When I first took my now-14 year old son to kindergarten, I didn’t completely understand the elementary school carpool line. Actually, I didn’t understand it at all. And there seemed to be a lot of rules that I wasn’t aware of—where to turn in, which entrance was for what grade, where it was acceptable to drop off your child, where it wasn’t.
My very first day in the carpool line, I pulled up to the curb by the sidewalk that led into the school. But I didn’t pull up at the right place. As my son got out of the car, the teaching assistant—a stern-looking older lady—bent to look through my passenger window and fussed, “Excuse me! You’ll need to pull up allllll the way up here in your car. That way more cars can pull up behind you! We don’t have all day to unload!”
She was very indignant at my carpooling ineptitude. I was indignant, too. Here I was, a kindergarten parent with a baby in the backseat….how the heck was I supposed to know how the crazy carpool line worked?
We’ll just say that I started off with a negative impression of this teacher.
Over the years, though, I learned a lot more about the teacher from volunteering at the school. She has an old-fashioned way of phrasing sentences and a dry, sharp wit. She’s extremely well-read and sometimes makes obscure literary references that perfectly match whatever situation we’re in.
She’s now one of my favorite teachers at the school—and I think I like her even better than some other teachers because I so thoroughly disliked her at the beginning.
As a reader, I’ve felt the same way about characters that have grown on me. Particularly if the protagonist and I both share the negative opinion of the supporting character.
I remember, as a kid, thinking that Ben, the gardener in The Secret Garden was a total grouch. Then, as I reader, I found out with Mary that Ben was friends with a robin, was a real lover of nature, and was excited for Mary to start gardening.
Severus Snape in the Harry Potter series was another character that I detested at first, but then found really grew on me.
So I’m not really talking about a character that changes and becomes more likeable, I’m talking about one who stays the same, but has characteristics that make readers eventually, maybe grudgingly, like them.
I was thinking about this the other day in the carpool line, realizing I wanted to write some more characters that a reader can grow to like…because I’ve enjoyed reading them so much that I’d love to try my hand at writing one.
Have you read any characters that grew on you? As a writer, have you written any?
Oh, good point! That makes me want to try writing a character like that, too. And I love the story about the teacher.
What about Meryl Streep’s character in The Devil Wears Prada? I loved the way that turned out. :)
Elizabeth – I felt the same way about Ben the gardener, and he’s a perfect example of the kind of thing you mean. It’s a good reminder that the better you get to know someone, the more you may like that person. Characters like that – like Ben and Snapes are – are interestingly rich, and I think that adds to a story. That’s really worth thinking about…
I think my character Byron grows on people as they find out more about him. He does eventually change, but it’s a slow process.
And while I’ve never read The Secret Garden, I really enjoyed the movie.
My characters grow on me, but I can’t relate to your examples, having never read those books. Dexter comes to mind, however…watching him grow and learning more about what makes him tick has kept our interest in the tv show alive.
Terry
Terry’s Place
Romance with a Twist–of Mystery
I love Snape. But in general I end up loving those bad guys that are really good guys. I think it’s b/c they seem more real. Sometimes they have the biggest arc for a secondary character and I love that. And school drop off lines are crazy here too!
It’s my goal to write a character that grows on the reader, but I haven’t attempted such a job yet.
When I first started reading Colin Dexter’s books on Morse and Lewis, I disliked Morse, the way he treated Lewis, his crossword puzzle snobbishness but I stayed with it and did learn to respect him despite his obvious failings.
I had an English Professor my freshman year of college that I thought was an arrogant, conceited prick when I first started his class. Then he started growing on me. He wasn’t conceited, he was just extremely intelligent, confident. He wasn’t arrogant, he just used tough love to weed out the slackards. I wound up taking five courses from him and becoming good friends.
As far as literature, I am reminded of – gosh can’t think of his name right off, but the protagonist in Shogun – the opening chapters he’s a rude, foul mouthed, taskmastering tyrant of a ship captain. I disliked him so much I almost stopped reading the book. But glad I kept on, cuz that’s one of the most standout books in my looooong memory list, and he becomes an amazing, valorous man, growing in wisdom and cultural understanding all through the epic journey.
Loved your story of carpooling. I can just picture you, all confused, baby in the back seat, Ms. Stickinthebutt scolding you through the window, lol … ah the joys of parenting, hmm?
The Secret Garden is one of my favorite books. This post is perfect timing for me, because I’m actually trying to do this with a character in my new book right now, and this pinpoints exactly the path to take. Thanks for that!
The first time I read the Secret Garden as a young girl I stopped because I didn’t like the gardener’s character or the uncle or the cousin. Too mean. Even Mary was a bit too prickly. A couple of years passed and I tried the book again and loved it, and came to love all the characters as well.
I think making unlikable characters interesting and sympathetic to readers one of the hardest things for a writer.
Mallory–Me too! Great example. Wonder if Anna Wintour is the same, in person? :)
Linda–Thanks!
Alex–You’ve brought up a good point that when we start doling out a little more info on these unlikeable characters, we can really start to get fond of them…or at least respect them.
Laura–I think I should have had a diagram of that carpool line before I drove over there! And good point about the arc of those types of characters.
Margot–They’re just so complex–not likeable, but interesting.
H. L. Banks–Oh, I thought Morse was SO conceited! I really couldn’t stand him and *loved* Lewis. But then…Morse really grew on me. Great example.
The Old Silly–I think I had a couple of tough love teachers, too!
That’s tricky–getting the reader to stick with the book, even if the character is really unlikeable at first. Obviously there had to be something there that was really keeping you reading.
I was very flustered! Ha! I still get flustered thinking about how flustered I WAS, and this was all 8 or 9 years ago!
Janice–Can’t wait to read the results!
Terry–Exactly. Easy to dislike Dexter for obvious reasons…but to grow to LIKE such a character required real skill from the writer.
Bluestocking–Oh Mary was described as “sour,” wasn’t she? Lots of unlikeable characters in that book, which is why I’m so fascinated by it, maybe. Colin is awful, too! But then we really end up loving all of them.
Carol–I’m just starting to do that with a character in my current WIP…we’ll see how it goes!
Great post, Elizabeth!
Some of the characters I couldn’t stand at first were Nero Wolfe; (loved Archie tho) Miss Silver in the Patricia Wentworth series, and Travis McGee, by John D. McDonald. Grew to love ’em all.
Oh, yes, I agree, Morse was so snobby, then I liked him too, faults and all!
Happens all the time, in books and real life. You meet people that you learn to like. Sometimes weird and excentric people turn out to be the most interesting >:)
Cold As Heaven
Cold as Heaven–That they do!
Snape starts as a bully and a poor teacher, and he never changes in that sense so I don’t care for him, but he does have the interesting backstory of his unrequited love for Harry’s mom and his change of heart in supporting Lord V. I feel like I understand him better, but I still don’t like him.
I’ve been thinking about likable and unlikable characters in relationship to CRIMINAL MINDS and its spinoff CRIMINAL MINDS: SUSPECT BEHAVIOR. The sequel has been cancelled, but CM is still here.
I normally avoid serial killer programs and books, but the characters in CM got me interested enough that I kept watching because I liked them enough that the grimness and brutality was manageable, but with SB that’s not the case.
For the most part, the characters are grim, prickly, and emotionally and physically unattractive so I didn’t make it through two programs before I stopped watching.
My point is that you have to have both types of characters so that character who grows on you isn’t the only character the reader can root for.
Marilynn–I can see your point–he’s not really portrayed as *likeable*, for sure. So maybe, with the backstory that the author doles out, the understanding can lead to a sort of *tolerance* as opposed to dislike. Or maybe even a neutral stance toward a character.
Good point! And now I think you’ve persuaded me to watch “Criminal Minds”… :)
Lynn–Yes, great examples! And I really respected Nero, although I never quite *got* him. I love characters like that!
Great article. I’ve been playing with a novel idea, and this pushes me in a good direction with one of the characters I’ve been imagining. Thanks for the help with that!
As for examples, the one that popped to my mind was Dr. Nickolas Rush from Stargate: Universe.