On Sunday, we learned that the two teams that are heading to the Superbowl are the Atlanta Falcons (woo!) and the Patriots (boo). I should apologize to the people who read this who like the Patriots, Tom Brady, or both, so I do. However, I hate both because it's just getting to be too much. When they got to their first Superbowl, back in 2001, they were the underdogs then. They were going there for the first time since 1996, without winning, and Tom Brady was a sixth round pick out of Michigan. He was only there because they literally forced the old quarterback - a guy named Drew Bledsoe to the sidelines - and Brady was good. That Superbowl in 2001 was also a very close game with the Patriots only winning by a field goal (3 points) so it was a perfect storm of wanting to cheer for them. Then the scandals started and they got so good they weren't the underdogs and I couldn't cheer for them anymore. Props to those who can, but I can't. Tom Brady became the unrelatable and unlikable character in the drama llamas that is professional football, along with the rest of his team. Do you know when they become relatable? When they lose. That's kind of sad, but there it is.
In how this relates to writing, you want to make sure that your characters remain likable unless you're writing villains. To go back to Harry Potter, like I do a lot, Severus Snape is the perfect villain that you root for. With Star Wars, as you learn more about Vader, you want to root for him to come back to good. For your hero, you want the same thing. Harry Potter, for being the chosen one against the evil of Voldemort, was still relatable because his creator wanted him to be human. She wanted to make sure that it was a normal kid underneath all the layers of chosen one. When you're creating your characters, make sure there's something that attaches them to the rest of society. If they're too perfect, then people are going to want to root against them. Your readers might stop reading and that's never good.
Now, if you want someone to hate a character? You've got a perfect template for them. Same goes for if you want someone to hate a villain, but make sure they're doing their evilness for a reason. World Domination is a reason, but why? Because the original rulers are incompetent is a very good reason or because you can do it better is a good reason. Having a shitty childhood is a good reason and you get the added bonus of people wanting to relate to them (see Kingpin in Daredevil). If you need to look up why a character has a motive for doing something evil, look to normal life. Sometime's it's as simple as wanting to keep with the Jones-es situation.
So yeah, that's why I won't be rooting for the Patriots or Tom Brady anytime soon. He had a great origin story, but honestly, someone needs to smack him to make him relatable again. Same goes for the Patriots. Hopefully the Falcons, with their underdog relatable story line, can get the job done.
Until next time, keep on writing.
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