Post AuHvW8b0efwjAwAVTk by toxy@mastodon.acc.sunet.se
(DIR) More posts by toxy@mastodon.acc.sunet.se
(DIR) Post #AuHutdLCPbzBEfPfw8 by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-05-20T14:27:58Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
One of the more antagonistic characters in my book is a servile helpmeet of venture capitalists who are creating what amounts to a high tech version of the fifth circle of hell (but they think it’s heaven) He isn’t rich himself, he’s very socially skilled and ambitious— he doesn’t believe in the vision of the people he works for just wants to climb the ladder, be important, have money to prove it. So.I need understand a way he is likable. What could be likable about such a squirrely man?
(DIR) Post #AuHvW8b0efwjAwAVTk by toxy@mastodon.acc.sunet.se
2025-05-20T14:34:52Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@futurebird This might sound cliched but I am a reader, not a writer. Perhaps he came from a loving family but a really rough area so had to devlop such characteristics in order to survive. Or you could make him devoted to his cats. I give animal lovers a lot more leeway than I should but I am a bit of a sucker for that kind of thing.
(DIR) Post #AuHvgNIspLkjgbZUsy by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-05-20T14:36:41Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@CatsWhoCode When it is done I will be making a lot of noise about it on here. Count on that.
(DIR) Post #AuHvsYdCXLc4IFsssK by gdinwiddie@mastodon.social
2025-05-20T14:38:57Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@futurebird Could he be doing this to avenge the memory of his late mother. Perhaps she was mistreated/starved/something by the powerful and he, as a child didn't have any means to protect her. Now perhaps he's trying to gain power so he's never in a helpless position again.
(DIR) Post #AuHvvh3Tfpu3HvfblY by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-05-20T14:39:32Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@PallasRiot I was thinking more about giving readers a reason to like him a little. A fascinating train wreck of a man can work in a story but might feel flat you know? He is a total wreck of a person— very little to make anyone who really knows how his mind works want anything to do with him at. Is guys like this that are the reason no one can have nice things as of late.
(DIR) Post #AuHw0D3UdiHph3pZfE by trurl@mastodon.sdf.org
2025-05-20T14:39:29Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@futurebird likable by whom, and under what definition of "likable"? A certain kind of good looks and performance of the right group identity (patriotism, piousness, ...) seem to work pretty well at mustering support for Randroid down-punchers IRL.
(DIR) Post #AuHwE4UTHRGlBU3kTQ by richpuchalsky@mastodon.social
2025-05-20T14:42:48Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@futurebird People are proudest of the skills they have developed. Since the character is ambitious and doesn't believe in the people he works for, he can't have pride is helping people, but he can have a kind of not necessarily predatory pride in his ability to use social skills to get ahead in a at least short-term non-zero-sum way.
(DIR) Post #AuHyC7XdAKyXyYjcSe by mansr@society.oftrolls.com
2025-05-20T15:04:52Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@futurebird Someone like that would probably be superficially fun to go out for drinks with and such. He'd be generous with the rounds and entertain you with stories, some more embellished than others. Then he'd throw you to the wolves the moment it gave him the slightest benefit. I've met such people.
(DIR) Post #AuHyKOY3on8R2Rshqy by rayhindle@mastodon.social
2025-05-20T15:06:21Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@futurebird Sounds like Uriah Heep to me! (the Dickensian character, that is, not the English rock band)
(DIR) Post #AuHyg5Ofhfng0ophS4 by graydon@canada.masto.host
2025-05-20T15:10:17Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@futurebird Take a look at Doug Ford, Premier of Ontario.People do apparently like him, and he's exactly that.
(DIR) Post #AuHzsGjxSGTMcdA8dE by clew@ecoevo.social
2025-05-20T15:23:42Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
Give him one sentimental trait for “PR likeable” — cuddles his dogs, remembers his mama, bullies were mean to him in school. Or don’t worry about making him likeable but concentrate on making him realistic and internally consistent, so we’re fascinated by how that happens. Maybe even write the realism so that we can feel how we could have been him.@futurebird
(DIR) Post #AuI0clXDIIJ3RyNAWm by skyfaller@jawns.club
2025-05-20T15:32:03Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@futurebird Maybe a hobby that has the potential to be very expensive, but which is nice and relatable for nerds?Maybe he loves model trains and dreams of a huge train installation, or he loves orchids and wants a big greenhouse for them, or he genuinely loves sailing on the ocean (and all of the sailing skills like knots) and not just the conspicuous consumption of a yacht.
(DIR) Post #AuI1nXDMyZNuB1n21I by ersatzmaus@mastodon.social
2025-05-20T15:45:15Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@futurebird Could be helpful and appear empathetic right up to the point where he needs to harvest your organs for his masters - so you don't realise at first.That or you do the start-of-darkness thing where you let us see the terrible childhood he had that warped him to seek the approval/status he feels he needs.
(DIR) Post #AuI2ijHulBzW7zBjPc by lffontenelle@mastodon.social
2025-05-20T15:55:26Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@futurebirdWhen people doubt themselves, other people tend to agree with the doubt. When people have no self-criticism, or act like they didn't, other people tend to think they are correct. When people are at ease with themselves, it makes it easy for other people to feel at ease with them.You also want to read something about how narcissists are good at convincing other people they are trustworthy
(DIR) Post #AuI4CteqrxUuvnrjSy by stevegis_ssg@mas.to
2025-05-20T16:12:17Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@futurebird He's just doing his best.Probably when he was younger he had an idealist streak, but he took a history class in college, then a poli sci class, and he saw that The System has coopted everyone who tried to change it, and he "realized" that the best he could hope for was to be successful within its confines. Maybe use those skills to provide for a family, make a few friends. Is it his fault that things were broken when he got here?
(DIR) Post #AuI7XFu8APgra7PaXA by llewelly@sauropods.win
2025-05-20T16:49:34Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@futurebird he keeps eusocial organisms as a hobby
(DIR) Post #AuI9rMoOOX7YhkRfZw by ohmu@social.seattle.wa.us
2025-05-20T17:15:35Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@futurebird William Gibson did this pretty effectively with his creation of Wilf Netherton in The Peripheral. He did such a good job making him human that it was easy to forget he was a loathsome climber.
(DIR) Post #AuIJekOEQ5v3bjpW2i by xdydx@mastodon.social
2025-05-20T19:05:18Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@futurebird Sounds like JDVance, if you ask me. And there is not anything likeable about that.
(DIR) Post #AuINJdlgFC2co1zN56 by katzenberger@tldr.nettime.org
2025-05-20T19:46:22Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@futurebird I get the "iron rules" of storytelling are asking for this.Still, sometimes an a*hole is just an a*hole. IMHO, not everything and everybody needs to be pictured as partially relatable.You might probably be condemned for violating such an iron rule, by those expecting you to follow it. But tbh, the predictably engineered character of "story-told" plots, down to the smallest details and twists, has become boring af for me.