Out of Character
We all do things that are out of character. I tend to be peaceful person, an "it is what it is" sort of person. It is the Buddhist way. Unless you mess with my kids, in which case I can be a real b*tch. It's out of character--and yet it makes sense since my kids are my life.
But there are other out of character elements to me. I am usually a vegan in my diet. But I'll eat sushi once every two weeks or so because I love it. And I read quantum physics books or astronomy textbooks for "fun," but I sometimes write chick lit. Or I will stop to pick up litter, and do all this "green" stuff in my house--new light bulbs that are better for the environment, etc. But I have to admit, I don't use cloth diapers.
I would guess that most of us aren't "in character" 24/7. We all do little things that on the surface of it don't make sense. But here's the thing . . . in fiction, I think it's hard to get away with that. I have edited a number of books in which the main character will do something completely out of left field, completely out of character. When I have questioned the author, I often get a "Yes, but . . ." followed by a long story of how once when the character was a child, X happened and so now he does Y. Which is fine. Except all of that story happens off the page, I wasn't privy to it as the reader, and I am still left with a jarring out-of-character moment that doesn't "fit" the book.
Sometimes, those moments snowball into "Too Stupid To Live" moments--those events that so infuriate the reader they want to hurl the book. NO ONE would be that stupid and still live.
Thoughts? If you were a character, would you make sense? Better yet, do your characters stay in character?
But there are other out of character elements to me. I am usually a vegan in my diet. But I'll eat sushi once every two weeks or so because I love it. And I read quantum physics books or astronomy textbooks for "fun," but I sometimes write chick lit. Or I will stop to pick up litter, and do all this "green" stuff in my house--new light bulbs that are better for the environment, etc. But I have to admit, I don't use cloth diapers.
I would guess that most of us aren't "in character" 24/7. We all do little things that on the surface of it don't make sense. But here's the thing . . . in fiction, I think it's hard to get away with that. I have edited a number of books in which the main character will do something completely out of left field, completely out of character. When I have questioned the author, I often get a "Yes, but . . ." followed by a long story of how once when the character was a child, X happened and so now he does Y. Which is fine. Except all of that story happens off the page, I wasn't privy to it as the reader, and I am still left with a jarring out-of-character moment that doesn't "fit" the book.
Sometimes, those moments snowball into "Too Stupid To Live" moments--those events that so infuriate the reader they want to hurl the book. NO ONE would be that stupid and still live.
Thoughts? If you were a character, would you make sense? Better yet, do your characters stay in character?
posted by Erica Orloff at 6:56 AM
10 Comments:
My best friend cracked up a while back when I bought low-sodium V-8 for Bloody Marys.
And, as I sit here enjoying a cigarette with my fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice, I'm thinking...
Sometimes it's interesting to put a character in such an extreme situation that they DO act in a way most of the world would consider out of character. In the most powerful episode of Magnum PI I ever saw, Magnum kills a man who is very bad but helpless-at-the-time. It was a shocker, and it gave us a glimpse of the character we'd never seen before.
Hi Jude:
I agree. I just think you have to have the building blocks there--the foundation and groundwork--before you do anything like that. To me, Magnum was always someone who did the "right" thing--so I didn't see that episode, but I would imagine he didn't wake up that day on the show and decide to chuck his morals and blow someone away for the f*ck of it. I would imagine it was something like it was avery, very bad man, and he somehow felt he was doing the world a service.
I had a scene in one of my books where a fundamentally moral woman has an opportunity to take a shot at someone. The situation is dire, and her lover says "take the shot"--she does. And she does NOT look back or feel remorse. But the situation so played into her sense of loyalty that I believe she would not have hesitated. But I think I laid the groundwork for it.
E
We all do things that other people think are "out of character" for us, except that those things really are not.
If you ask Jude the why, the reasons he has, buying "low-sodium V-8" or "enjoying a cigarette with my fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice" you would get a very reasoned out answer.
Same with you Erica about your children or being 'green' on lights but not on diapers.
The out of character moments are really not, its just that everyone else doesn't know the backstory.
Truly out of character has no reason, story or backstory for it. It is an aberration.
Mr. Bean, Inspector Clouseau and others are character who could be described as 'too stupid to live', and yet they make us laugh.
They have a consistency to them that makes sense within the whole of their character, their persona. We can empathize or relate to them on some level, no matter how absurd, because they are consistent... they are in character, or at least any aberration is explained within their context.
I try to keep my characters 'in character' as much as I can and still keep the story moving. If I find that I need some 'thing' to happen, and it is out of character, then I reevaluate the scene and the character to see if there isn't another way to make this 'thing' happen that is consistent to the story and to the characters.
Operative word being 'try'.
In the climax of my current project, Nicholas Colt has the opportunity to do the same thing Magnum did--perform a service to the world by killing a very bad man.
I wrestled with it for a long time, and I'm still not sure Colt made the right decision. But, I think, it was HIS decision, and in character.
ewoh:
You described it much more clearly than I did. Like I said . . . I really think in fiction, you have to be careful . .. lay the foundation. In real life, we tend to accept those things about people.
E
Jude:
I think it's so important for people to realize that characters make their own decisions sometimes. Absolutely.
E
I've been wrestling with this as I revamp my first manuscript (my heroine does something completely out of character and I'm still not 100% convinced of her reasons why)--so great and timely post (as usual *G*)
Hi Amie:
I think if it's organic . . . if the groundwork is there, readers can accept a lot.
E
Hmm, you've all summed it up so well, I have nothing in particular to add.
Which is, ah...completely out of character for me. ;-)
lainey:
LOL . . . but even with nothing to add--you manage to let us know that in a way that seems just like you. ;-)
E
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