I might have a small problem with a character of mine. I want her to be the clear favorite of the audience but I need her to be vulnerable and angry. She's an anti hero type character. I'm afraid she comes off as a bitch though or whiny. Like poor me, I'm a bitch. She's vulgar but is a nice person but has little patience and flys off the handle some times. Other times she's a wreck and is prone to drinking a lot which causes problems whether there out bursts or drunk bath tub sleeping, she makes a good mother though. How do I make her some everyone wants to ship with the other men in the story but make her not hated. This is cannon not fanfiction btw. What if I want to readers to be guessing to the end of the series on who she ends up with? What should I avoid? What are your thoughts?
I think you mean "flies" not "flys." And I think it is really impossible for any of us to tell you how your character is coming across without reading your work. But if you think there is a problem, there very well could be one. I think you could think about some redeeming qualities to give your character. Or give her a puppy. That could work too. Also, what do you mean by "this is cannon"? You know you can't just write something and say it's part of the literary cannon. But maybe you mean something else and I'm just confused.
I don't think you can dictate who'll be an audience favorite - people are going to connect with different characters for various reasons. You can't even guarantee that everyone will like her at all. Just try to make her a well-rounded character. I'd think about characters you like who're similar to her, and try to figure out why you like them.
We want our characters to be flawed in some way - it's what makes them believable. As @izzybot said, you can't dictate whom the reader will like or dislike, but you can create a likable character, and I think that's what you're after. If she's angry, or bitter, fold into the stories the reasons why - what's happened to her that has left her that way? (N.B. if your answer is, "that's just how she is", then you haven't thought through your character nearly enough. No one is just how they are, there is always a reason). It may well be that some readers start out disliking her intensely, but come to like her as they learn more about her. Or, if you present her as someone in trauma, readers may well read on to find out why. Good luck.
She had a very complex upbringing where she was shuffled around from one parental figure to another she's bitter and lacks discipline. I wanted to display some form of mental illness like depression and show her being the kind of person who could be insecure and vulnerable with the right person. But when around multitudes of people or even with certain people the walls are up and up high.
That's an interesting challenge of a character. I think my first step, were I writing her, would be to decide why I liked her. That is, were she a real person, why would I want to be friends with her despite her issues? What would keep me loyal to her even when the walls were "up and up high"? I think the word you're looking for here is "canon".
Creating someone with as many issues that would drive others away into someone readers would favor is a challenge. Is it necessary that they favor her, or just respect her for who she is and why. Several items potentially in your favor in attempting this. You do have the ability to reveal her thoughts and motivations, even if misguided or poorly thought out. If she has a form of loyalty or nobility despite the myriad of flaws, it's possible. I would go back to what is the purpose of the character in this story? Why does she need to have all of the baggage? Why does she need to be liked by the reader (and other characters)? If you create a 'round' character, and expect her to fit into a 'rectangular' hole...who you've created/designed her to be may not fit the place in the plot and the result you'd want her to take. There is always the option that over the course of the novel, she makes changes and 'improvements' in actions and decision making. People sometimes do that in life, so why not in fiction, right?
Yeah, this. Your reader will make their own choices... if you try to force them they will sniff that out in a heartbeat. That has authorial intrusion written all over it.
lol ahah I wasn't paying attention, I was expecting Grammarly to pick it up again. That's twice now that I've been bitten in the butt for using it with out double checking.
What I'm expecting to have happen to her is what you described on the bottom where I'll show personal improvement over a period of time. You mention loyalty or noble. I guess my mistake in posting this topic wasn't including enough information. I guess I was more so looking for simple answers to what people thought about whiney bitchy characters. How to avoid overdoing it and such and how to make them likable. I hope I'm doing things right so far with her because I have a fully fleshed out story and a cast of charcters. As for mentioning loyalty, she is very loyal to a fault. It's both a good and bad trait. Hopefully, by the end of the story I'll have picked my ending I plotted out about 7 different ways it could end, all finished and would work well for the story. Some of my ending as what I love to call delightfully shitty. Where the character has no happy ending and she ends up not changing. Ending up alone as a result of her fears taking over. Other endings have her shipped to different characters because of ending choices. So it's alone, happily ever afters, or settles. The story is fantasy and the romance isn't the main plot of the story but it is also a plot driver. I have other situations and problems in my world these characters will face that will change them for better or worse. A lot of which is political, religious, and geographic. For example, I have a war going on that is spilling out into multiple worlds and causing problems for everyone in general. Affecting economies, tensions among races, and even hurting people on individual levels. Hense why in her backstory she is being bounced around from one guardian to another. She is unable to build trust and frequently feels abandoned which affects her personal relationships with people. Friends, family, even potential lovers.
My answer verges on circular logic, but the way you give me a reason to like her despite these traits you mention is... by giving me a reason. Example: I'm currently reading The Expanse novels. Deputy Undersecretary of Executive Administration of the United Nations, Chrisjen Avasarala, curses a blue streak of F-bombs and C-bombs and every other kind of bomb you can imagine, all while looking like someone's granny from Mumbai. Why do I accept and love her despite a mouth that would make a drunken sailor on shore-leave cringe? Because she quite figuratively has the weight of the Earth upon her shoulders and she ain't got time for you to figure out how you're going to engage a small, aging granny, in her beautiful trademark saris. She doesn't have time for even one extra it, and, but, or however. And you know in your heart that she sees herself as mother to the world, trying to keep all her chicks protected under her wings, and yes, if you step too near or move the wrong way, she will peck you fecking eyes out. I love her because I understand her, I get where she's coming from, I totally feel her impatience with a world that wants to focus on stupidities and inanities and she's trying to get to the heart of the matter and fuck the small talk. It takes quite a bit for me to actually burst out with a "You tell'um, gurl!", but I have done it multiple times reading these books. I can't pick that reason for you, obviously, but it's got to be there and it's got to outweigh the other things you mention.
As for the shipping question. She should be able to learn and grow in different ways with each men. For example, one the men gradually inspires her to stop drinking. Another guy guided her to break her social walls. Have those men learn from her too! For each relationship, the dynamic should be distinct at first glance.
