Play Book Tag discussion

What type of characters do you like?
Do you like to read books with an evil main character?
What age of character do you like?
Do you prefer male or female characters?
What about quirky characters?
Do you like books which are a character study?

Now this makes me think!

What type of characters do you like?
I would say I have no particular preference. because I don't think I'm too particular when it comes to characters. But is that really true? I think most of my preferences are not really conscious ones. For example, I don't like characters who are too stupid to live -- the gothic heroine going into the basement in the haunted house stupid.

I don't like characters where the author gives them ridiculous reasons for their actions. For example, there was a Maisey Yates Christmas romance I read at some point in last several months where the supposedly intelligent heroine kept herself a virgin for 15 years due to her high school boyfriend's rejection of her virginity when she was 17 - just inane. There were other problems with that book too, but that was absurd.

Do you like to read books with an evil main character?
Yes if it serves the story. I do not have to like or admire the characters in a book. Example that immediately comes to my mind is A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James - talk about evil main characters! Yet part of the brilliance of that book is that evil as Josey is, and others, you also see their human frailty. Plus it's a book in part about Jamaica and gang warfare - you are going to have a lot of evil main characters.

What age of character do you like?
Age actually usually only weighs in on my choice of genre fiction - the mysteries and romances. There, I do tend to stear away from books where the characters are under say 30 --- unless I am specifically looking to read a book with young characters or a genre like YA.

Do you prefer male or female characters?
I definitely lean towards female, especially as main characters. And even when I'm reading a series like C.S. Harris' historical mysteries with a male lead character, I want there to be well-developed female characters. That's true of my fluff reading as well - the 'male bodice rippers' and 'studly men and hunky dogs' thrillers and suspense.

What about quirky characters?

As long as funny or charming or in some way entertaining and not irritating. One of the K-9 suspense books I read last week had a quirky geeky heroine who slipped occasionally into the irritating quirkiness thus undermining what was otherwise a welcome change from the usual heroine.

Do you like books which are a character study

Absolutely. I mean, I read Proust ... which is a character study (as well as many other things).

I like strong women as characters and tender men. I like “bad” characters if they are thieves, con men, etc., but not if they are serial killers, torturers or Nazis. Age isn’t usually a factor. I still think of myself as 10, 21, 40, or whatever the story requires. Though I don’t care for teenage angst and didn’t really experience it myself.

Quirky characters are great but there have to be some “normal “” characters with them.

Characters are so important in my fictional reading. I have to be able to connect to them or the book will end up on the DNF pile.

What type of characters do you like?
I love a good strong female character in my fantasy books. Over the past couple years I have been making an effort to read older fantasy, and I was surprised to find so many in these older books.

Do you like to read books with an evil main character?
I love to "hate" a bad guy! Author's I have been reading a lot of lately Robin Hobb, Joe Abercrombie handle this really well. Get you hating on someone and then boom, you are suddenly feeling sorry for them.

What age of character do you like?
No preference in this, just depends on the book.

Do you prefer male or female characters?
Again, no preference. Just depends on the story.

What about quirky characters?
Love them, as long as they have a purpose in the story.

Do you like books which are a character study?
Most of these books are Literary Fiction, and not really my genre. I have read some that I loved and some that I have hated.

I have read a lot of authors who say that they begin to know their characters so well, that the plot and actions flow organically from the characters themselves, often surprising the authors. I love books like these. Well thought out characters have to be in a book for me to enjoy it.

What type of characters do you like?

As long as the characters are realistic and three dimensional, I'm fine. I like all ages and genders.

Do you like to read books with an evil main character?
I don't do well with truly evil main characters or even charicatures of them. All characters have foibles and some can be serious. There has to be some redeeming quality in the character for me to connect with, in order to continue reading. Sharks in the Time of Saviors is an example of a book that I enjoyed, even though I didn't always like the characters.

What about quirky characters? (Is there any other kind? Just kidding.)
Seriously, as long as they seem real and not forced, quirky characters can be delightful.

Do you like books which are a character study?
Yes.

What type of characters do you like?
Is it too flippant to answer "characters in books"? I marvel at an author's skill when characters are fully realized, whether male, female, good, bad, young, old. I like strong females; they don't have to be perfect, but they need to be resilient and make intelligent choices (or at the very least learn from their bad choices).


Do you like to read books with an evil main character?
Do I "like" to read them? Well, that depends. I loved Lolita, and it's hard to get more twisted than Humbert, Raskolnikov in Crime and Punishment (one of my all-time favorites) isn't exactly anyone I'd like to be friends with either. And I rather enjoyed Patricia Highsmith's The Talented Mr. Ripley, though I've never managed to read any more of the series.

What age of character do you like?
Do you prefer male or female characters?
Doesn't really matter to me, though I do tend to read more books with a female lead.

What about quirky characters?
Yes, please. That's one of the joys of reading cozy mysteries! And I love all the quirky people that populate small southern towns, as in the "Miss Julia" series by Ann B Ross.


Do you like books which are a character study?
Yes. I don't need much plot if the character's own story fascinates me. I'm thinking of Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout or Annie Proulx's The Shipping News or Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson

What type of characters do you like?
I can enjoy any type of character, depending on the book. I prefer characters that feel authentic.

Do you like to read books with an evil main character?
I can enjoy these depending on the depth of the evil. I don't like to read books that are overly violent, so stories featuring serial killers, rapists, stalkers, sadists, pedophiles, those possessed by Satan, and the like are not books I would typically pick up.

What age of character do you like?
Generally, I prefer an adult main character (18 and over).

I find it is rare for an author to authentically portray a young child (say 10 and under) in a realistic way. Either they have forgotten what young kids are like, or they just cannot get into the right mindset.

I have a love/hate relationship with YA. I can enjoy main characters in the 11-17 age group if they are realistic and complex.

Do you prefer male or female characters?
I find I can relate to a character of either sex pretty equally. Perhaps I am unusual in that way.

What about quirky characters?
I am quirky in real life so I tend to love them.

Do you like books which are a character study?
I am a lover of literary fiction, so character studies are my favorite type of books. I grew up reading the classics as a young teen, so I was already predisposed to character-driven fiction and I still love it.

What type of characters do you like?
Like Joanne, I like characters which I can relate to. My favorite characters have a strong inner strength and a sense of their own values. Other than that their can be a great variance.

I do appreciate characters who are trying to find themselves and this happens at many ages.

I want the characters to be as dimensional as possible, but often find I fill them in a bit with my own understanding.

Do you like to read books with an evil main character?
I don't generally read books with the central character who is evil, I find this off putting.

I will read a book where a secondary character is evil or who the main character is struggling with.

What age of character do you like?
I like characters of all ages, but confess that when I was younger, I didn't like to read books about older characters, now I love them. Serves me right!
I still love a coming of age story.

Do you prefer male or female characters?
While I think that I don't have a preference, this year about 75% are female.

What about quirky characters?
I like some quirky characters, however if they move into the realm of unbelievable or annoying, I no longer appreciate them.

Do you like books which are a character study?
Generally no. I find far to many of them are in the quirky, annoying , unbelievable or evil realm. That with often little plot makes the book undesirable. So if a book is described as a character study, I will read more reviews to see if there is anything there which would attract me.

@BC - your mention of Patricia Highsmith was perfect for "evil main character"! That is typical of psyhcological crime fiction and thrillers, her specialty. I read Strangers on the Train a couple years ago for first time and all the characters are ultimately evil, wonderfully so, far more so than in Hitchcock's adaptation.

@ BnB-by the way great discussion topic! Really enjoying this thread you have created!

Joanne wrote: "@ BnB-by the way great discussion topic! Really enjoying this thread you have created!"

Thank you, I'm enjoying it as well. Most readers like to talk about reading and I've noted similarities and differences with readers on PBT, so thought it would be fun to examine.

Also our reading changes over the years.

I like any character, as long as they fit in the story, and are well drawn. I’m especially drawn to the characters with a hidden strength (my favorite character in the Harry Potter series is Neville). Not a big fan of whiny, it’s-not-my-fault-I’m-entitled types, though.

An evil main character? Sure! I love a well done a$$#@le.

I’m okay with all ages of characters, as long as the story is good. Because of my dislike of the whiny, though, my least favorite age of character is usually the 12-16 year olds.

Male or female characters are both fine.

Quirky? Bring it!

Character studies, when well done, like Olive Kitteridge or Gilead, are amazing.

Tracy wrote: "I like any character, as long as they fit in the story, and are well drawn. I’m especially drawn to the characters with a hidden strength (my favorite character in the Harry Potter series is Nevill..."

I hate whiny as well.

I loved Olive Kitteridge. I think for me with character studies there has to be enough happening.

I tend to gravitate more toward women "characters", particularly in nonfiction, and particularly in history.

I like any characters that the author can convince me are fully realized dynamic people. The only time I get annoyed at characters is when I think the author hasn't done a good job in making them realistic enough for me to believe who they are and why they're doing what they're doing. If I have to ask too many questions about a character's behavior, it takes me right out of the story and I can have a hard time sticking with it.

What type of characters do you like?
I enjoy many types of characters but especially those that I can relate to them somehow or if I can learn from them.

Do you like to read books with an evil main character?
I don't mind them but I also am not drawn to them.

What age of character do you like?
I prefer adult thought I do dabble in YA and then get frustrated with myself when it is all teen angst and not real growth or coming of age. I adore Elizabeth Acevedo's YA books. I tend to stay away from child narrators and animal narrators.

Do you prefer male or female characters?
Will read both and open minded to both but totally have a bias towards female written by female.

What about quirky characters?
Love them and seek them out.

Do you like books which are a character study?
Yes but in moderation as I do need to be in the right mood but also a great character study can put me in the mood. Example is that I started the third in a action packed fantasy that super entertaining but needed to pause for a character study book that needs to go back to the library, Home. I was a bit concerned in making the switch but the writing and the characters are so amazing that I was completely sucked in and can't put it down.

Jen K wrote: " I tend to stay away from child narrators and animal narrators.."

I forgot about those entirely when both writing and replying to this.

Unlike you, I like both. I am especially fond of good animal narrators.

One lost summer when I was in a severe reading slump, I found a cat mystery series and read 15 in a row.

Ann R wrote: "Nefarious characters can make a story far more interesting if they are integral to the story. (I couldn't imagine HP without the addition of Voldemort and the Death Eaters, even if they are evil and repugnant characters.)..."

I like nefarious characters too as long as they are not the protagonist. I like Voldemort as a "main character," but I wouldn't want him as the protagonist. I tend to like battles of good versus evil, so would need both to make it well-rounded and provide the necessary conflict.

I like child protagonists if they actually think and act like children. Animal narrators, it depends.