Some questions for slice of life readers & writers

[Lensing]

1) What makes a main character / protagonist / hero of a slice of life story likable? Or makes you
emotionally attached to the character

2) The opposite question for his opponent/villain, what makes you really fear or dislike his opponent

3) When do you feel like you really get involved in a story? What makes you relate to a character?

4) Do you relate more to male or to female characters?

[Scarlet_Cryptid]

1. For me, a main character needs to be fleshed out. I want to know what they want. What they like and don't like. What they're afraid of, or struggling with. I like to see character development over time. I want them to have virtues and flaws. I don't want a Mary Sue who's universally loved and good at everything, but I also don't want a 'blank' character who just... doesn't seem to have a definable personality. Make them a whole-ass person with traits that are likeable (kind to animals, good at a thing but wants to be better, defends people who are being picked on, etc) and not-so-likeable (procrastinates, has a self-destructive habit, jealous of someone, etc)

2. The 'villain' is just as important as the MC. They need to make sense, in a way. Not someone who's irredeemably evil 'just because'. They need to have a reason they're the way they are. Are they a bully because they were bullied/abused? Are they a spoiled brat who's always had preferential treatment, and has never really suffered a consequence? Are they hyper-competitive, willing to do whatever it takes to win? Their behavior should make sense, even if you loathe them. (Personally, my most-hated characters are the smug @$$holes who just never seem to get their comeuppance. Makes it all the sweeter when they finally DO fall flat on their face.)

3. To get involved in a story, I have to care about the character. I don't care what the stakes are if I'm not rooting for your character to succeed. A well-fleshed out, loveable character who just wants to win the local gardening competition is far more interesting to me than a bland, cookie-cutter hero of legend who needs to slay the dragon and save the kingdom. Slice of life is intensely character driven. Put the lion's share of your effort there.

4. I have zero preference for male vs female characters. I am female, but I've rarely resonated with the sort of 'problems' people tend to give female characters: crushes on a love interest, dealing with the 'mean girls' at school, etc. I want human problems, things that everyone and anyone can experience. Did you fail a test at school? Enter a competition? Are you trying to get a job? Helping a friend with a problem? These things can happen to anyone. It doesn't matter whether you're male, female, or whatever.

[Lensing]

Thank you so much for taking time and giving me that detailed answer.
This is really satisfying information

[DarkChibiShadow]

1) A character who I can relate to helps-- but mostly I want it to be a character who has positives and negatives. Ideally, a slice of life is extremely personal and therefore we get to see and maybe hear a lot of the protagonist's real feelings and it feels more relatable and realistic if not all of those feelings are always positive. The character can be really different from me, but if I can understand their motivations, their fears, their wants, etc, it's easy to become invested.

2) D-Does slice of life usually have opponents or villains? I don't think most of them even have antagonists? Maybe you're thinking of a different genre? Ideally, in a slice of life, LIFE is just the thing the protagonist and the characters are dealing with and not necessarily some big baddie or force. At least that's how I think of it. If the characters are gonna suddenly bust into action, it's no longer a slice of life, at least not what I think of it as-- and I'd probably lose interest.

3) I'm heavily invested in character dynamics and motivations. I am invested in a story when characters feel complex and actions feel tense. When I really, REALLY wanna see the next part due to the characters, I know I'm hooked.

4) I'm uh, I'm non-binary so? This really depends? Ideally, you wouldn't see much difference in female and male characters unless they're dealing with societal stuff? So, this one I'm just gonna leave up to 50/50. Really just depends on the story and what's happening. Odd question, imo.

Good luck!

[Lensing]

Thank you too for taking the time and answering so long and detailed. That helps me a lot too.
In the slice of life I´m working on the protagonist does have "opponents" because he is a guy
who gets bullied which is part of the story. Maybe I´m also usinng the label "slice of life" wrong.

Question number 4 goes in a simliar direction like the other questions, I want to know how much
of yourself you have to see in a character to relate to the story or get emotinally involved into the
story. I get involved most when I see or read something I can relate too or when the character
mirrors a lot of what´s going on in my life. I want to know if that´s the case for other readers
too

[DarkChibiShadow]

Ohh okay, yes, a bully is definitely an "opponent" then, yes! If the story is still focused on day to day stuff, trying to deal with said bully in a realistic way, then I think it's still slice of life! Once things become too action-y or rivalry focused, I think then it starts to lose some of that genre. (I hope that makes sense.)

I don't always need to see myself in a character to relate. In fact, sometimes I don't want to and it's nice to learn about someone else's experiences or think of things from another perspective. Not sure how true this holds for everyone else, though I know relatability in slice of life is important, and unfortunately most folks can relate to being bullied. :')

[TheLemmaLlama]

I assume from your other comment that you're looking for answers to those 4 questions in regards to slice of life, rather than answers to those 4 questions in regards to stories in general from people who happen to really enjoy slice of life :] That being said:

1. Character development is important, but personally, I prefer MCs that are a little more one-note, at least at the start. I want to have a strong feeling of who this person is in order to feel engaged. Often, I see people trying to be subtle with their characters or showing all of their complexities from the get-go, and I just end up feeling like 'who is this person' and ironically, they end up feeling generic. I prefer characters that start off with one or two well-defined traits that slowly get more complex over time

2. I generally don't want to fear or hate anyone in a pure slice-of-life, but I do enjoy slice-of-life stories that turn dramatic and get really dark somewhere along the line. From your comment, it sounds like the bad guy(s) you're going for is an ongoing part of your MC's life. Anyways, for me a character evokes fear when they're in a position of power over the protag. Someone with more authority and/or social influence, someone who can emotionally manipulate the protag, even someone physically stronger in certain circumstances is scary. Someone the protag can't get away from. And I dislike a character as a person when they're hypocrites, mostly; when they judge and demonise others for things that are no big deal or they didn't even do; or they excuse themselves for things that are really bad.

3. I get involved the most easily into slice-of-life stories when they have a premise that interests me, or cool worldbuilding. People always talk about worldbuilding with respect to more plot-heavy fantasy or sci-fi, but I find a slow paced slice-of-life is the best setting for really absorbing a well-crafted world and almost take a vacation there, if you know what I mean. As for premise, an example of that would be a hobby I enjoy; I like board games, so I really liked After School Dice Club.
   Relatability, I think, is when you have an intimate shared experience with a character. For instance, if you have a character struggling to fall asleep, that's a shared experience because I also struggle to fall asleep, but it doesn't evoke the "damn, that's relatable" feeling because I'm just like "well yeah, at least half the people I know have trouble sleeping". But if your character visibly cringes upon seeing someone yawning, I FEEL them, because I can't stand it either but no-one else seems to have that problem.

4. Which I guess kind of leads in to my opinion that gender is too broad a trait to evoke that feeling of relatability, at least if you're male or female. If you're non-binary, you might be excited to see a non-binary character just because they don't appear very often, but I don't see many people going "ohey, that character is a guy! I'm also a guy!" That being said, out of all the characters I relate to from stuff I've already read, there happens to be more males than females, but honestly I think it's just because some of the older stuff mostly didn't have many well-written female characters

[Lensing]

Thanks to you too. I get all the super interesting answer in this topic
Really good to read this.

I want the reader to be involved and make the protaginst struggle with fears and problems
that a lot of people have. The "villains" are coworkers, bosses who bully him, other men who are competing
with him at work and in his private life.

The male/female question is important for me as a reader and I was wondering if it is important for
other readers too. I can only relate with male protagonists, especially when it comes to real life stories.
That doesn´t mean that female characters don´t interest me but I wouldn´t be so attached to a female
protagonist. In my experience men and women communicate differently with each other, they compete
in a different way and also bully each other differently and this is an important part of the story