What will make a character instantly unlikable?

So I'm working on several story ideas right now, and I'm doing my best to make my characters fully-realized people with their own flaws and shortcomings. I've taken examples from some of my favorite characters in writing and used them for some basic rules, like "a flaw has to be something that can be held against a character" and "a flaw should not be used for sympathy points, like a clumsy character just being seen as cute."

But what is something a character can do, or a trait they can have, that would instantly put you off from them without recovery? I'm not thinking so much about redemption arcs and character development, more like what would annoy you about a character so much that you refused to even finish the story.

Child Hater does it for me instantly.

Cruelty towards animals.

I would definitely have a problem with hypocritical character in any shape or form. Hypocritical Heartwarming or Biting-the-Hand Humor might get a pass, though.

Relentless misogynistic bullying.

I think there are two very different questions taking place here- what character trait(s) would put you off of a character forever, and what character trait(s) would make you put down an entire story. The OP, from what I can tell, asked the latter question, but I think all of the responses thus far have answered the former instead. I have a hard time believing any of those would ruin a story if, say, a villain or other character we're not supposed to like was sporting one of them.

From what I'm understanding, iamconstantine, you are compiling rules to follow when creating characters, and are essentially requesting that people share their Pet Peeve Tropes, character traits edition. Are you attempting to compile a list of character traits to avoid when creating characters, or even a list of traits to avoid when creating watchable characters? Because I don't think that's productive, or will necessarily improve your writing the way rules like "a character flaw should cause actual problems" will.

Every reader has their own set of things that turns them off in varying contexts- things they don't want to see in characters they're meant to root for, things they don't want to see even in antagonists, things that will merely make a character unlikable but not unsympathetic or unwatchable or vice-versa, or things that they don't want to see in their fiction in any context. Beyond a few things that should generally be handled carefully^* explicit sexual content in stories not meant to be erotica, depictions of rape or other nonconsensual sexual activity taking place, graphic violence and gore, etc., you cannot possibly predict what in your story is going to be on any given reader's no-go list or which category it will be in, let alone hope to cater to it.

I think all of those traits could be made to work on watchable characters, characters who might be interesting to see if only in a horror- or hate-fascination kind of way. The low-key sort of Child Hater who doesn't go out of their way to hurt kids is actually a position I personally empathize with, because I'm very uncomfortable around kids and don't spend much time with them. I could feel bad for, say, a child who is cruel to animals, because that's a classic marker for sociopathy and would make me hope an adult in their life gets them some psychiatric help. Hypocrisy's a very human flaw, I think, and I could see an effective American Psycho-esque piece that analyzes the mental gymnastics that a modern "incel" has to perform in order to maintain their hateful views.

Two of my biggest pet peeves are annoying children (think Chibi-Usa from Sailor Moon) and high school-style drama. However, they annoy me because they often interfere with the plot I came to the story for. The kid keeps getting in people's way or messing important shit up without any real consequences, and things like taking down the government or the fate of the world get sidelined for the teen protagonist to angst about whether their love interest really likes them or not. If the kid were disciplined and worked hard to not do it again, or actually truly ruined something and pissed people off, or learned when to stay out of the way, or if their tantrums and whatnot were tied appropriately into the plot tensions, I would probably consider that effective commentary on the tragedy of a kid robbed of their childhood. Similarly, a teen hormone-intensified romance that flares up in the midst of a death-defying plot, in an attempt at life affirmation, could be made effective as well, assuming the writer follows through on what happens when the characters are out of danger.

That all goes to show just how personal and varied fiction consumption preferences and experiences can be. If there's something you want to explore, as long as you can handle it tastefully, don't let the fact that some readers might not personally like it stop you.

As for the latter question- what character trait(s) would make you put down an entire story -that's a much more difficult question not only to answer, but also to fix. Story-destroying character traits bring to mind Limyaael of Limyaael's Fantasy Rants fame, who would write very dramatic diatribes about the things she wanted to do to books featuring plucky teen Chosen One protagonists who don't actually do anything and other hated aspects of stereotypical cliche fantasy. But like many cases where a character trait or traits brings down a whole story, what she was hating wasn't a trait or trope itself, but the way it was handled in-story. She even mentions that if a fantasy cliche were handled in a novel way, like the plucky teen chosen one feeling ignored as teens tend to and actively seeking their own answers on what's going on, or the Dark Lord actually being a decent guy, or the Wise Old Mentor getting discredited, and so on, she'd be intrigued, and she'd keep reading.

It's about context, execution, and follow-through. The issue is not one of simply a character having a certain trait, or needing to make an adjustment to a character sheet, but one of plot and the overall story. How does this trait fit within its surrounding context? How well does it fit within the tone of the story? What does this trait's inclusion do for our understanding of the character and/or the overall product? How effectively is it handled? What is done with it from there?

TL;DR: Remember, Tropes Are Tools. Execution is everything. And don't forget to have fun with it.

A full-blown racist.

Not actually a character trait, but I really dislike characters whose very first introduction/appearance involve their wangst-ing about their tragic backstory, especially if the story itself is not focused on their battle to overcome those demons.

It's more of a relic from my RP-ing days (although I'm sure that this phenomenon not limited to RP), but if someone begins their arc by monologuing or reminiscing about how they've tragically lost their family/been abused/whatever, it would just make me not want to read any of their subsequent posts. Not to mention, you've pretty much drained all my ability to sympathize with the character with that first impression, that it's unlikely that anything they do or experience afterwards would make me care about them.

Edited by Adept on May 24th 2020 at 10:28:35 PM

Were you to read The Savior's Champion, pretty much every character is unlikeable because they are so. Goddamn. Bland.

Also, the main characters both murder people in cold blood.

Any character who acts like a dick to their friends when they haven't done anything I don't really like. This is the reason I hated toy story for YEARS.

I don't think any one trait could put me off — it would depend on context and presentation. For example, when the Villain Protagonist of a certain work killed an innocent character, I became more invested in the story because I wanted to see him thwarted. However, if the work did not have a (admittedly morally gray) heroic antagonist for me to latch onto, I'm not sure I would have been able to stick with the story. I probably would have cut my losses, since it was relatively early in the story, but not so early that the character was an "obvious villain" from the start — which might have made me worry that maybe the author didn't think it was a big deal. Dissonance is probably more a problem than particular traits. If the work feels like it wants me to root for someone involved in a slave ring, it's gonna feel very dissonant. But watching a bad person's downfall or even ennui can be cathartic.

Racism, sexism and so on - especially violent expressions of bigotry will really get the audience hating a character.