How To Make A Character Likable?

I attended the Live the Universe and Everything symposium. These are notes from one of the panels. Any misinformation is the fault of the note taker.

Make that character sympathetic.

Focus on something that the character is really bad at. For example, if the character is a scholar personality they can be very self-centered. They can be very blunt on how they communicate. They can hurt other’s feelings. A good example is iron Man.
A protagonist has to be morally good in the framework of that universe. In the movie the Godfather, you see the evolution of the protagonist. You see the importance of family in that movie.
Storytellers often tell tales that the audience can relate to. For example when they relate a husband who says my wife got the last pop port before I did.
In a book series, there are many kinds of challenges. Each character has a trait they can’t control that comes in conflict with their world. One example is in one world a person has blue eyes is – considered evil or illegal. And a character has blue eyes.
The most interesting protagonists or those with someone must break their moral code to accomplish the overall mission. For example, in the Godfather the family is an important objective.
The false protagonist. Marion in Cecilio an example of the false protagonist. he is murdered.
How to build upon the killing of the protagonist?
He had been another character who might be killed. Leave hands about dying in as foreshadowing in the text.

Q: Can you have more than one protagonist without them being a part of a big team?

We have to protagonist run different plot lines and they might come together near the end of the story. The Lord of the rings is a good example of multiple characters having different experiences. Brandon Sanderson also does this well in his books.

Q: What types of mistakes can you make regarding a protagonist?

Make them boring.
Not having a clear goal or objective for the character to achieve.
Making them too good with you have nothing to lose or nothing to gain.
The protagonist fighting against the antagonist. They both have the same skill set but he still wins.

Q: How do you deal with the conflict of multiple protagonists’ priorities?

Have an objective that they all have that is higher than their individual preferences. In Star Wars Luke and Han have different goals. At the end he saves Luke.
Q: How to fast-track the likability of a character? Give him something that makes the readers sympathetic to them. For example, they show kindness to an animal or they are nice to a child.
Find a way to build character strengths in the introductory scene of that character.
Have the character say or do something funny. Humor always endears the reader to a character.

Q: How do you motivate a passive protagonist?