I'm going to be writing, probably, a whole slew of articles similar to this. One, it's fun, and two, I've noticed that when I do things, small, little things that I rush through, people have a tendency to get something out of them.

I really like unsavoury protagonists. I'm writing a few now. I know what I'm talking about.

So, You Want to Write an Unsavoury Protagonist?


Oh, goody, they’re fun. I would just like to clarify a few things.

If a character is unsavoury, that doesn’t mean their detestable. Mordred isn’t utterly detestable in any book of Arthurian legend you find, (he is, in fact, one of my favourite characters) but he certainly is unsavoury half of the time. There’s Denethor, who’s a nutter, and Feanor, who’s less of a nutter, a great character, and very unsavoury.

Those chocolate chips aren’t savoury either, but that’s because they aren’t the semi sweet kind, and chocolate isn’t salty.

I don’t think that there are enough unsavoury characters in books. Perhaps this is just my primarily fantastical young adult reading list, but it remains the same. Protagonists are usually kind and pure and make some mistakes, but since they’re typically adolescents they are quickly forgiven.

Where are the characters who take full responsibility for the ‘mistakes’ they’ve made, because they don’t see them as mistakes?

So, one of the first things to remember about writing an unsavoury protagonist (please note that we are talking main characters here) is that they should be aware of consequences and do the things they do with a reason in mind, and they probably won’t view what they’ve done as a mistake, if they truly are unsavoury. Perhaps they’ll feel this later, if their plan did not work, or they changed their mind, but when they do the unsavoury action, they probably won’t view it as a mistake immediately. It ought to be of their own choosing.

There are two people walking down the street. Person number 1 killed his best friend. He accidentally pushed him off the edge of Niagara Falls while they were on vacation together. Person number 2 betrayed his brother, resulting in the death of both the brother and the uncle, just to gain control of a country.

So, who would you rather meet in a dark alleyway? I’d say Person number 1, personally.

Who sounds more interesting? I think that Person number 2 wins by a long shot. Doesn’t he sound so much more unsavoury? A bad guy? Wouldn’t he be such a neat main character? You could watch him betray his family, or you watch him try to accept himself as the monster that he is, or he could try to regain redemption with his brother’s ghost, or another whole slew of things.

Person number 1 you’d probably just watch go to therapy every day. I’m not necessarily a big fan of books with that much dialogue. It could be an interesting story, if done right.

But it wouldn’t be nearly as fun and interesting as Person number 2’s story, I think. Any of his guilt or mental struggles or monstrous behaviour would be greater than that of Person number 1’s ten fold.

Now, something to remember about Person number 2: Give your unsavoury character a thought process and, oh, I don’t know, thoughts, so that we may have some chance of relating to him/her. Mindless brutes are lame characters.

I’ve met mindless brutes in books. They were boring. Person number 2 had a reason for killing his uncle and his brother. It was for political status. (In this case he became conquering lord of a country. Neato.)

Perhaps you are wondering still, well, why would he do this?

I bet you that it wouldn’t be hard to come up with at least five reasons.

I sure can. Here’s a list. (I like lists.)

1. He was making a good on a promise. Big brother told him, perhaps, that he would be a nothing, and perhaps Big Brother is the heir to the throne? Easy. He promised Big Brother that he would sit on that throne far before Big Brother did. And he was right.

2. Sheer, brutal ambition. He’s wanted that throne for a long time, thinks that he could do better than the king, and ultimately decides, as he watches the country decline (in his eyes) to take control.

3. A long, deep hatred for both brother and uncle. Perhaps both of them had been cruel to him, treating him poorly. It just so happened that revenge had its merits.

4. Love for another character. Perhaps they had trapped his best friend or lover into a corner, and the only way he could see for this other character to get out of it was for brother and uncle to die.

5. Fear. In war times, he could be the one backed into a corner; betray them or die. Well, Person number 2, being the sort of normal human being that doesn’t glow with angelic light, decides that he’d rather watch his brother and uncle die than be dismembered himself. Perhaps it was because of them he got wrapped up in this war, so he feels some regret, but may get some satisfaction out of it.

Wow! See, five good plots right there. Unsavoury characters are fun! Of course, we still may not be able to relate to him.

Just because your character is unsavoury doesn’t mean (s) he isn’t human. Perhaps Person number 2 gets a lot of enjoyment out of art, something most people can relate to. He likes to paint, and plays an instrument, when he isn’t watching for assassins or running the country. Perhaps he has a best friend (the friend he rescued from his brother and uncle?) and they like to play backgammon or cards. What if he’s fascinated with astronomy, or likes to come up with ridiculus inventions in his spare time, likes contests of strength, because they prove that he’s just as good as everyone else, and it’s just fun, or likes to talk to people. If he’s king and he hasn’t been killed yet, he must have supporters. Perhaps he likes talking to them. Maybe he just likes fishing with his nephew.

Doesn’t Person number 2 now sound like a normal person? Some one with a name instead of just Person number 2, the example who killed his uncle and brother? That’s because now he has interests and things to care about. We can relate to this.

He can also be relatable through reactions. Perhaps it takes a while for him to get angry. (There aren’t many patient protagonists any more. If you beg to differ, tell me what books your reading.) He could be a whole host of things. I feel a list coming up.

1. He could be one of those happy go lucky people who bounce around in a near constant state of optimism. (With this add some unhappiness and frustration, or we’ll all be terminally creeped out.)
2. He could be emotionally unstable. This has to be executed very carefully, and you need to be careful about those moodswings.
3. There’s always unhappy.
4. Depression
5. He may be one of those characters who gets very scared, very easily. In other words, a coward.
6. He may work well under high levels of pressure, but cannot handle smaller tasks/amounts of pressure without getting very nervous, and vice versa.
7. He could get terribly mad every once and a while, but it perhaps it isn’t very common. Then again, perhaps it is.
8. He may react to slurs very badly.
9. he may react to food differently. Perhaps he has a weak stomach.
10. He might start at loud noises or closed spaces.

There’s a whole host of things that you could do with this character to make him/her relatable. And when you do that, you have a character who is quite capable of doing incredibly unsavoury things and saying, “Yeah, yeah I did that,” but at the same time is human. They make good main characters because they can do things that other main characters would shy at. You just have to think them through.