Have you ever written a character that you yourself hate?

I might have, but I can't recall any right now.

Hate as a person or hate as a character?

There's a difference

Hate as a character. I'm sure plenty of people have written characters they would hate as a person.

For me,I actually have to work really hard to write a character that I'm supposed to hate. I don't know why, maybe nice people are just easier to write than asholes.

I rarely hate a character as a character unless they are written in a way that makes them a Mary Sue (favoritism from the author) Since I strive to avoid Mary Sue characters or characters that do not fit the world, It's rare that I dislike my characters as characters.

As people however...there are a few. Kagami.

Kagami , Kagami, Kagami.

Also Gretchen Kramer

edited 17th Jan '14 12:12:53 PM by JewelyJ

I think this is very counterproductive to writing a good story.

I don't think I can write a character whom I don't like on some level (and that includes some pretty awful villains). Otherwise they just end up too shallow to be compelling.

I did once, though it was unintentional; I just grew to loathe the man as I continued to write his actions. He was a Half-Human Hybrid, his non-human half being Slave Race within a powerful human kingdom. He was a guard at a prison camp for political dissenters and he went out of his way to torment prisoners belonging to his father's race due to the fact that being half-human and half "inferior" had made his life nothing but hell in terms of being teased and turned down for countless jobs. I think what I despised about him was that he took out his personal issues on those who had nothing to do with it, and who were obviously in a weaker position than he was. It didn't take away from the story as a whole (as this guy was a very minor villain) but I made sure he died a nice, nasty Karmic Death.

I did once because the character became such a scrappy the more I used her. Somehow it kind of bounced back in my mind to the point where I think she's completely awful and horrible as a person but I love her for it.

And then there was a guy that took major levels of jerkass and I hated him for awhile, so I put him on a bus. He did some things commuting on the bus that hinted at character development and I stopped hating him as much. I wouldn't say I love the character now, I'm just neutral to them.

I guess the solution if you hate a character is to set them aside for awhile and come back to them. It's worked for me.

I can't say so. I treat my vilest and nastiest characters as tools, giving me a certain distance from whatever heinous deeds I have them perform for the plot. I try to be similarly cool towards neutral and sympathetic characters, but... I don't always do so well at that, I'm afraid.

And even characters rejected as bad for the story for various reasons tend to get "recycled", like actors given new roles, when I need a small role filled. Even one particularly smug and obnoxious Author Avatar who could do no wrong was adored by everyone, and generally would have been a godawful Creator's Pet if I'd have allowed him through ended up proving useful. (As a Predecessor Villain.)

I hate how badly written the "old Nigels" were. I've been developing this character for years and he's had countless names and races and classes and prestige classes but he was always a big fat sue and I hated how badly written he was. Now, he's an intentional villain sue and he's pretty well-written these days.

As for characters I hate as people, I would say I hate Nigel's human parents (his father was abusive and his mother neglectful) more than any demon I've written thus far. And I've written some pretty fycked up characters. (I'm definitely gonna make fycked work.)

Yes.

So I redeemed her.

I don't think I've ever hated any of my characters, not as characters anyway. At worst I'm apathetic toward them, and they either get fleshed out or vanish in the next draft.