People Aren't Simple (Part 2)
Last time, I observed how characters are expected to be more predictable and consistent than people are in real life. It turns into a bit of a balancing act, because if there's anything worse than a confusingly erratic character, it's one who's so simple, they can be defined by a single word/phrase/role.
This is a very common topic on what makes good writing. Characters being flat or well-rounded is a huge area for critique/praise/discussion in books and book reviews. Generally, you know a character's flat when they're nothing more than their role: "the love interest;" "the wise mentor;" "the plucky thief."
I mentioned how complex and surprising people can be in my experiences with vet clients, and brought up that same idea: character first, role second.
A good example is me! The whole reason I thought of this post is how surprised someone was one day when I wore a dress. People are often surprised when I wear a dress or skirt, even though that's my go-to in the summer. I have short hair, don't wear makeup, and always wear nice pants for work. When I was in school, I usually wore jeans because the lecture halls were all air conditioned. I assume people find it unexpected because I'm not a girly girl and have a pretty straight-forward, sweary attitude. But I love dresses! They're so pretty! I already own more summer dresses than I can possibly find occasions to wear, and I have to stop myself from buying more of them all the time.
I think this is a common pitfall for female characters in specific: they have to be girly girls, or hate girliness. A serious no-nonsense woman usually "wouldn't be caught dead in a dress." Or the dress-lovers are all floofy and flighty. I don't see why a female character can't be a lumberjack all day, drink beer in the evening, then put on a flowery dress for the weekend. Same goes for men--they could be a beefy tattooed biker who owns a puffy white Pomeranian, or the gayest drag queen you've ever met who likes to watch the rugby games with his friends.
Which brings me back to... characters need depth. My incongruity tool works great for this, like the examples above. I know I sometimes fall prey to writing a character how I "expect" them to be, maybe overgeneralizing or stereotyping, and I think it's important to always challenge every character concept and think about whether those generalizations can be broken.
Come back for part 3 for some specific examples of characters in fiction, good and bad examples of this!
This is a very common topic on what makes good writing. Characters being flat or well-rounded is a huge area for critique/praise/discussion in books and book reviews. Generally, you know a character's flat when they're nothing more than their role: "the love interest;" "the wise mentor;" "the plucky thief."
I mentioned how complex and surprising people can be in my experiences with vet clients, and brought up that same idea: character first, role second.
A good example is me! The whole reason I thought of this post is how surprised someone was one day when I wore a dress. People are often surprised when I wear a dress or skirt, even though that's my go-to in the summer. I have short hair, don't wear makeup, and always wear nice pants for work. When I was in school, I usually wore jeans because the lecture halls were all air conditioned. I assume people find it unexpected because I'm not a girly girl and have a pretty straight-forward, sweary attitude. But I love dresses! They're so pretty! I already own more summer dresses than I can possibly find occasions to wear, and I have to stop myself from buying more of them all the time.
I think this is a common pitfall for female characters in specific: they have to be girly girls, or hate girliness. A serious no-nonsense woman usually "wouldn't be caught dead in a dress." Or the dress-lovers are all floofy and flighty. I don't see why a female character can't be a lumberjack all day, drink beer in the evening, then put on a flowery dress for the weekend. Same goes for men--they could be a beefy tattooed biker who owns a puffy white Pomeranian, or the gayest drag queen you've ever met who likes to watch the rugby games with his friends.
Which brings me back to... characters need depth. My incongruity tool works great for this, like the examples above. I know I sometimes fall prey to writing a character how I "expect" them to be, maybe overgeneralizing or stereotyping, and I think it's important to always challenge every character concept and think about whether those generalizations can be broken.
Come back for part 3 for some specific examples of characters in fiction, good and bad examples of this!
Good points. (You need to have a "like" button!) :)
ReplyDeleteYou're telling me! I tried researching how to add one, and as far as I can tell, that's the biggest weakness of blogspot. But I hate the wordpress UI, so it's lose-lose :( I think the best I can do is the +1 on google (or likes on twitter lol).
Delete(Sorry about the slow reply... work's been rough!)