This week’s video shows how you may be unintentionally portraying your character in a misleading way—and explains what you can do to correct the problem.
Video Transcription: Because we all walk a narrow line between presenting skillful, competent, admirable characters—and realistically fallible human beings, it’s easy to unintentionally overemphasize one aspect or the other. The easiest way to do this is by showing your character exemplifying one side or the other of his personality, while only telling the reader about the other side. Naturally, the side that’s shown is going to feel much more alive to the reader, and unless you balance your description by also showing the other side of the coin, the reader isn’t going to be likely to take your word for it that this character really is something they haven’t seen.
For example, a historical mystery I finished this week featured a character who worked for an intelligence agency. In his first confrontation in his capacity as an agent, he bungles the job by allowing his emotions to get in the way. He gains almost no information and he endangers the secrecy of his mission. And yet the author insists to the reader that the character “had more skill than that!”
The author’s intent was to portray a skillful character who was carried away in a moment of fallibility, but because she never established his skill by proving it to the reader, we were left with only her word assuring us that he was skillful. An author’s assurance, by itself, isn’t going to be very convincing.
We put our fictional characters through enough trauma without sabotaging them ourselves. Portraying a character’s flaws is an excellent way to make a reader connect and sympathize with him. But, unless your goal is to portray him as bumbling idiot, be sure to balance his flaws with some successes as well. If he’s noted for his skill in some area, show us that skill before you let the character mess up. The reasons behind his anomalous mistake will carry much more weight if we’ve first seen what the character is capable of.
Related Posts: Show and Tell
It’s What Your Characters Do That Defines Them
Character Competition: The Saint or the Sinner?
Story by K.M. Weiland
Tags: Characters , Showing , Telling
Loved this week's video! And ouch, I think I might be sabotaging my current main character. Usually my characters lean towards being too skillful and leading perfect lives... but with the book I'm working on now, I've had to remind myself to give her some skills and successes.
Not that she's an unlikeable character (um, hope not anyway), but she leads a hard life, and I think she may come off as wimpy at times. Thanks for the reminder to SHOW why she's skillful, instead of just telling ;)
Wonderful, another tip on keeping the main character balanced! I think I'm as guilty as that mystery author you mentioned when it comes to telling the other side rather than showing. It's like my characters barely get a hold on themselves before I start throwing trouble their way. Thanks for the advice!
Great tips! I definitely will think of how I'm presenting my MC and minor characters through their actions. Lately I'd been thinking that I've made my MC more cold and incompetent than I intended. I will take a fresh look at what I've written, with the idea of balancing who she is through her actions.
Thanks, Katie...a great specific application of show-don't-tell principles.
@Mia: It's *so* easy to err on one side or the other of the likable/realistic line. Been there, done that myself!
@Jenn: Since the whole point of fiction is conflict, and since the heart of conflict is putting characters in uncomfortable situations, it *is* easy to emphasize their discomfort to the exclusion of everything else.
@KC: One of the tests I use for main characters is to take a step back and ask myself, "Would I like this person as I've written him?" If the answer's not an unequivocal "yes," I know I need to do some work.
@C.L.: Show and tell is so often misunderstood. It's something we're all refining our understanding of.
Great suggestion on asking yourself if you would like the character. I'll try to keep that in mind. More wonderful tips all around.
I will have to grant you that taking an objective look at your character is often easier said than done!
Fabulous Vlog post!
This is so true, and I've noticed this in books I've read as well. I'm sure I've done this to every one of my characters, which is why I'm working on character development as we speak.
Thanks for the advice and tips ;o)
Ah, yes, the trauma we put our characters through - intentionally and unintentionally. Happily, though, this is a pretty easy item to recognize and fix, once you start looking for it.
Excellent as always...
now I have to go re-read through and make sure I am not doing that,Thanks :)
Oh my I think I might have actually done something right for a change! I showed the skill of my little Miss Kitty, and then her weak side that taints her character a wee bit.
Thank you for this boost, I needed it today.
@Eternity: One more edit... they never seem to end, do they? ;)
@Glynis: Awesome! Good for you.
Great advice. What book were you referencing in this? I think I'd enjoy reading it!
I think it can be tougher in a mystery setting to make sure you show the successes early on since you've got the bad guys/gals already trying to wreak havoc on your characters before they can sometimes even know what hit them. When this happens, you must get creative. I hope it's one thing I've managed to do in my WIP (that hopefully I'm on the last or next to last edit of before snagging an agent!)
The good news is that we the skills we show don't have to negate the characters' suffering at the hands of the bad guy. We can show them being skillful in small ways, while still allowing them to take a whupping.
Just had to add another comment about this post. Since I am doing a re-write of my first novel and I am at the beginning...okay on chapter 2, close enough. I went back and re-read some of what I wrote. I am guilty of sabotaging my own characters. Thankfully I am able to straighten that out before I got too far along. That and it helps add a bit more depth to them. Now you have even more of my thanks, K.M. Weiland and gratitude.
Ah, the beauty of rewrites! I'm glad you were close enough to the beginning that it was easy to fix. Have fun with the edit!
Love this vid. Thank you, again, for emphasizing the less obvious fine points. I tend to what to latch onto the negatives of my characters first, and then find out what makes them likeable after. I like to ask myself, "what is it that makes this person durable?" And I also remind myself that villians (unless demons from hell) have good within and a mother who loved them just like the rest of us. Makes building complex characters more honest and more fun. You've reminded me that balance must be given sooner rather than later. Thank you!
~Sherry (poetphoenix)
It's the shades of gray in both the good and the bad characters that makes fiction interesting. The trick as writers is figuring out how to craft them to our stories' advantage.