All my male protagonists are alike. They’re all me, except better looking. In all the novels except The Man Terror Club, which has no male protagonist, the men are sensitive and on the romantic side. They are not particularly emotionally resilient. They are confident in their intelligence and often overthink situations, but are not so socially adept and appreciate being propped up by a heroine. None are overly ambitious, certainly not to the point of obnoxiousness. They tend to be middle-aged. Most surprisingly, women are much more attracted to them than they ought to be, so none have to scheme elaborately to attract their female protagonist.
With that in mind, I felt the need to write someone different, someone not as genial, someone supremely confident. And I wondered what would happen if I made him a little off-putting, perhaps an irascible know-it-all. Of course, he needed some redeeming qualities as well: clever, honest, cares deeply about people who manage to break through. I would also need a situation that threw him together with the female protagonist so they could not easily escape. After all, few are attracted immediately if someone’s obvious qualities are a turnoff.
I should have put myself into a snarky mood each day before I started writing. It was necessary, because what naturally comes out of me is the type of character that is warm and empathetic. This novel needed cool and distant. But non-snarky me wrote warm and empathetic for far too many scenes.
I kept writing anyway. I liked my characters and didn’t want to throw them away. I also wanted to discover how they got to the vague endpoint I had in mind. So my character didn’t turn out to be as big a turnoff for the female lead as I intended. Still, I came up with a way to torpedo their relationship.
I need to come up with another distasteful but redeemable character. I had an interesting idea about an American road trip for a family that’s disintegrating. I have also thought about sequels to The Man Terror Club and The Time Well, although I already know those characters, so they wouldn’t stretch me as much.
Maybe an ax murderer. I’ve already done a nice-guy kidnapper and a well-meaning serial killer. Perhaps someone not so stabby, another curmudgeon.