I make fun of Gary over his rule that all TV shows must have an upstanding, moral person you can root for. I think someone needs to be sympathetic, but they don’t have to be a good person. Don Draper isn’t moral, but he’s sympathetic enough to watch as he makes his way. Same for Walter White or Nucky Thompson or Tommy Gavin.
I wonder what those characters have that makes them sympathetic. It it a sense of humor? Is it that they are more resigned than angry? I ask because Chapter Two of The Inheritance Novel introduces seven characters, all but a few are very unsympathetic.
Two are physically violent, one is verbally violent, one is a drunk, one is a drunk addict, and there are two side characters who bring the funny. I have seven people and I don’t relate to any of them.
One is clearly the villain. He’s clearly an ass, but his backstory was probably the most relatable and detailed. Perhaps the villain is actually an anti-hero and I’ve read it wrong so far.
So far I can say I am glad to have never worked with roughnecks on an oil rig. I’ll keep going, but I haven’t latched on to anyone, and that connection’s what I look for in a novel.