Making your characters more marketable to a readers audience

[Representing_Tromba]

Every story has characters, and these characters usually need to be liked by the audience reading about them. Though how does one make their characters more likable? Personality and capabilities are definitely major factors but what about design? So...

This will sound like a shitpost thread but I am genuinely curious. If you were recommended to make your characters more marketable (IE more desirable to a readers eye) how would you do it? If that means making a character dummy thicc, could you justify it? How would you alter their outfits to be more "desirable?" What else might you do to make them more interesting in looks?

 

[dummycake]

I would freak out. I can't change my freaks!!!
Maybe make the main character as relatable as possible (no personality) and then just make the others more interesting? That happens a lot.

 

[Deleted member 113259]

I wouldn't be able to. Scott's entire point of existing is being a bad person. I suppose I could make him charming, but he already kind of is. The main reason he's hated is entirely out of his control.

 

[Rhaps]

The selling point of my MC is how unhinged she is. I definitely find she lacks a sexy body, but shes 15. So I found a workaround! I just show the reader her future self, sexy, beautiful, and even more insane.

From my knowledge of otome isekai, there is a market for hot and insane women.

 

[NotaNuffian]

I try to make my new MC (James is a whiny gonecase) to be hardworking and friendly, because that's what I enjoy about MCs. They must be steadfast, able to grind and attain good results, sweep away the negativity with the can-do attitude and the most important thing; actually winning.

Because Ze Tian Ji's MC (at the start) is filled with Ls and I hate it.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

Marketable =\= interesting.

 

[Representing_Tromba]

I would freak out. I can't change my freaks!!!
Maybe make the main character as relatable as possible (no personality) and then just make the others more interesting? That happens a lot.

I wouldn't be able to. Scott's entire point of existing is being a bad person. I suppose I could make him charming, but he already kind of is. The main reason he's hated is entirely out of his control.

I'm moreso focusing on the character design part, not the character personality part of their marketability. Are they identifiable enough to be recognized easily?

 

[LilRora]

If I had to do it (I normally don't since I write what I like) I would choose some sort of defining part of them (for example tail, or horns, or boobs, like whatever) and use that part in a scene to show how it impacts their life in a cute/cool/some other manner that depends on the character in question.

And now that might sound kind of stupid, but I think people can only relate and come to like characters when they're shown the little things about them, such as daily interactions, habits, pastimes. So when I write those in a way that highlight a certain part of their body, it will automatically become a key point of a character that everyone pays attention to, and, if I don't fuck it up, likes about them.

An example of that is a foxgirl that's described falling asleep curled up and nuzzled into her fluffy tail, or a demon getting annoyed how his horns get caught on the doorframes in those crumbly human dwellings. That works best with inhuman traits for hopefully obvious reasons, but height is also one that's easy to do, for example by describing how someone's huffing after trying and failing to get a jar from the top shelf only to be helped by their partner, who did it effortlessly.

In terms of outfits, matching style is everything. Even if it gets a little unrealistic, it's important to choose and keep to some few outfits that make readers think: yeah, that's how they should dress with that personality. So if you have a vampire loli, it's either gonna be a dress or an oversized shirt, not some denim jeans.

 

[Deleted member 113259]

I'm moreso focusing on the character design part, not the character personality part of their marketability. Are they identifiable enough to be recognized easily?

Gold hair, ruby eyes. red coat and red/white striped pants.

 

[Representing_Tromba]

Marketable =\= interesting.

True, but it can get more clicks so that readers can find out how interesting the character is.

 

[dummycake]

I'm moreso focusing on the character design part, not the character personality part of their marketability. Are they identifiable enough to be recognized easily?

I guess?
Girl with long fire-red hair wearing a black suit
Girl with short wavy brown hair wearing a bear onesie
That's basically it. I think it's pretty marketable.

 

[Temple]

Since we're writing webnovels, then marketable characters are those that are "bland," and I'm putting quotes on that. Webnovels are for self-insert, so it's better not to have strong personality MCs. This "trick" is also very widely used in books, though more blatant in webnovels. Take Harry Potter. He's pretty bland compared to Hermione, who is very recognizable in just dialogue alone. Ron is quite recognizable too. Take Hunger Games. Katniss is a hero type that could be interchangeable with Harry Potter. Actually, many YA MCs are interchangeable.

A good example of how webnovels should do it is Twilight. After all, it did start as a romance webnovel. People say Bella is bland, but that is intentional for readers to self-insert into the fantasy. Twilight wouldn't have the success it had if Bella had a personality.

I go the opposite route in my stories, though, because I'm way past the point of caring about "marketability". I make characters with extremely strong personalities (writing-wise) that they'll pull readers along. Has limited success, but still success given this is the world of webnovels.

 

[Representing_Tromba]

Gold hair, ruby eyes. red coat and red/white striped pants.

Don't be offended but that description made me immediately think of the karate guy from Napoleon Dynamite.

 

[Temple]

Oh, you're also talking about design. What I said above extends to design too, that's way so many OP MC in anime/light novels look like Kirito clones. Or why in romance stories it's always the plain girl. If the MC design is plain, it's way easier to self-insert. Plain also signals thin personality

 

[dummycake]

Oh, you're also talking about design. What I said above extends to design too, that's way so many OP MC in anime/light novels look like Kirito clones. Or why in romance stories it's always the plain girl. If the MC design is plain, it's way easier to self-insert. Plain also signals thin personality

Kirito ruined a whole industry

 

[Representing_Tromba]

Since we're writing webnovels, then marketable characters are those that are "bland," and I'm putting quotes on that. Webnovels are for self-insert, so it's better not to have strong personality MCs. This "trick" is also very widely used in books, though more blatant in webnovels. Take Harry Potter. He's pretty bland compared to Hermione, who is very recognizable in just dialogue alone. Ron is quite recognizable too. Take Hunger Games. Katniss is a hero type that could be interchangeable with Harry Potter. Actually, many YA MCs are interchangeable.

A good example of how webnovels should do it is Twilight. After all, it did start as a romance webnovel. People say Bella is bland, but that is intentional for readers to self-insert into the fantasy. Twilight wouldn't have the success it had if Bella had a personality.

I go the opposite route in my stories, though, because I'm way past the point of caring about "marketability". I make characters with extremely strong personalities (writing-wise) that they'll pull readers along. Has limited success, but still success given this is the world of webnovels.

Although this is sadly true for webnovels, a lot of the more popular webnovels that graduated to being LNs, Manga, and traditional books have had very distinct character designs. This helped to boost their popularity a bit, mainly thanks to horny teens. As for YA novels, I can't really speak on that. YA novels aren't bad but a lot of the characters are bland or interchangeable as you said.

 

[Deleted member 113259]

Don't be offended but that description made me immediately think of the karate guy from Napoleon Dynamite.

Besides American flag pants, I don't see a resemblance.

 

[forli]

The most important thing is to make the design of a character say something about them, that attracts people that like that character type which are also the ones more likely to keep reading. For example, if a girl wears a witch's hat, you know she's some kind of magic user, if a guy wears some black coat with the hood on, you know he's some kind of edgelord, and the facial expression can inform of their personality.

Giving tsunderes twin-tails or hot-blooded shonen guys spiky hair works on the same principle as having "reincarnated as x" in the title of a novel, it's just a way to announce what you are offering for people that are only skimming a bunch of novels looking for something and won't even read the synopsis unless there's something on the title or cover that catches their eye.

 

[groudonvert]

Since we're writing webnovels, then marketable characters are those that are "bland," and I'm putting quotes on that. Webnovels are for self-insert, so it's better not to have strong personality MCs. This "trick" is also very widely used in books, though more blatant in webnovels. Take Harry Potter. He's pretty bland compared to Hermione, who is very recognizable in just dialogue alone. Ron is quite recognizable too. Take Hunger Games. Katniss is a hero type that could be interchangeable with Harry Potter. Actually, many YA MCs are interchangeable.

A good example of how webnovels should do it is Twilight. After all, it did start as a romance webnovel. People say Bella is bland, but that is intentional for readers to self-insert into the fantasy. Twilight wouldn't have the success it had if Bella had a personality.

I go the opposite route in my stories, though, because I'm way past the point of caring about "marketability". I make characters with extremely strong personalities (writing-wise) that they'll pull readers along. Has limited success, but still success given this is the world of webnovels.

Even on Internet we can write characters that are not Mary-Sue/Gary-Stu like Bella ^^'

 

[Representing_Tromba]

Oh, you're also talking about design. What I said above extends to design too, that's way so many OP MC in anime/light novels look like Kirito clones. Or why in romance stories it's always the plain girl. If the MC design is plain, it's way easier to self-insert. Plain also signals thin personality

You're not wrong.

Kirito ruined a whole industry

Yeah... But can you pick out any of those basic Isekai characters by their silhouette alone? I want half a generation to be able to pick them out like a pokemon or Goku.