Since a lot of threads similar to the idea of “What do you want to see in stories” and “Unlikable MCs” get closed due to weeks of inactivity, here’s a better idea:
MC:
Unlucky MCs who can’t seem to keep anything until they realize that maybe being unlucky isn’t so bad. (For example: Unlucky Lucky MC)
The envious MC who slowly starts to fall in love with herself bc she doesn’t need someone to tell her that she’s beautiful for her to believe it.
Flirty MC bc she runs away from her problems and now has to deal with the consequences.
The MC who learns how to fight because she fought off her older brother’s bullies when she was younger.
Muslim MCs who aren’t sexualized, oppressed, or ridculed.
Arab MCs who aren’t used as a rebound for comedy purposes.
The femme fatale who isn’t proud of killing people, who isn’t “seductive” 24/7.
Latinx/Spanish/Italian characters who aren’t only mentioned when the story is about gangs.
The shy MC who overcomes her shyness but doesn’t become cocky.
Or the shy MC who stays shy, but is a really fun and caring person once you get to know them. But secretly they’re fighting their inner demons too.
A bigoted MC who grew up bigoted, but grows up realizing that is wrong and has to look back at the enviroment they grew up in.
The black MC who depends on other people, because they aren’t always “independent”
A male MC who has close guy friends, and is comfortable with them.
Main-Character/Side-Characters
A feminine who supports non-feminine characters.
A feminine who is a black-belt in karate, or a captain in a sports teams, or “masculine”
A Jock who is actually really smart and hosts tutorings.
A person who has random knowledge of things that are useful later on in the story.
A popular kid who has interest in “nerdy things”
A person who is not good at something at first, but progressively gets better.
MC’s who aren’t perfect. But they’re trying to be better than what they were yesterday.
Just btw, this is picking out the ones I’ve already included in a story I’m working on. I’m just trying to pick out the non-cliche characters I’m using.
I’ve got one of these in a story I’m working on lmao. She’s Arab, too, however she is on the paler side. Her name is Aniyah and she is quiet, but super badass. Her friend from sophomore year of college was a knife-throwing instructor, so he taught her how to throw knives, and now that’s in her skillset. She’s outgoing and friendly, but knows when to be tough around racist assh0les.
Dude my (half) Latinx character (whose grandmother was an illegal immigrant from Mexico) doesn’t even know how to speak Spanish lol. His name is Tyler, and his grandmother didn’t want people suspecting her of being an immigrant when she first came to America, so Tyler’s mother never learned Spanish outside of school.
Anotha one. Her name is Elena and she lived in a ghetto neighborhood until she was in middle school. Then her dad moved to a “white” neighborhood and she went to a “white” school. She learned to act like a white girl to try to avoid racism and judgement for acting “black,” but in doing so she never learned who she was resulting in social anxiety. Now she stays close to her friends, which becomes problematic when she’s forced to be with a group of people she doesn’t know (it’s an adventure story, but that’s all I’m saying about it rn).
You’re just describing every single character (except for the “villain”/self-absorbed ass who thinks he can do no wrong because of the way he was raised).
Nice, I like that! Is she the “shy” type of quiet, or the “Im quiet because I think a lot” type of quiet? That’s something to think about, so you don’t fall into a cliche trap. Also, another thing, when she’s quiet, is she judging people around her? That can be a flaw, judgemental. She can learn to overcome it if she openly judges someone one time, thinking she knows something about the person when she’s proven wrong.
Also, this is really good! For the whole “acting black” this can be targeted on the black side as well. Let’s say Elena encounters someone from her ghetto neighborhood and she’s now riduculed for being “too white/acting white/oreo/.” This often happens in real life, (my best friend irl experienced this) and it can create a lot of drama right off the bat, and inner conflict. Something could happen, where Elena mentions it to her friends, and she could learn who her real friends are.
She’s quiet because she’s not entirely comfortable around non-Muslim people since that’s how she was raised, however she’s quiet because she’s thinking a lot and likes to keep her thoughts to herself. Some of it is judgement, she lived in Saudi Arabia for all of high school, and although she’s been in college for three-four years, she’s still not really used to people dressing like sk*nks (since 75-85% of the country follows Sunni Islam) Her parents are very judgmental, so that’s where she gets the trait from.
Edit: not sure if any of that made sense. Anayah lived in Saudi Arabia, and her quietness is leaning towards judgmental. Because she lived in a nation that has so many Muslims, she isn’t used to people dressing in (basically) bikinis everyday.
This would actually be an amazing idea for a drama story. I like the inner conflict, as she does have a lot of that with herself. She kindaaaa loses her friends because of the adventure (it makes sense if I explain it, but I want to hold some suspense on this forum lol).
So what you want to think about, is “how can I incorporate this into my story, but not make it seem like I’m just throwing everything into the reader’s face all at once?” If her parents are judgemental, you can show this when she’s talking to her parents over the phone, or when she visits them, e.t.c.
She can make a friend with someone in college who is a lot like someone she’s never met. Probably the total opposite is a good word for it. This can be REALLY effective. Kinda like a compare and contrast, as the MC warms up to her new friend, she can adapt (this doesn’t mean she has to change her religion, or the way she dresses to fit western ideas) but rather change her ways of thinking. Imagine her parents meet that said friend, and it kind of reminds the MC of how she used to think, and how wrong she was of generalizing.
I like this comment. I literally go out of my way to prevent info dumping because as a reader, it’s frustrating to say the least. When she reconnects with her parents, she has new friends who are super diverse, and a girlfriend (her old-fashioned parents are against LGBTQ+. Not for religious reasons, just because they were alive before pride was a thing and they have an old-fashioned way of thinking). Her ending is her parents accepting her for who she is, especially since they weren’t sure if she was alive for a long time.
I have this one in my story! Her name is Emilianna, she’s Lebanese-American, and she’s totally proud of her culture.
My other story has an all Mexican cast. The MC’s name is Mia. She’s a middle school teacher, an introvert, and a girl who enjoys spending time with her family and friends. Her love interest is Mariano Valtierra. His father didn’t use to be rich, but he worked very hard to build his hacienda and give his kids what he didn’t have growing up. Mariano loves cars and music, and doesn’t act like he’s above others just because he’s rich. He’s got light brown hair and hazel eyes, hates liars and cheaters, and loves his girlfriend, Mia.
Also, for your Arab MC.
Her relative could be looking at a photo her and her friend took, and judging her friend. the MC would be confused as to why her relative is judging her friend, (this means her way of thinking is changing bc at the start of the story the MC would be saying the same thing as her relative)
The one with an all Mexican cast is called Diary of a Middle School Teacher. It’s on Episode. Also the one with a Lebanese MC. It’s called Miss Understood. You can check them out if you like.
I would like to see a shy MC that can stay shy at the end of the story. I don’t see being shy as a flaw, it can be, but I don’t think that you have to overcome that. Sure if it hinders you from day to day life you should work on it, but it would be nice to not focus on a character’s shyness as a flaw. I find it irritating since I’m shy and I don’t think I have to be less shy
Oop, lol, I should have continued reading. Oh the inner demons… I wish there was an MC that was content with their life and mentally healthy lol. I guess older stories have those types of MCs but now a lot is about mental health, which is great but yeah.
I feel like nowadays there students have to be good at everything. You can’t just be good at sports you have to perform well academically too. It’s a tough life lol. But I’m very impressed by the people who are nice, smart (have good grades), athletic and funny.
True, nobody is perfect. Everyone have different struggles. If somebody seems perfect they probably work super hard to keep up with “being perfect”, they probably feel a lot of pressure and might burn out one day.
I love making up characters that I don’t often see in stories and they are mainly inspired by people’s specific traits in real life. In fact, I write them down in a notebook that I totally did not lose some I remember are:
a goofy and “punny” character but awkward character
a really chaotic and carefree character
a jack of all trades, great at finding ways, very resourceful, street smart
a knowledgeable but inexperienced character (so like they know the steps, but don’t know how to perform it because they don’t have the experience)
a person who is not, for once, not easy to fall in love. They get attracted easily and has a lot of crushes.
I love these ideas, and I think that writers should take the time to flesh out and develop their characters before writing the story, in order to avoid writing boring, blank-slate characters.
but I’ll definitely give it a read!
some I remember are: