I think I'm going to go through this little rant book and condense a bunch of chapters. Update the advice, organize it a bit more. Combine where I can. See what still needs addressed or what needs elaborated on. I won't be uploading them as new chapters. I'm literally just going to go back and rewrite some as I have time, so I'll let you guys know when I do that, in case you're interested.
Any advice/requests/complaints/etc for me on this whole rant book revision process would be greatly appreciated. Leave it in the comments, on my message board, in a PM. Whatever. You guys know I love opinions.
Today, let's discuss something I see get a lot of hate, but for all the wrong reasons: Weak Characters and Character Weaknesses
With the intense push for "strong" female characters, I think we're starting to lose the integrity of what it means to be a fictional character and I think, even worse, we're starting to lose individuality among characters.
Let me say something that will shock and awe you: I'm tired of "strong" characters. They're all arrogant and flawless and downright boring. Just because you cuss, wear leather jackets, and get in fights, it doesn't make you strong and it doesn't make you a hero.
Weak characters aren't bad. Characters having weaknesses isn't a bad thing. To explain what I mean, let's break this down and discuss what I think is important about having weak characters and/or giving character's weaknesses.
1. Consider the character's backstory
Everyone always wants their characters to have these horribly tragic backstories. Homelessness. Abuse. Loss of parents. Depression. And you guys know how I feel about these backstories. I don't think they're necessary most of the time, and a lot of the time, I think they should vaguely be alluded to, but here's my point.
I'm an incredibly shy person. I really am. When people from online meet me in person they're shocked that I'm not as outspoken as I appear to be in rants and advice and whatnot. It takes me a loooooong time to warm up to people. And even though it's part of my personality, a lot of it stemmed from what happened when I was a kid.
After that whole mess was more or less a part of the past and I started having to move on from it, I stopped talking to people for a while. From about second grade until sixth grade I rarely spoke to anyone by my dad, my brother, and my best friend. Any time we were out in public, my brother would speak for me. At school, my best friend spoke for me. (More or less, I just didn't speak to adults. I spoke to kids my age).
It's not that I was completely mute or anything. If they addressed me directly I would answer, but I would stare at my feet or my hands. I rarely made eye contact. But if they did not state my name and look directly at me, I wouldn't answer. I'd look at my brother or my best friend and they would answer for me. So when people said the generic "how are you", someone would say "we're good" for me.
And that's a weakness. That, more or less, is being weak. Because I'll admit, from the time I was seven until I was eleven, I hardly made my own decisions or communicated in public. I didn't have a voice in the community. But that's something that often comes with having a dark spot in your past like that. It's just natural, and for us to call that weak is kind of ignorant. Obstacle, yes. Weakness, maybe not.
And here's the best part about all of it: it gave me an obvious goal for improvement and created tremendous room for growth. I remember I cried myself to sleep every night for the first four weeks of sixth grade because my best friend and I didn't have the exact same schedule and I knew I was going to have to start communicating and speaking for myself and that terrified me. My best friend started casually practicing social norms with me and trying to teach me to make small talk (and he thought he was being subtle about it, but I knew what he was doing the whole time) and it was legitimately something I had to work at.
And it took me all of middle school to figure out how to do. And I still suck at it and need to improve. But I remember when I finally made the decision to join choir my dad was stunned but everyone was so happy for me. That's a huge step. That was a huge fear I had to conquer. That's quite literally having a public voice.
That's something amazing for your characters. So what if they're weak? Now they have room to grow and improve. Now people will be so proud of them when they read about them conquering these hurdles.
2. Consider the character's personality
This goes with the last one quite well, because sometimes personalities can be perceived as weak or even being just a weakness. Like, I'm an anxious person. I really am. And it's not that I'm nervous 24/7, just at least 20/7. I've learned how to cope with it, but the longer you spend with me, the more you pick up on my nervous ticks. I'm really good at not projecting it on other people, and most people think I'm relatively calm, but once you get to know me, you know I am almost always nervous.
I always have to be moving. I cannot sit still to save my life. As I type this I'm rocking back and forth in my chair...and it's not a rocking chair. And I'm not even nervous about anything in particular right now. I'm just one of those people that has a genuinely nervous personality. Occasionally it's seen as being weak, because I'm usually always looking at what could go wrong. And when I'm legitimately nervous about something, I go on and on and on (to the point of making everyone around me nervous) about all my fears. Seriously, come find me around conference time when I have presentations and you'll hear nothing but doom and gloom.
It's some kind of voodoo freaky miracle that my best friend is the absolute calmest person in the world. We balance each other out nicely. I've been having panic attacks for most of my life. My best friend was the first one to realize that I start humming before I have mild one. But the really bad ones you can't predict. I think the worst one I had was when I was seventeen and I was at a party and I don't even remember what happened, but I kept shaking for three days afterward. My brother thought I was going to have a heart attack (it's a wonder I haven't already. I'm telling you, my poor old heart has been so stressed out in its lifetime).
My anxiousness can also be a weakness, because it sometimes keeps me from doing things I want to do or from enjoying things I like doing, because I'm nervous the whole time. Like, I seriously do my grocery shopping at 5 or 6 in the morning, because the store is empty. And I just can't handle shopping in crowds. I can't do it. It's too much. Or, when I go to concerts (I LOVE going to concerts) I don't always enjoy myself when I go with my girlfriends because I'm so nervous about the crowds (are you sensing a pattern here, that I don't like crowds. Or just people in general, really). So even though I love going, if it's not a band or artists I really, really love then I sometimes turn down those opportunities. It's, again, something I've been working on my whole life.
I'm shy. I'm an introvert. And I'm a nervous person. Those three are a classic combination for a weak character, but it's just like with the backstory: it gives me something to work on. In high school, I would not go anywhere at all by myself. At all. Now, I can go to the grocery store alone. I'll go to my kid's football or basketball games alone. I can walk into conferences and such alone now. I would go to my professor's offices alone in college. And those were big victories for me. So, again, think about the weak character (or the weakness in their personality) and consider how you can help them grow (or if they even need to (like, my best friend is a perfectionist and he doesn't really need to grow that much from it. Yeah, he could relax a little more, and even though trying to be perfect is often a weakness, it's not always something that needs to be fixed)).
3. How does this progress the story and/or cause conflict?
Here's an important step in determining, not only if a character's weakness needs to be addressed, but also if it's something that needs to play a role in the story (a role that growth would provide). If your character's weakness is that they're late, but them being late never has a major impact on the story, don't make a big deal out of it. If that lateness means they end up walking into the middle of a business meeting late and getting fired and subsequently getting kicked out of their apartment because they can't pay the rent on no income and that propels the whole story into adventureland, okay! Now we're talking.
I hate that all too often, we throw weaknesses in because we think that's what we're supposed to do to keep from having Mary Sues/Gary Stues, but then the weakness shows no purpose. And I hate it, because when the weakness is explored and does make a difference, it's often perceived as the character just being "weak". For some reason, it feels like people want instant perfection. No one gives a character a chance to grow and develop and become dynamic anymore. If they aren't a kick ass bitch that can do anything and everything (but is occasionally clumsy (since that's the most popular "flaw")), then they're weak and pointless and blah blah blah.
That's not how it should be. We shouldn't hate weak characters. We shouldn't hate weaknesses. We should use them as plot devices. We should let them create conflict and then we should use that conflict to help our characters grow. And so what if the characters don't do a complete 180 and change 1000% percent? It's enough that Addy couldn't even speak to an adult when she was a kid and now she teaches 100 kids a day and goes to conferences with thousands of people to do presentations. I'm still shy. I'm still a nervous person. But I've grown a lot and I think that even though I'm not completely different than when I was a kid, it's still improvement and it should still be celebrated.
I'm not saying they should dwell on their weakness and brood and moan and complain. But definitely mention it as objectively as possible. Don't say "ugh, I hate being nervous. It keeps me from doing things I want to do". Instead, let your character think "damn! I love [whatever band] and I would love to see them. But wait, it's sold out? Awww, that means there are going to be so many people" and as they're think that, make their skin crawl thinking about a stranger brush against them or make them shake their head as the buzz of an imaginary crowd fills their ears and makes it hard for them to concentrate. It doesn't have to be the center of the story, but it should be a pillar in the production.
So don't be afraid of having weak characters. Don't be afraid of focusing on a weakness that keeps causing conflicts. Explore that. Let your characters struggle and then help them grow. Because in the end, you don't have to have the most original plot in the world. You could write the most cliché piece to ever exist and as long as you have a character that is true to themselves and makes some kind of progress, you're going to have an amazing story.
And that's it. What do you guys think? Do your characters have weakness that help progress the plot or cause conflicts? Do your characters grow from them? What about you, personally? Have you grown? Have you been working on your own weaknesses? Leave it all down below in the comments. I'd love to hear from you guys.
(And I'll let you guys know as I start editing this little rant book. I have one more stack of essays to grade, semester exam grades have to be in by the 19th, and then I'm free for a week, so I'll try my hardest to get stuff done here for you guys! Hopefully everyone is doing well!