In self pity, that is. If your character feels sorry for herself, you leave no room for others, including the reader, to feel sorry for her.
We already know the object is to get our protagonist up a tree and then throw rocks at her. But convincing the reader that the situation is bad—real bad—through a series of inner monologues in which the protagonist repeatedly asks herself, Why me? or in any other manner details exactly why this is so unfair, she is seen as weak. Unlikable. One might even go so far as to think she deserves getting pelted with rocks. One might want to pick up one’s own rock and test one’s aim.
Take any survival movie. You know the plot: a group of people get together and find, shockingly, that their lives are threatened. I picture a cabin in the woods and just outside is a rabid animal or some zombie-type character, depending on the genre. I picture a bunch of teenagers diving near a cluster of sketchy caves. They could be in space for all it matters.
There are always one or two whiners in the group. And, remember, when it comes to traits of likable characters, tough is right up there near the top. Almost inevitably, these wallowers are the first ones to go.
And it’s completely okay if said whiner gets snapped up by the man-eating shark because the reader/movie watcher doesn’t care about them. There are authors who don’t abide by the rule and kill off their main, and most loved characters, but I personally hate to lose a good man.
The point is, everybody has it hard. Sure, there are degrees of hard, but hard is hard and crying about it doesn’t make it any better (flashbacks to my childhood here). I have a sister in law who lost her husband and was left to raise her young children, and manage a farm, on her own. She takes up arms every day and serves the people around her. Her resilience and fortitude are heartening. She inspires me. Good characters and good people do that for humanity. And it’s catching. Then again, so is wallowing. Misery does love company, and it’s all too easy to fall in with the wrong company.
Just remember, those are always the first ones to go.
