A quick question - can the protagonist be a vile, cocky, overbearing character with perhaps a glimmer of good in him (he does the right thing in the end, but dies for his evil) in a flash fiction piece?

Does this break the rules of most stories that the main character is always good with some flaws?

Please post your opinions / advice thank you.

can the protagonist be a vile, cocky, overbearing character with perhaps a glimmer of good in him (he does the right thing in the end, but dies for his evil) in a flash fiction piece

Yes

Like any story the characters can be almost anything - the only limit is imagination - so long as they are interesting and have a story to tell.

Flash is especially good for lots of chances to try out new ideas and characters.

Sarah

I love bad main characters are they are charming, confident and completely amoral. Often they live by a 'code' so they don't hurt the innocent people they love. Serial killers like Hannibal Lecter, Tom Ripley and Dexter fit the bill.


- NaomiM

Ones that are completely vile though - snobby, aggressive, pompous etc with little to no good side.

It depends how you decide to handle it. One way to look at it would be: 'If I met this person at a party would I want to stand next to them and listen to what they had to say?' If the answer's 'No', then it's unlikely a reader would be willing to read about them either.
Conversly, if it's two people gossiping about a horrible boss or husband, then I'd be straining to listen in to the conversation/read about it in a short story.


- NaomiM

I've met some utter ignorami at parties and had great fun, and would run a mile from the gossip about the boss.

I think it comes down to answering are they interesting, which regrettably seems to mean interesting on an emotional, human level.

So if you make the MC a bastard, make sure to hook your readers slowly enough to prevent them from recoiling before you show the nugget that turned you on to write about them.

which regrettably seems to mean interesting on an emotional, human level.

Why 'regrettably'?

Emma

Why 'regrettably'?

Quite possibly me being a pretentious git, but the source of that one is:

the nugget that turned you on to write about them

I guess it's fair to say that the driving force for my WIP is not the touchy, feely, cuddly stuff... but I've had enough bad reactions from readers to know that I have to do a bit of that to bring them along with me. Otherwise, it can be a bit like reading the news.