What happens when you don't like your characters?

One of the fun parts of writing is redeeming an unlikeable character, at least that has been true for me.

In the past, I have written some heroes who were too good to be true. They were fatally nice guys.

Then I met Cinda.

I had a hard time delving too deep into personalities, but with feedback on LIVING CANVAS, I decided to take on a challenge. An unlikeable character. She was so much fun to "redeem" that I took on another challenge, a faulted hero. He'd committed a serious relationship sin with one of my perfect characters, which required some serious consideration to repair. Yes, I grew as an author, and I discovered how much fun it could be to "fix" broken people rather than sigh over perfect people.

But what happens when characters are beyond help?

When I developed EPITAPH as a series, I meant to take each of the siblings of that couple and spin them into their own books. Three Bensons and three McCormicks. Each of those siblings presented themselves with unique personalities that I enjoyed developing, and there were family issues to take into consideration which affected them all differently. But I ran into a problem. One of the siblings just struck me as... how to put this politely... not too bright? So I figured I'd stop one book short and that particular sibling wouldn't get his spin-off.

As I'm writing the next installment, I reminded myself that I've redeemed characters who were beyond help before, so maybe if I paid attention to him in this story, I might be able to shore him up enough for his turn after all. The problem is I still don't like him. I have been trying to give him reasons and excuses and his own set of issues, but the guy is just a dim bulb. Can I write his story? That's a definite maybe. I've discovered some things about him that might have developed his personality, so he's got a 50/50 chance right now.

I met Mary Balogh at a conference once, a renowned romance writer, and she told a story of one of her books where she got about halfway into the story and it wasn't working for her. As she went over her work, trying to figure out what was wrong, she realized the hero and the heroine weren't meant for each other, so she threw out what she had and started over, finding a better match for her heroine. Our characters don't always respond the way we expect them to. They take on a life of their own.

As an author, I get to create the world I write in. I don't know how this character turned out to be so goofy (to use a less offensive term). I never intended for that to happen, but it seems he's not done talking to me yet.