Brandon 2
Kita10 Fatal Character Mistakes
November 9th 2007 13:00
1. Stereotype
It sounds obvious but it's a hard one to avoid. Especially when certain character subversions (like the good which, the 60 year old homeboy) are always becoming popularized to the point of becoming new stereotypes. The literary world does not need another subversive female dame or world weary cynical detective with family problems. Usually if you flesh out your characters enough you'll be able to shy away from stereotype. otherwise just make sure you give each one something special. Eg, your killer lies sci-fi movies and is writing a screenplay, or your detective is an ex-raver.
2. Pure Evil.
Nobody is pure evil .Does not happen. You can almost get away with in fantasy but it's best not to. Some people often shown as pure evil are -
Teachers
Lawyers
Businessmen
Killers
Rapists
Drug Dealers
These kind of characters ARE there to be hated (usually). But they're so much more compelling when we can see that they to are simply humans doing evil things. A fantastic example of this done well is the 'villain' from the film film Princess Mononoke (Contains Spoilers).
3. Excess
We rerally don't need thirty people in your short story. We are but simple readers. When Dan gives Ash Martin's wallet that he stole from Bruce for Jenny but is hiding from Tom, Fred and Nick who want it for Darryl and Frank, to avid getting fired by Jane we just get confused. Simplify.
4. Similarity
Jack and Jake are twins. Jack and Jake are confusing. Lets have Jake and Bob. This doesn't just apply to names - we don't need three cool chilled lawyers. IF you've ever watched a buddy movie you'll know ity's the dynamic caused by differences that make them interesting to watch. Chuck two different characters together to see what happens. Same is boring and confusing, and we'd be better off without Jim and Jimmy the angry shopkeepers.
5. Inconsistency
Bob doesn't believe in dragons. Bob is an expert on dragons. Bob is Japanese and proud of his culture but then talks about how bad patriotism is. He is from a single parent family, yet talks about his dad meeting him everyday after school. Bob needs to make up his mind, stop contradicting himself and be consistent before we just give up on him altogether.
6. Hackneyed Dialog.
Crap dialog. Why would we bother?
"Oh no. He's back. I will have to fight him. I may die. But it does not matter for God is with me" blah blah blah. If you want to see some decent dialogue, go check out Josh Whedon.
7. Puppets.
By puppets I mean people who appear, do something and disappear. They have no personality and no role other than to do a single task. They are boring and you should give them a personality or get rid of them, rather than use a lot of them.
8. Who Cares Guy.
They kill him. He dies. We don't care. I know it's hard to kill them off when you like them - but unless we care about their death then, well, we don't really care at all.
9. Information Dump.
We don't need a page of your characters biography hen you introduce them. Release it slowly. Imagine if we knew all about Dumbledore before book seven?
10. None.
Don't write a book with no character. It's just dumb.
It sounds obvious but it's a hard one to avoid. Especially when certain character subversions (like the good which, the 60 year old homeboy) are always becoming popularized to the point of becoming new stereotypes. The literary world does not need another subversive female dame or world weary cynical detective with family problems. Usually if you flesh out your characters enough you'll be able to shy away from stereotype. otherwise just make sure you give each one something special. Eg, your killer lies sci-fi movies and is writing a screenplay, or your detective is an ex-raver.
2. Pure Evil.
Nobody is pure evil .Does not happen. You can almost get away with in fantasy but it's best not to. Some people often shown as pure evil are -
Teachers
Lawyers
Businessmen
Killers
Rapists
Drug Dealers
These kind of characters ARE there to be hated (usually). But they're so much more compelling when we can see that they to are simply humans doing evil things. A fantastic example of this done well is the 'villain' from the film film Princess Mononoke (Contains Spoilers).
3. Excess
We rerally don't need thirty people in your short story. We are but simple readers. When Dan gives Ash Martin's wallet that he stole from Bruce for Jenny but is hiding from Tom, Fred and Nick who want it for Darryl and Frank, to avid getting fired by Jane we just get confused. Simplify.
4. Similarity
Jack and Jake are twins. Jack and Jake are confusing. Lets have Jake and Bob. This doesn't just apply to names - we don't need three cool chilled lawyers. IF you've ever watched a buddy movie you'll know ity's the dynamic caused by differences that make them interesting to watch. Chuck two different characters together to see what happens. Same is boring and confusing, and we'd be better off without Jim and Jimmy the angry shopkeepers.
5. Inconsistency
Bob doesn't believe in dragons. Bob is an expert on dragons. Bob is Japanese and proud of his culture but then talks about how bad patriotism is. He is from a single parent family, yet talks about his dad meeting him everyday after school. Bob needs to make up his mind, stop contradicting himself and be consistent before we just give up on him altogether.
6. Hackneyed Dialog.
Crap dialog. Why would we bother?
"Oh no. He's back. I will have to fight him. I may die. But it does not matter for God is with me" blah blah blah. If you want to see some decent dialogue, go check out Josh Whedon.
7. Puppets.
By puppets I mean people who appear, do something and disappear. They have no personality and no role other than to do a single task. They are boring and you should give them a personality or get rid of them, rather than use a lot of them.
8. Who Cares Guy.
They kill him. He dies. We don't care. I know it's hard to kill them off when you like them - but unless we care about their death then, well, we don't really care at all.
9. Information Dump.
We don't need a page of your characters biography hen you introduce them. Release it slowly. Imagine if we knew all about Dumbledore before book seven?
10. None.
Don't write a book with no character. It's just dumb.
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Comment by Always Eighteen
Always Eighteen
As for the pure evil one, it still seems to work, no matter how cliched it may seem. You see a lot of it in movies that make shitloads of money. There's also a lot of it in Harry Potter.
Comment by Brenton
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Comment by Always Eighteen
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