making a character sympathetic (also a new troper)

Hi my name's tim and I'm a new troper, so hopefully this will answer a few questions for me :) I'm writing a book about a teenage homosexual who tries to forget about his brother's imprisonment by finding a job at the age of sixteen. He nearly finds a new relationship, but a homophobic family member accuses him of attempted rape to stop the progressing relationship. Is there anyway I can make this character sympathetic without sounding wangsty?

That very much depends on how he acts, more than what happens to him. If his response to the accusations is to go and take a bunch of heroin or something, that's not very easy to identify with.

To be honest, I'd ask for a little more information, we don't know anything about him as a person other than the fact that he's gay, which isn't a good thing. Flesh out the character, tell us about him, and maybe we can lend a hand.

edited 8th Aug '13 8:51:29 PM by Majormarks

simple. don't even get him angsting in the first place. as in no excessive self pity. he can grumble about people discriminating against him. but you must show that he's not all talk and he stands his ground when confronted. people can sympathize more with characters if they see that like a real person, they do something about their struggles. or at least, they try to. still, don't make him too macho/masculine about it if he's not Hard Gay EDIT: I mean Manly Gay. damn these ambiguous trope names...

also, i can't really see how a 16 year old can be accused of attempted rape. but to hell with that. since it's just a plot device.

edited 10th Aug '13 7:26:43 AM by ShanghaiSlave

I see no reason why a 16-year-old couldn't be accused of attempted rape, especially since the description makes it sound more like defamation than actually going to the police.

Anyway, OP, so long as you don't have your character constantly wallowing in self-pity (and from your description that doesn't sound like what you're doing), you should be fine. Wangsting is really more about how characters react to things happening to them.

Also be aware that you shouldn't go too far the other way — these things should have an emotional impact on the character. Just don't have him sulking about it all the time (a little bit of sulking can be OK, if done well).

edited 10th Aug '13 7:34:36 AM by imadinosaur

i was actually picturing an average 16 y/o homosexual boy raping another of his age and getting a consequence. given i personally know a homo dude back in highschool (no, he didn't rape people), i can attest the character can't possibly attempt to rape another guy of his age (or younger) and get away with just an accusation. in other words, There. Will. Be. Extreme Mêlée Revenge. this are teens we're talking about.

also, good tips. the last part, mostly.