methods as rather barbaric; however the character himself always believes he is doing the right thing. Some good examples of anti-heroes... Hmmm... Heathcliffe in Wuthering Heights (although he could arguably be called a villain too), Viktor in Frankenstein, Satan in Paradise Lost. Also, check out the term: 'Byronic Hero'. This applies to the characters I've mentioned.
You two are right. My character is probably so unrealistic because I tried to create an anti hero - and not a character. Thanks!
My suggestion would be to stop labelling him an anti-hero, and deal with him simply as a character. Understand why he does what he does, and be sympathetic to his viewpoint.
If he has a lot of characteristics that would make him unlikable, give him lovable trivia that anyone can relate to: i.e. a cat or dog he adores (or other soft spot), a tendency to be straightforward rather than underhanded, etc. Or you can begin the story with a scene to make us sympathize with him, or a "save the cat" scene (the term for when the character does something kind or heroic, even if small, so they start off with a good impression). In order for me to be more helpful I need to know more about what you mean. All you've said is that he's an antihero, which makes me think you want more traits to make him likable.
In order to make the "anti-hero" believable you need to do what most of the other posters have said and develop your character first rather than just labeling them an anti-hero, you'll find it such much easier to write them once you know who they are, quite a basic tactic but try interviewing them (obviously they don't exist but you create questions and then come up with the answers to the questions). I'm sure you you probably already know how to do this, just generally develop them as you would any other character and they won't be 2-dimensional.
I suggest to create the character first and leave the labels to the critics. When you create you need as much freedom as possible, and introducing labels right at the beginning of the creative process could restrain your ability to make the character more diverse and interesting.
