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Drafting Notes - How to Write Unlikeable Characters That Work episode artwork

Apr 8, 2026 20 min

Drafting Notes - How to Write Unlikeable Characters That Work

from Page One - The Writer's Podcast

Watch as a full video episode on our YouTube channel Do your characters have to likeable? No! There are plenty of brilliant books and movies with horrible protagonists. So what makes them work? How do you write characters who are deeply flawed and unlikeable without turning the reader or viewer off? We discuss it all on this week's episode of Drafting Notes, while also discussing some of our favourite unlikeable characters. Drafting Notes is a series in which one award-winning writer (Tariq) and one hopefully soon-to-be-published writer (Marco) discuss various writing issues as they occur to them! Support us on Patreon and get access to Drafting Notes episodes early, along with other great benefits! Drafting Notes and Page One - The Writer's Podcast are brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one Follow us on Facebook Follow us on Instagram Follow us on Bluesky Follow us on Threads Drafting Notes is part of STET Podcasts - the one stop shop for all your writing and publishing podcast needs! Follow STET Podcasts on Instagram and Bluesky

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This episode was published on April 8, 2026.

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