To Believe or not to believe

Discussion in 'Character Development' started by MilesTro, Apr 12, 2013.

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  1. MilesTro

    MilesTro Senior Member

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    Whatever doofus.

    Fine, characters have to be believable. I can imagine Dragon Ball Z just focusing on the action without characterization. Who would want to watch hundred of episodes of none stop repetitive battles? The character development kept the shows interesting, although the drama and questionable logic is ridiculous. But relating to them is out of the question.

    As a reader myself, I don't care about the characters in other fiction that I read. All I care about is seeing what will happen next to the characters and get the answer of the mystery. Of course some of the characters' revealing their mysterious origins does attract me if it is part of the plot. And sometimes I enjoy reading about their suffering for making stupid mistakes. Me relating to characters is pointless. It is their action and unique personality that attracts me.
     
  2. sanco

    sanco New Member

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    If you don't care about the characters at all, why should you care what will happen to them? Isn't unique personality part of characterisation?
     
  3. KaTrian

    KaTrian A foolish little beast. Contributor

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    How do you define "relating" anyway? Isn't what I bolded just there a sign of you relating to the characters? You recognize something interesting in them, and because you find it interesting, it's something you share with them (like a way of thinking, sense of humor, etc.), so in a way, relate to them?
     
  4. ProsonicLive

    ProsonicLive New Member

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    I am not sure on how to reply , but I will try. In any given creative world, there must be rules, weakness and strength. because otherwise, there can either be zero conflict, or there will be no possible resolution. And it is the weakness in characters that bonds us to them rather than strength. without a defined universe with in which to determine strength or weakness, we have no clue what can really be done or not. At least for me, that leaves me dis-interested. the last thing you want is your reader to respond with is ...uh mmKay
     
  5. MilesTro

    MilesTro Senior Member

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    To me, relating means the character has something in common with you. I guess the type of characters who interest me are those with have nothing to do with my life. I like characters who have their own problems and their own strenght. One of the characters I like is James Bond because he can do what I can't do, and I think that what makes him unique. I don't like regular normal characters who have the same problems as real people, unless they are in a parody or a comedy story. I like powerful strong characters.
     
  6. Thornesque

    Thornesque Senior Member

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    But you'll notice that even James Bond has character attributse that are plainly human: he's always dealing with emotional turmoil, usually through the loss of a lady lover. There aren't many people in the world that can't relate to that sort of loss in some way. He's also rather rebellious in nature - never doing exactly what he's being told to do, and doing things his own way.

    No one's saying that you can't envy or wish to emulate a character in a story. They're just saying that there has to be some form of relation between the two characters. There has to be something plainly human about the character. They have to be understandable.
     
  7. MilesTro

    MilesTro Senior Member

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    If the characters are human, that makes sense. It will be awkard if a human character doesn't act human. Even if they use to be humans, like mutants, they will still have human quatilies.

    What about non-human characters like aliens or animals?
     
  8. Xatron

    Xatron New Member

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    There is something called anthropomorphism. It is giving a non-human creature human qualities. If you are writing a story about an alien or an animal, then the reader should be able to sympathize with and understand your characters and you will have to attribute them human qualities to make it so.
    Nobody wants to read about a rabbit jumping around a field without a purpose. Unless they are 2 years old.
     
  9. MilesTro

    MilesTro Senior Member

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    I guess that is why most animal characters are better suited in children's book.
     
  10. Stukov

    Stukov New Member

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    Children's books a pretty much full of anthropomorphism. Seldom will you find one where the animal characters aren't given some sort of human quality, unless the book is for the youngest of toddlers.
     
  11. ChickenFreak

    ChickenFreak Contributor Contributor

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    But surely James Bond does have something in common with you. He like worldly pleasures. He likes being in control. He likes being strong. He likes doing what he wants despite what authority tells him to do, and getting away with it. The difference between him and most of us that he is able to have those things. But nevertheless, those are things that we'd like to have, too, and that's where relating comes in. Relating with a character doesn't always have to be about his problems - though I think that there's plenty of that with James Bond as well.

    If you had a character who was able to achieve his personal goal, but his personal goal was the ability to collect roadkill from the highways with legal impunity, or the ability to stay inside a small wooden crate twenty-four hours a day without interacting with others, I'd guess that you'd find that a great deal less interesting. Those wouldn't be achievements that you could relate to.

    Now, a really good writer might be able to _make_ them into achievements that you could relate to. We all collect things; a really good writer might be able to get you into the mind of that roadkill fan and his pleasure in his rotting collection. We all want safety; a really good writer might be able to communicate the wooden-crate character's pleasure in the snug safety of his crate.

    But it's still all about relating to the character. Even when you like the character because they're the opposite of you, that's still relating, it's still comparing your traits to their traits.
     
  12. MilesTro

    MilesTro Senior Member

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    So whatever character I get interested to, I will always relate to him or her?
     
  13. sanco

    sanco New Member

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    Jesus Christ, I feel like you're either trolling, or you only read parts of peoples' posts that you wanna read. As for James Bond, there will be AT LEAST one attribute that you will be able to relate to. The extent of that would vary.

    One of my favourite movies is Taxi Driver because I feel like I relate to Travis Bickle A LOT. However, I don't fashion guns to pop out of my sleeve, I don't shave my hair into mohawks, wear bomber jackets, attempt to assassinate senators or rescue underage prostitutes in shootouts with pimps.

    I relate to the feeling of extreme loneliness, the insomnia, the madness and trying to get by in a world full of scum and filth. Not to mention I drive a lot at night through some dodgy parts of the city to get home.
     
  14. Xatron

    Xatron New Member

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    When I said that people said I was being unreasonably impolite. You get what i am talking about now though.
     
  15. sanco

    sanco New Member

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    I thought this from the start, but it's not even funny enough to be a legitimate troll.

    Miles, all your questions have been answered. MULTIPLE TIMES. You seem to keep suggesting animals or aliens, ignoring ALL the responses people have given you. Unless you can come up with examples in fiction where ANY of whatever you're suggesting actually works; examples that refute the various responses we've given, take some time to review the responses and try to figure the rest out for yourself.

    OR

    as Thornesque has patiently suggested over and over again, post an example of your own writing where you actually implement these theories instead of bumping these threads with random, open-ended statements.

    And if you're just a troll, go fuck yourself. Sue me if that's unreasonably impolite.
     
  16. Mithrandir

    Mithrandir New Member

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    I suggested it first, and he has. Go check out jewels such as the Time Thief, or the more recent one.
     
  17. sanco

    sanco New Member

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    ^Apologies.

    I have read the Time Thief and the recent one, but neither contain significant animal or alien characters... Or evil villain protagonists.
     
  18. MilesTro

    MilesTro Senior Member

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    !@#$ it!

    I will write whatever I want to write. That is final.
     
  19. Thornesque

    Thornesque Senior Member

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    So the, the question must be asked... If you're not asking these questions because you want to write a story like this and don't know if you're "allowed" or not, then why are you asking them?
     
  20. MilesTro

    MilesTro Senior Member

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    Wasn't sure.
     
  21. Thornesque

    Thornesque Senior Member

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    You weren't sure why you were asking?
     
  22. Xatron

    Xatron New Member

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    Probably he wasn't sure what he was asking either.
     
  23. MilesTro

    MilesTro Senior Member

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    This is the question I asked.
     
  24. sanco

    sanco New Member

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    And do you think you've got your answer?
     
  25. MilesTro

    MilesTro Senior Member

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    I guess. All characters have to be believable no matter what, and readers will relate to them if they have human quailties.
     

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