Markus OmniI hope not to achieve badassery, as like Stryker and a Lemon once told me, nobody licks it, and it becomes unrelatable with the reader.
The only thing I hope to provide is a decent story!
Though I agree with the essence of what you're saying, I would amend that just a tad. Badassery isn't, in and of itself, a bad thing. It's just a severely over-written thing, and is often misused in an instant-gratification-type way. A lot of writers make the mistake of making their characters action heroes right out of the box, with very little backstory and/or inner emotional nuance. Given enough time and character development, it's perfectly feasible for one's character to eventually attain a level of badassery- but by then, it seems like most writers will have matured out of wanting something so generic for their creations.
Successful characters are those with whom people can identify to a degree. Real people have insecurities. Real people have suffered failure. Real people have experienced heartbreak. Real people have experienced loss. All of these things can (and in my view, should) be used to balance the thrill of being a 34th-century space adventurer with near-total freedom to do as he or she pleases.
Last edit: 03 Feb 2017, 8:39pm