I've been wrestling with the realization that my WIP novel's deuteronomist might fall under the category of the infamous(?) Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope. It leaves me quite ambivalent. On the one hand, knowing that my own idea, which I had embraced and cultivated throughout the recent years, might be the typical product of youthful fantasy thoroughly repulses me, makes me want to give up on the character, and by extension on the story as a whole. On the other hand, when taking a closer look at the specifications of this trope, I concluded that my character might answer the definitions of this trope, but only on a superficial level. What do I mean? The Manic Pixie Dream Girl's main contention is that the character's entire role boils down to aiding the MC, a broody, anti-social male, newly find or retrace their sense of wonderment and enterprise toward life and the world. They do this at the expense of their own imperatives, goals, social life, etc... In other words, they are a tool, not a character. They are informed by an air of whimsicalness and a winsome charm, often using bubbly gestures and a silly jargon That too is true about my character. None of this, though, comes at the expense of a richer, inner world. Nor is it so without due reason. I've made sure to build an entire background behind this character, from her childhood to her teenage years, making sure that this kind of behavior is rooted in a psychological basis and serves a purpose in the story. In fact, a big part of the story explores this behavior and sees it change by the end to fit with my thematic goals. The character has a life, parents, friends, secrets, dreams, fears, confusions, and a darker side that hides beneath the happy-go-lucky picture that is witnessed on the surface. She could easily be the main character. I further subvert the trope by entirely avoiding any kind of romance between the two leads. The plot serves to develop their platonic friendship instead. Another thing is that the MC himself is actually quite older, in his mid-twenties, while the Pixie is on the cusp of eighteen, which is crucial to the plot. Plus, he is not so much captivated by her as he is tolerant of her whimsical behavior, often expressing peevishness with it. In a way, it is an unfamiliar twist on boy-meets-girl, not that I presume to be the first or thousandth person with this particular setup. In conclusion, although I can justify to myself a reason to endure with this character and go on with the story, what freezes me is a fear of ending up as a delusional amateur who merely thinks he has something good in his hands that's worth writing. I thought I might hear what others have to say about this. Excuse the lost post, and thank you if you take your time to answer.
I'm no expert, but it sounds like you have the right ideas about avoiding bad cliche character portrayals. The nuance of the character portrayal alone I imagine should be enough to avoid a hollow character as is feared with this trope. All you really need to do here is give a solid impression of a real person with their own life and interests outside of the other primary characters, and you don't even need to actually show that.
Yeah, the problem with cliches like MPDGs comes up when they're shallowly-built characters. Tropes Are Not Bad -- they're unavoidable. This character sounds like a real person with thought put into her, not just a trope. I think you're fine.
Thank you for taking the time to read and respond. I hope you're right. I can only make the best effort to treat her as a character. Ah, wise words. Thank you
Have you ever read John Green's "Paper Towns"? I think he does a pretty through deconstruction of the MPDG. It's one of a bunch of cliche characters that exists simply to support the story of the main character, usually a cis straight white male. If your MPDG has a character arc and a fully realized personality, it almost can't be a MPDG. Annika in Nora Roberts "Stars of Fortune" series is the POV character of the second book and a hardcore MPDG, but she has an arc and an inner life, so she's fine, even though she's not a deconstruction.
I never even heard of the trope though I know what it describes. I think you're overthinking it; tons of young people want someone like a "MPDG bleh" to "pull them out" of whatever they're in--I suggest you just do it better and wiser than others have. Make it (or her, in this case) human and therefore... more powerful (as I'd say a "realistic savior" is much more interesting than a totally unrealistic savior). I think by humanizing her (which I think you're doing as she's got a life of her own) you make her the "realistic savior" that is plausible and therefore more interesting (to some, anyway) rather than the Mary Sue (I know I'm using an imperfect analogy but I hope you understand what I mean). However I think it's very unrealistic for an older, brooding male not to develop romantic feelings for a younger female that makes him happier and helps him become a better person. Marriages are made with less! I'm not saying they have to get married, but I am saying it should at least be one-sided. Like he wants more of her than she's willing to give (and maybe this could be a warning; after all, drowning men tend to take others down with them even if they don't intend to). On the other hand you could make it inspirational: this older dude becomes, over the course of the story, someone respectable and finds a woman more his age and status thanks to being inspired by one that's (frankly) too good for him (but was willing to help him anyway and pull him up to her level). Just because something is a cliche doesn't mean it's bad (i.e. won't sell); it just means it'll turn off some people (but turn-on others). I think you can make this cliche interesting, however, by being thoughtful and smart about it. However I also think your prime directive should be to please your readers and make them happy (and want to buy more from you) therefore I don't recommend sacrificing what makes your work enjoyable to those that prefer it for the sake of those who would only say "meh, it's okay" at most.
Haven't read Paper Towns but the vibe I get from John Green's books is that they're all structurally the same, and are oozing with MPDG/B, which is not to say automatically bad. Thank you for the insight. I do keep a list of character archetype as I come across more and more characters. It is surprising how many characters of this trope exist and that I've yet to hear of it until recently. Thank you! I appreciate the long response I understand what you're saying (and yea, I can see the point about the Merry Sue), and luckily I've worked most of it out in theory. It's not that there is no romance, it's simply not with those two. Of course, it's partly projection on my part as I've no romantic experience. I do have lots of friendship experience so I want to focus on that. The romantic part comes with another character, the same age as the deuteronomist, who's sick of blind admirations and falls for the MC's lack of automatic respect for her, that is, judging her as person and not as an idol. It falls apart later, but not without good results. Ah! I've gotta see the movie. Need to finish Bladerunner the novel and then marathon the films. You gave me an idea - I should take notes on every instance of this trope and learn when and how it's done well.
If you do it well and in a wholesome manner, I'm not sure if it's MPDG anymore. If the trope is defined as an eccentric chick who exists in the story to straighten the male protagonist out à la the movie Elizabethtown and basically has no arc or ambitions of her own apart from supporting and/or fixing the confused male, then writing an eccentric female who isn't about that life sounds like a non-trope (or, I suppose, it could end up being some other trope) and you should be just fine.
I'm inclined to agree. That kind of character is pretty much defined by her huge stack of negative traits; she's a nutter by definition. I'm all for giving her a more sane, less destructive counterpart.
