So your book is done, it’s published, people are reading it, most of them are liking it (hopefully).
But then somebody hates your character. Hates. Abhors.
We’ll say it’s the heroine, because usually that’s who it is for me. Either she didn’t see the bad crap soon enough, or she had too many problems, or she didn’t think about all the things going wrong, maybe she didn’t take the bad stuff seriously enough or….they just couldn’t connect with her.
What then?
Does that mean you did your job wrong?
Well, not necessarily…at least not in my opinion, and here’s why.
I’ve said it on my blog more than once that I can’t write to please everybody. It’ just not possible.
But if the majority of the people who are reading my work are pleased, then I’m doing my job right–I’m connecting with them and that means I’m doing something right. I’m not going to satisfy everybody, and I’m fine with that. It’s just not possible to please everybody and those who aren’t connecting with the characters, if I pleased them, then chances are, I wouldn’t be pleasing somebody else. It’s a win/lose situation if I wanted to look at it in that light-but I choose not to.
As long as the majority of people seem to like my characters that’s going to be enough for me.
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Great subject. Just met my friend Lea
(who has a blog) for coffee & we discussed how much we love books, characters & authors that dare to be different & not cookie cutter. I don’t want to open up a can of worms but why is it okay to be an alpha male who needs the love of a good woman, but a woman can’t be a little bitchy or kick-ass until she falls in love. It’s a double standard. We’re all imperfect & I’m happy to read about imperfect people finding their way.
You can’t satisfy all the people all the time. Everyone is different and I know I don’t love everyone I meet, in fact I don’t even like everyone I meet. Bu t you try and make as many as possible happy.
Greetings!
I spent a lot of time worrying which characters everyone would love and hate. What a waste of time. After reading your blog, it just seems so silly to sit back and try to please everyone, when I know that just isn’t possible. Recently I had to email readers with those exact words. So far, I haven’t received any hate mail. 🙂 I’m glad to know that I’m not wrong. Thanks!