What do you do when you realize your main character you based your entire story around just isn't that interesting?

[joannekwan]

Firstly it's pretty common to have 'boring' main characters since they act as a vehicle for readers to get immersed into the story! Harry Potter, Luke Skywalker, Frodo and Bilbo Baggins, they're all pretty mundane compared to the people and world around them. They are essentially avatars for the reader so the fewer polarizing traits they have the wider the appeal.

Secondly, with the descriptions you've given for Flare, he doesn't sound that boring at all! I think it's kind of interesting that an angry edgelord wants to be a diplomat/ambassador. I can easily see him developing techniques to curb his anger to try and be more diplomatic in situations which makes for a good growth arc.

[bmacbride]

If it's important that the villain or other characters take special interest in your protagonist, it's also important that you justify that interest to the reader through character development. A fast track to an unlikeable character that only gets on the reader's nerves is a character who is clearly the object of interest and care of other characters, but has no qualities or characteristics to justify why. If other characters care about your protagonist, he needs to have qualities that the audience empathizes with and find worthy of care. If other characters take a special interest in your protagonist, he needs to have qualities which make him interesting for the reader. It maybe common for protagonists to be inexplicably the center of their fictional universe, but it doesn't mean it's the right way to write one.

I think your best bet is to develop your main character, even if it's slowly, into something more than he is in the beginning. This can certainly be done by using him as a catalyst for other characters' narratives and arcs; just try to make sure these arcs affect him over time!

[indigodrawing]

Shift focus onto one of the more interesting characters and move him into more of a support role, maybe? (This is assuming that you feel his lack of interesting qualities is not fixable). It's not uncommon for previously important main characters to start taking a back seat as the story develops and different characters' roles expand or shrink.

This doesn't mean you have to abandon his story, that can still continue, but maybe as a "B" plot, that way you won't leave whoever in your audience is invested in the character hanging but you can also focus on more interesting things.

[indigodrawing]

Alternatively, you could maybe get really sadistic with your main character, break and ruin everything he cares about, stress-test him and see how he reacts when forced out of his comfort zone. What happens when you take the things that support the character and kick them out from under them?

One idea occurs immediately, what if he discovers that in the life he can't remember he was a villain? Or that his live-interest (if there is one) is one?

[fever]

I have the same problem with my main character. xD Personality-wise she's not very interesting and she keeps to herself, but the people around her are the ones who are interesting. All this time I kept thinking that it'll be okay, because in the story she gets involved with interesting people and their peculiar traits, that even if she's kind of generic, if the situation is complicated and forces her to be more engaged with others, I think that's what I want. The way she handles problem and risks will reveal her special-ness. xD

[soyasholm]

I agree with this post. Even Jotaro turned out to be a really interesting character in my opinion in season "2" of Stardust Crusaders when it's revealed he does stupid cigarette tricks, or when you think about how he asks his friends to "say something cool" to the bad guys. It's small quirks like that that make him a (secretly funny) and good main character and not a stale piece of bread imo.

[LT1986]

The main character of my web comic is a social outcast that the other characters find boring. He is a victim of narcissistic abuse. He hasn't been born in my story yet, even though I'm uploading pages of the third saga now. My web comic shows the lives of other characters to compare to his life to show why he is viewed as boring/not likeable.

I'll give one example of why I'm doing this. In my life, I've seen some extroverts look down upon some introverts for being loners. Now I know that some people might naturally be an extrovert or an introvert. Sometimes the cultures that people are in promote things that some people are either not good at or/and don't care about much. This could lead a person to live a life as an introvert. My web comic will dive into this situation. There are already situations in my web comic that characters have been put in that I've uploaded already that will be compared to my main character's involvement in the same situations. Now the overall point is to make the introvert's life explained in a way that he will be understood and not appear to be boring by extroverts.

[Luminosophy]

[DiegoPalacios]

Another suggestion that may work is to make another member of the main cast the main character. Whoever you can work better to make a compelling story or the one who has the most interesting conflicts.

[aqua03]

Yeah, that's what I was planning on doing. Shifting the focus to Selena, who is a bit more of an interesting character personality and motivation wise. (Even if, when you get down to it, basically the child Izuku Midoriya and Princess Luna from MLP....) Although I was planning on having different chapters focus on different main characters as well to help flesh them out, too. (That, and I'm working on a one-shot spin off focusing on Zephyr right now as well...)

[DiegoPalacios]

True, you can give focus to different team members in different episodes/seasons, like in Teen Titans.

[Zaboem]

Shifting focus to Selena seems like a very viable solution.

As for Flare, I sometimes think of fiction characters as if they were RPG characters. Once in a while, a player will say to me something like, "Yeah, I have this character, but she's not very interesting. She's just a standard (elven thief). I want to give her a backstory before I roleplay her."

My response to this is: "Our first adventure is her backstory. Just play the game. Let her get shaped by her experiences at the table, and she will become an interesting character for you."

So yeah, just write some stories that include Flare. These experiences can expand his personality and complexity just as his power increases with every new kaiju that he has to face down.

[aqua03]

Funnily enough, I originally envisioned DRGN as an RPG video game before switching to webcomic.

I really like that advice and will definitely try to follow it while I write DRGN!

[aqua03]

Sorry for the double post, but I had realization today regarding the rotating characters (though focus on Selena). I know major story arcs invoking encounters with the main villain, King Gufuu, those will definitely focus on Flare, because I realized that is when Flare becomes interesting both involving his undying hatred for the villain and the villain's relationship with him and his true identity as whole. So that is probably when Flare becomes a more interesting protagonist, though he probably will take the backseat for most of the other arcs and let the other protagonists (Usually Selena and maybe Luican) take the wheel for a bit.