Making your characters more marketable to a readers audience

[Representing_Tromba]

No, unrealistic is good. It allows the author to ceize the initiative and strongly lay ground rules in their story.
But that unrealism must also possess charisma.
As for blandness - didn't @Temple tell why it is also good?
So you should not seek balance between them.

I disagreed with Temple.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

I disagreed with Temple.

Why?

 

[ThrillingHuman]

I disagreed with Temple.

He gave rather objective facts. A lot of very marketable stories have very bland protagonists.

 

[Succubiome]

If you're your own target demographic, just pander wholeheartedly to yourself with little to no reservations. Your mixture of mainstream taste in that target demographic and your own personal taste is most likely to result in something that is both marketable and interesting.

If you're not... research, I guess?

 

[Representing_Tromba]

He gave rather objective facts. A lot of very marketable stories have very bland protagonists.

Yes, but we also agreed that a lot of stories can and have garnered marketable success from character designs in places outside of webnovel circles. Even stories with shitty plot and horrible characters have become marketable due to their characters design appeal. It may be marketable for webnovels but outside of that, and YA, it helps the appeal to have good character designs.

If you're your own target demographic, just pander wholeheartedly to yourself with little to no reservations. Your mixture of mainstream taste in that target demographic and your own personal taste is most likely to result in something that is both marketable and interesting.

If you're not... research, I guess?

I pander to the history nuts.

 

[Succubiome]

I pander to the history nuts.

Time to put characters in less common but still period-appropriate clothing!

 

[ThrillingHuman]

I pander to the history nuts.

...wallnuts?

 

[Representing_Tromba]

Time to put characters in less common but still period-appropriate clothing!

Good thing I did. I actually called a clothing museum once or twice just to see what people wore during different time periods. Turns out most green dresses from the 1800s Europe were toxic. Gave a character a green dress so the history nuts know she has a death flag.

 

[Succubiome]

Good thing I did. I actually called a clothing museum once or twice just to see what people wore during different time periods. Turns out most green dresses from the 1800s Europe were toxic. Gave a character a green dress so the history nuts know she has a death flag.

Spicy!

 

[dummycake]

Good thing I did. I actually called a clothing museum once or twice just to see what people wore during different time periods. Turns out most green dresses from the 1800s Europe were toxic. Gave a character a green dress so the history nuts know she has a death flag.

Do you think they assassinated people using green?

 

[Representing_Tromba]

Do you think they assassinated people using green?

No. At least, not until the 1900s because people realized the cheaply manufactured green die was toxic. It was probably used as a poison by some people but it's hard to say.

 

[BearlyAlive]

Anyone already said to make them as one-dimensional as possible while also making them as attractive to the target audience as possible? Meaning making your MC is bland as tbe readers that read to self-insert, turning female characters into different spices of bimbo body + one-dimensional trait and making your antagonists so stupid even a kindergartener would notice their plans (which MC doesn't).

 

[J_Chemist]

Leaning into the "fantasy" style of clothing and typical adventurers, I would switch from the grimdark style to the flashy, more colorful palette that most people like to see. Characters with skimpier or more fashionable clothes that are more flamboyant and trendy, rather than practical. I'd ignore the disadvantages of such equipment and write as if it were more a game-esque RPG.

I'd make my MC less of a dickhead and more kind, less prone to violence, and more forgiving. I'd reel back on his tactical mindset and make him more emotional-leaning to put him into the actual "Typical Boring Hero" column instead of the Anti-Hero column.

Side characters wouldn't be killed off as proactively, death counts would drop to ensure the cast remains stoic throughout the story. With that, there would be more "successful rolls" in the overall scheme of things, giving the main party an easier way through the grind of the plot. In doing so, I'd minimize side-quests and develop the characters through typical "friendship rules all" ideals.

It'd make for a pretty shitty story, all things considered. The women would be looser, bustier, and speak sexier. The males would be brawnier, more muscular, and taller, and probably bag more ass than a toilet. Or less, depending on the character. I'd add in a "virgin-killer" female, the "virgin child" character she'd heckle constantly, remove the heinous backgrounds of some supporting cast, and I'd overall bring in one or two more baddies that would hustle after the MC the entire time to increase the frequency of adult scenes.

Overall- I'd write an entirely different story and it would be some cookie cutter bullshit that would be for a paycheck and I'd probably wear a gas mask the entire time to keep myself from gagging.

 

[TheEldritchGod]

Cheat.

Pick a popular, hot new thing. File off the serial numbers. Make your MC a bland version of the hot new thing, but add in the politics of the publisher.

Get paid up front.

Oh almost forget.

If male. He needs to bang chick's like a jack hammer.

If female, everyone loves her on sight.

Remember, the male power fantasy is to gain power by his own hand. The female power fantasy is to be so beautiful and loved everything is handed to you with no effort, just because you are "good".

 

[dummycake]

This thread will make some people rich in the future

 

[Deleted member 84247]

Just follow the template.
MC: Japanese man with black hair, and a totally unremarkable personality.
Harem: There should be one of each type of girl. A tsundere with blonde/red hair in twintails, a loli demon, a priest girl with blonde hair, possibly some beastkin, and an elf.
Plot: Guy gets isekaid through death/transmigration. If death he is born as a boring nobody or a boring aristocrat. If transmigration he is summoned by a church as a hero. Either way the story will quickly become a power fantasy where all obstacles are conquered easily. Nobody in his party will die, and the villain at the end will be some demon lord. You could make it a twist, and the demon lord joins the hero's party through some talk-no-jutsu. Then the real twist happens, and it turns out the church was the evil one the whole time!

There is also a female MC version. Stay tuned for the story about how she reincarnates as a villainess while avoiding death flags.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

Just follow the template.
MC: Japanese man with black hair, and a totally unremarkable personality.
Harem: There should be one of each type of girl. A tsundere with blonde/red hair in twintails, a loli demon, a priest girl with blonde hair, possibly some beastkin, and an elf.
Plot: Guy gets isekaid through death/transmigration. If death he is born as a boring nobody or a boring aristocrat. If transmigration he is summoned by a church as a hero. Either way the story will quickly become a power fantasy where all obstacles are conquered easily. Nobody in his party will die, and the villain at the end will be some demon lord. You could make it a twist, and the demon lord joins the hero's party through some talk-no-jutsu. Then the real twist happens, and it turns out the church was the evil one the whole time!

There is also a female MC version. Stay tuned for the story about how she reincarnates as a villainess while avoiding death flags.

I expected your reply to be this. "Just make them vampires."

 

[Deleted member 84247]

I expected your reply to be this. "Just make them vampires."

Vampires are also popular, but they are usually not the MC in most stories. They are often just another loli capture target.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

Vampires are also popular, but they are usually not the MC in most stories. They are often just another loli capture target.

Sistah.... stahp.

 

[Deleted member 84247]

Sistah.... stahp.

Am I wrong?