Why Does Everyone Love Muriel?
Muriel is a cantankerous old woman who makes life a misery for Betty the heroine of My Granny Writes Erotica - Threesome. So why do readers love her?
Once Betty's mother-in-law, now a mere tenant who Betty doesn't have the heart to throw out, Muriel hangs around the house making rude and dissatisfied comments. Occasionally, she exhibits redeeming features, but most of the time, she's cruel and ungrateful. Yet she seems to be the most popular character I've ever written. This was not my intention!
In The Ice Marathon, I worked really hard to make Emma's character sympathetic, showing her helping the homeless in chapter 1. Yet a frequent complaint was that readers disliked her.
When I wrote Pompomberry House, I hoped that the protagonist Dee Whittaker would be universally liked - she was a darn sight nicer than any of the other characters - but a number of readers didn't like her at all.
Muriel was originally created to be nothing more than a thorn in Betty's side. I needed a number of greedy family members to make the story work; Muriel was one of those. However, she ended up with a much more major role than I had originally planned.
When I found that readers of the original quickie enjoyed reading about Muriel, I gave her a much more significant role in the second quickie and consequently the novel.
But why do people like such a horrible character?
One hypothesis is that when a character is generally awful, it's even more of a delight when he or she does something nice.
Also, in every day life, people go out of their way to be nice to others and to be surrounded by genteel people. Even unpleasant people are usually quite affable on the surface. For some, reading about a truly awful character might provide light relief from the affected politeness of modern society.
Another theory is that perhaps we all know somebody a bit like Muriel. Perhaps not somebody so consistently rude, but somebody who takes others for granted and rarely shows a flicker of warmth. These people can be frustrating in real life, so having a similar character that you can laugh at, might be cathartic.
From a writer's point of view, rude characters give me the chance to highlight the flaws of others, drawing attention to humorous traits and behaviours.
Do you like Muriel Berry? If so, why?
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