AstralCat
Scribe
So I have this character. He isn't the main character. The main character is a seventeen year old girl. She's also the narrator. This guy is the same age as her, and, in general, isn't that bad of a guy. He tries his best to be a gentleman, is always trying to make other people happy, and his dream is to be a heroic knight that goes around slaying dragons and rescuing damsels (which is pretty unrealistic since he's easily frightened, has no magical talent, and is clumsy with a sword).
Anyway, I wanted to give him a negative trait so that main-character-lady will have a reason to dislike him for a while. Plot related reasons. You know. So I decided that he can be racist towards these batlike people. It's not unique to him either. Most of the people from his country distrust the bat folk, because of wars and tragic events that the bats caused. He's afraid of them, like everyone else in his country. But main-character-lady is close friends with a bat-person, so she would take offense. It all works out well, plotwise and characterwise.
But the problem is... How do you write a racist guy without him being extremely hateable? I don't want the readers to hate him. He's an important character, and he's also the eventual love interest for the main character (after he gets over himself).
So yeah. How do I do this thing? Any insight?
Anyway, I wanted to give him a negative trait so that main-character-lady will have a reason to dislike him for a while. Plot related reasons. You know. So I decided that he can be racist towards these batlike people. It's not unique to him either. Most of the people from his country distrust the bat folk, because of wars and tragic events that the bats caused. He's afraid of them, like everyone else in his country. But main-character-lady is close friends with a bat-person, so she would take offense. It all works out well, plotwise and characterwise.
But the problem is... How do you write a racist guy without him being extremely hateable? I don't want the readers to hate him. He's an important character, and he's also the eventual love interest for the main character (after he gets over himself).
So yeah. How do I do this thing? Any insight?