Writing Useless Yet Likeable Characters

Tokyo freaking Ghoul! Yeah, I need to rant about this. I've been obsessed with this God-forsaken show for months now, and all I've been doing is quoting this anime, squealing about the awesome characters, and crying over my baby Kaneki. Seriously, fangirl mode is on full throttle and I'm very ashamed of this. However this is; mostly, a blog on writing so let's get to the topic at hand. Tokyo Ghoul is an anime about survival, not just with humans, but the human eating ghouls as well. Each party thinks their side is right, and that if only the other party would disappear then all would be right with the world. Caught in the middle of this war is Kaneki Ken, a nerdy human that decides he wants to man up at the wrong time, the girl he goes out with happens to be a ghoul that tries to eat him, Then, because this is an anime and it needs drama, all the ghoul's organs are stuffed into his body making him an artificial half ghoul. Granted a very wimpy ghoul, he's even likened to a female at one point, but a flesh eating ghoul none the less. So unlike most stories our character isn't the awesome badass, the suave rogue, or even the sneaky scientist. Our main character is a book worm that just wants to finish his degree and live a normal life. Yet everyone likes him when he's useless, a lot more so than his 'taken a level in badass' self. And that's what I'm here to talk about, trying to make likable yet useless characters.

Most times people complain about these characters because they whine and angst. They don't want to help themselves get out of their situation, they'll just whine until they suddenly become the chosen ones, and then they'll start angsting about how they're too badass. Trying to pull of a useless hero takes work, and if you can't sell it then your readers will hate you.

1: Make Your Character Likable-This should go without saying. If your character is essentially useless, you've got to make them likable. Have them be the butt monkey to jokes, have them speak a little wisdom, even have them be a bit snarky. Whatever you do, just make sure that the audience likes them, and won't mind their uselessness.

2: Don't Let Them Angst- This is practically one of my rules to every post, but I'll repeat it anyway. Useless characters that angst about how useless they are don't need to exist. They're like students who complain about how much they suck at math, but don't take the time to study Satan's Subject. A useless character doesn't have to be happy about their current standing, but they shouldn't angst about it either, because all positions can be improved. Speaking of which...

3: Have Them Try to Improve Themselves- They don't need to take a full level of badass like Kaneki did, but they should at least try to improve upon their 'useless' status. This doesn't necessarily mean they need to be a fighter, they could change into a tactician, a sage, or a scholar. Just give them the drive and determination to change. However, you could always have them fail at this, making them the butt end of jokes all the time.

4: Don't Have Them Improve Right Away- I actually loved Eragon as a kid. I bought the book, my parents got me the movie, and then I bought the videogame. Eragon was probably one of the first YA high fantasy books I ever read, and I was totally in love with the concept. However I always got upset by how quickly the titular character managed to achieve and master new skills. I'm not even talking about magic ones, I'm talking about normal ones like reading; he mastered that in a week. Now I have three brothers I helped teach how to read, it does not take a week to learn the basics of reading, especially when you only have so much time to practice and you're under pressure. So when you're trying to get your useless character to improve, be sure you're not having it happen too quickly unless they already have a basic understanding/foundation of that skill.

So that's all I have to say about that. Just remember: make your character have proper character development, and a decent personality, and you'll go far. Or at least your readers won't want to drag your bloody corpse and feed you to zombies.

I'm gonna go read Tokyo Ghoul :Re now...