1. cherrya

    cherrya Active Member

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    Writing about characters who are so unlike you

    Discussion in 'Character Development' started by cherrya, Sep 20, 2017.

    I think I figured out what my main issue with my character was and why the narration was so hard for me when it came to him. I thought it was because I didn't know him well enough, but actually I think it's because I didn't want to accept the fact that I might not like all of him as a person, if that makes sense.

    It's not that he's a monster, he's really not that bad, it's just that he doesn't share the same moral compass as most people and he isn't very sensible. Because of that, I think I kind of stop myself when it's time to show his real views or reactions on things where most people would be compassionate. There's that, but also the fact that I'm so unfamiliar with that sort of way of thinking which leads to me not really knowing how to write him sometimes, even though I think I understand him at this point.

    Well this was more to see if other people could relate but if so how do you go around that? It's not like I could base myself on other people I know or anything like that, since most people aren't like that. The closest thing I think could be Arthur Rimbaud, but I don't want to end up at a point where my character is basically Rimbaud...

    Anyway sorry for the spelling, it's late and english isn't my first language.
     
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  2. Spencer1990

    Spencer1990 Contributor Contributor

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    I get around this issue by not thinking of characters as people, but as...well...fictional character's I've created to fill a need within a narrative. Maybe try not worrying about whether or not you like him as a person, but objectively consider how this character would react or what he would do. And there's always research to combat the discrepancy you're feeling about this character and writing him.
     
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  3. SnapFandango

    SnapFandango Banned

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    I find that all characters contain a large portion of me; my arrogant characters tend to be large and my humble characters tend to be small. haha ugh, horrible.

    The difficulty I have at the moment is with functional psychopaths, but that is a story for another day.
     
  4. Homer Potvin

    Homer Potvin A tombstone hand and a graveyard mind Staff Supporter Contributor

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    I'd make a boring character. I mean, I'm awesome and all that, but not a lot of interesting things happen to me. No great plot twists or big decisions that affect the fate of millions. No real emotional highs or lows either.

    Sigh.
     
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  5. SnapFandango

    SnapFandango Banned

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    He isn't even awesome.
     
  6. izzybot

    izzybot (unspecified) Contributor

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    Hmm. Thinking about it, I've definitely had POV characters who I didn't relate to / had a different worldview from / etc, and I don't recall having any real trouble with it. I'm not sure what advice I can give.

    I think it's not so much a matter of needing to get in his head and empathizing with his it anything like that, it's just a matter of understanding his mental processes. If you know the facts of why he is the way he is, why he does what he does, then it shouldn't be a problem, right? Like, I have a character who justifies killing people for money with "Someone's going to get paid for it; why not me?" which isn't a popular mindset, but it's pragmatic.

    To be fair, you said your guy isn't sensible. Could that be the problem? You don't really have his motivations worked out? Or is it just that he's ... kind of an idiot? Even someone who makes bad decisions makes them for some reason. My characters have made plenty of decisions that, as a reader, I would be yelling at them for - but they have a misled logic to them. Does your guy have any underlying logic, however flawed?

    I don't know, I think I'm talking in circles. I'm fairly sure this isn't an issue for me because I've explicitly worked to foster a sense of sympathy and better theory of mind in myself, so I can usually find some way to relate to just about anyone. I'm not really sure how to convey that process, though, or even if it'd actually be helpful.
     
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  7. jannert

    jannert Retired Mod Supporter Contributor

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    I think this aspect of writing can be like a good actor, inhabiting a character who is not him/her. You make an effort to see the world through another person's eyes. And think hard about what would motivate them to do things, to react to things the way they do. It's part of what makes writing fiction so much fun.

    Some actors seem to play themselves all the time. They are the actors who get typecast, and who seem uncomfortable playing another kind of character. Then there are the ones who play a different sort of character in every film or TV show. They're both good at transmitting their characters to the audience, but one is a bit of a one-trick pony, while the other is versatile. Developing that versatility can be a real boon to a writer.
     
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  8. Tenderiser

    Tenderiser Not a man or BayView

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    I have so much fun writing characters completely unlike me. I'd think of this as a vicarious experience - if you weren't restrained by your moral compass and common sense, think how much more fun you could have! You could be more selfish, more daring, take more risks. Have fun with the character. :)
     
  9. Sclavus

    Sclavus Active Member

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    I've struggled to bring out some of the more vicious aspects of some of my characters, because I find those aspects repulsive. I've managed to get around it by forcing myself to write those scenes, though it's a mental hurdle I've fought to break through. I'm not really sure how I break through it, other than really trying to get inside the character's head. I can't spend a lot of time doing that, however, or it taxes my mental health.
     
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  10. BayView

    BayView Huh. Interesting. Contributor

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    I agree with those saying you need to understand your character better. I don't think I've ever written a character I didn't have compassion for... no, that's not true, I can think of one, and critics rightly pointed out that he was pretty two-dimensional. At the time I thought it didn't matter because he was just a bit player, necessary to put the plot in action but not much more, but looking back, the story would have been better if I'd put more time into figuring him out and giving him better motivation.

    So I'd definitely recommend figuring out what makes your character tick. Nobody thinks of themselves as the villain. Look at people in your life who are doing "bad" things and try to see the world from their perspective. Why do they think what they're doing is okay, or if they know it's not okay, how do they justify doing it anyway? and then apply your insight to your fictional characters.

    For me, the whole point of writing is getting to live different lives, so this is the fun stuff!
     
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  11. Laurin Kelly

    Laurin Kelly Contributor Contributor

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    I have to 100% agree with Bay here. I've written a few unlikable characters, but I know exactly why they are who they are, and why they're so mean/cold-blooded/vindictive nearly every time they show up in the story. And there's a purpose to them being unlikable too - I don't just make them terrible for no reason, there's got to be something about them being that way that drives the story in some way.
     
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  12. Robert Musil

    Robert Musil Comparativist Contributor

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    This is an interesting topic, and one I struggle with as well.

    The way I see it: in order to write a character well, it's necessary to empathize with them--to understand things from their perspective. Otherwise they'll come across as unrealistic.

    If the author sympathizes with the character as well, there's no problem--as long as they don't go overboard and have that character's POV dominate the story and never be challenged (by other POVs, not just by obstacles to achieving their goal) to the point of becoming a Mary Sue, or something.

    The problem, for me anyway, is when we have to empathize with unsympathetic characters. I struggle with the question of whether it's possible to have empathy without sympathy. Tout comprendre c'est tout pardonnez, you know: "to know all is to forgive all". If you really have a thorough understanding of a character's motivations, then you are essentially excusing whatever it is they do based on those motivations.

    Personally I've never had trouble coming up with what I think are plausible motives for villains--but I still hate doing it, to the point where I sometimes tone down the villainous actions simply because I don't want to admit to myself that I can understand why someone would, for example, commit a rape. Somehow, psychologically I just would rather live in a world where mere evil causes people to do things than understandable, even if unsympathetic motives.

    I've not found any way around this besides brute force--write it anyway and just try not to think about it. It's definitely a problem.
     
  13. Simpson17866

    Simpson17866 Contributor Contributor

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    I've never had that problem:

    In chapter 2 of my WIP, my first-person narrator is running around through the scene of a bombing looking for his friend who'd been at the building that was destroyed. He finds her unconscious, notices two paramedics getting ready to load somebody else into an ambulance, and he threatens to shoot the two paramedics, the unconscious man, and a woman who'd been at the man's side unless the paramedics take his own friend to the hospital instead of this other guy.

    My narrator's motives make perfect, human sense to me. I also have no problem describing him as "evil," and I have no problem writing him doing horrifically evil things for sensible, human reasons.
    I wonder what the difference is.
     
    Last edited: Sep 20, 2017
  14. cherrya

    cherrya Active Member

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    Thanks everyone for your help. From what I gatter the general response seem to be that I should try to get to know him better. I guess I must not know him as mich as I thought, having the general idea of someone isn't the same as really knowing them...

    I would just like to point out that my character isn't the vilain. He's the main character and the hero. He's just kind of aweful sometimes. In the end he'll change but not that much.

    I think, actually, that the hardest part is that he doesn't really care about hurting other people's feelings. Since I'm not like that part of me finds it hard to write and also an other part of me is worried that the readers will hate him. Usually people like the charcater that's kind of a jerk, probably because he says and does things that they wish they could do but don't because they're afraid.

    Maybe I should just thibk more about all of that haha

    Thank you so much anyway! Everyone here is always a great help.
     
  15. peachalulu

    peachalulu Member Reviewer Contributor

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    I love writing characters who are nothing like me it allows me to 'culturally appropriate', walk in someone else's shoes, examine a fresh viewpoint, live vicariously, present a moral dilemma without being hammy, and or just entertain.
    I usually have to be invested in showing their view and having a reason for it and most of the time it is contrast for the mc. Not that my mc's are like me either. But's it's a little like the mc is a good guy whose a little messed up and then there is the other guy who is a lot messed up. Right now in my WIP looks like everyone is a lot messed up -- lol.
    One way of deciding if this is the character for you is what is this character for in your novel -- right now I'm writing about creative jealousy so it's important to have egotists in the story. What does your story need your character to be?
     
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  16. Shenanigator

    Shenanigator Has the Vocabulary of a Well-Educated Sailor. Contributor

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    Something I'm working on has a character I was having a hard time relating to, because I found her incredibly boring. (She seemed to have no interests I could relate to, or goals in life beyond loving one of the other characters.) Yet one of the other characters is completely in love with her. I solved it by "asking" the character who loves her so much what he loves about her, and bringing out more of that.

    So, ask the other characters.

    I must be in the minority. I always despise the jerk characters, skim over their dialogue, and hope for their quick demise.
     
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