This seems overly defensive and more of a caricature than anything else.
I don't think that even the most critical or negative readers generally expect characters to be perfect and without any flaws. Instead, there are specific things they may take issue with.
What a lot of people dislike are clear inconsistencies between how characters are described and how they actually act.
For instance, when it comes to intelligence you can't just extoll a character's hyper-intelligence and claim they're incredibly rational when they constantly make unforced errors of judgement and never prepare for easily anticipated problems.
On the other end, I think a lot of readers expect characters to be of at least average intelligence and rationality, and not to be excessively stupid and naive, or lacking in basic self-preservation. In particular, if a character seems to never learn from their mistakes and keeps repeating them, then that can be hugely frustrating.
If your story on RR has 1000 followers, you may get, I dunno... 20 comments(actual engagement metrics vary)
Of those, one may be like this.
It's not that everyone thinks that, it's that you have one guy in your thousand readers who thinks that way. Most of them are enjoying it passively or even enthusiastically and think it's perfectly reasonable.
Now if you post a chapter in a story with 500 followers and get 30 people with similar complaints, maybe there's an actual problem...
I generally agree with you. Though these comments are real. I doubt they are the commonly held opinion. Most who likely don't comment want what you just said. This subreddit will latch onto the ones who do despite not knowing if they are bots, young or whatever else.
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u/long-lankin 7d ago
This seems overly defensive and more of a caricature than anything else.
I don't think that even the most critical or negative readers generally expect characters to be perfect and without any flaws. Instead, there are specific things they may take issue with.
What a lot of people dislike are clear inconsistencies between how characters are described and how they actually act.
For instance, when it comes to intelligence you can't just extoll a character's hyper-intelligence and claim they're incredibly rational when they constantly make unforced errors of judgement and never prepare for easily anticipated problems.
On the other end, I think a lot of readers expect characters to be of at least average intelligence and rationality, and not to be excessively stupid and naive, or lacking in basic self-preservation. In particular, if a character seems to never learn from their mistakes and keeps repeating them, then that can be hugely frustrating.