So, I swear I had every intention of having a nice, relaxing summer where I had more time for reading and critiques and weekly ranting/maybe some other story, but then I got a job offer from my hometown that took a lot of time and serious consideration. And after a lot of sleepless nights, long talks, and endless tears (not all on my part), I have decided to accept the job offer, meaning I'll no longer be working with my at-risk kids.
But you know what, they're not at risk anymore (and half of them graduated and half of the graduates got into great colleges, so booyah!). And this is something I need. So with their blessings and encouragement, I have moved completely out of my apartment and back to my house. And then I moved my best friend's stuff out of his apartment (no, he's still not home yet, twelve more days) so another one of his friends could move into it. And this is all while my brother and I are both trying to do remodeling to our houses. So I've had a busy as hell summer.
Anyway, no one cares about my personal life. So here we go. Let's rant about: Super Relatable Characters
Lately there's this huge push to make hyper relatable characters, which is absolutely understandable! I'm totally all for having characters that are relatable and fun to cheer for and read about. But lately, I've seen a lot of acharacters who are so super relatable that they aren't relatable at all. They try way too hard. So let's see if I can come up with a list of common issues I have with super relatable characters and see if I can give you some horrible advice. One two three break!
1. They're "not like other boys/girls"
This is a tell-tale sign that a character is about to get super obnoxiously "relatable" is when they say "I'm not like other boys/girls". And I have a couple of problems with this:
a. Of course you're not. No two people can be exactly the same. And that would be totally boring if they were
b. While I think uniqueness and embracing individuality is of the utmost importance, I also don't understand what's so bad about being like other boys/girls. People are awesome.
I just absolutely hate that phrase. It's so stupid. I'm not like the others. Duh.
But even if you were like other people, so what? Here's the thing, most of the time characters say this to degrade and stereotype other people. "I'm not like other girls. I don't wear high heels to school and get my nails done and I'm not scared of dirt and blah fucking blah." So what if a girl gets their nails done? So what if they wear heels all the time? I don't do either of those things, but it doesn't make me more or less important than someone who does.
So I really wish we could all just move past this now. Instead of focusing on what a character is NOT, try focusing more on what they are. Instead of a character telling me that they aren't like the other girls that wear miniskirts all the time, tell me more about who the character actually is. I don't need to know they don't wear short skirts. I need to know that they have a desire to get into the school of their dreams and they're fighting and taking every chance they can in order to get the scholarships they need to go.
Tell me who they are. Don't describe this stereotypical version of what boys/girls are supposed to be and then tell me that's what they're not.
2. They're walking contradictions
This one always blows my mind and most people don't seem to notice. Sometimes authors get so desperate to make their characters relatable that they throw out "amen lines" (think about when a preacher says something and the congregation all shouts "amen" because they agree). But this super relatableness doesn't fit into the Mary Sue persona and so the character has to become a walking contradiction. Some common examples of this include:
a. I hate doing homework, it's so stupid, who has time for that, I have a social life and things to do, duh! (AMEN!) But then they make straight A's and pass every single test. (Which can happen. But not as often as it happens on Wattpad).
b. I don' care what people think of me. I wear whatever I want whether it's in fashion or not (although it usually is). I'm not worried about people calling me too fat/skinny because I know it means they're just jealous. (AMEN!) But I have curves in all the right places. I'm talking hourglass figure, double d breasts, and an ass that makes jaws drop. (Can happen. Not often).
c. Again, I don't care what people think of me. I don't care if they think I'm fat/skinny. I'm not one of those girls that just orders salads. I eat junk food and drink soda all the time. (Amen!) But I have six pack abs and bulging muscles you can see through my tight white t-shirt.
See what I mean. They start out with something a vast majority of Wattpad readers can relate to (not liking homework, wanting to dress however they want without fear of judgment, eating whatever they want and not worrying about dieting), but the results of these actions aren't typical or relatable at all.
So, for the first example, instead of talking about how much a character hates homework, then discussing what awesome grades they make, I'd like to see homework and studying play a role in the story (if it has a place, of course). There's a lot you can do with it. In college, we'd play drinking games to study for major tests. And we had more than just tests in high school. We had major essays, reports, projects, and presentations to do.
For example, I think it would be cool to watch characters try to put together a group presentation. You know how fucking difficult that is? (Of course you do. It's hard as hell). But that has the potential for a lot of conflict but also a lot of comic relief (all I can think about was the time I had to do a group presentation in Biology my sophomore year and my group was really nervous about it, so our teacher told us to picture the people in the class in their underwear. And right as we were starting, my best friend took his shirt off in the back of the room and no one could stop laughing long enough to listen to our presentation and that was a great moment of comic relief. Someone put that in their story because that is so fun.
For the second one it really irritates me how people try to make such huge statements about body positivity and body image, but then they completely throw it all out the window in order to have the "ideal" body type for their character. I hate when this happens. I've always enjoyed the people that mention body type without trying to make it a statement. Like, here's the thing, I enjoy reading about characters with different body types. So what if she has small breast? So what if his jaw isn't perfectly square? So fucking what? People need to get over it. That's all I have to say.
For the third one. C'mon, y'all. You know how I feel about the whole abs and muscles without working out thing. But here's something I think adds an interesting twist, conflict, comic relief, level of depth to a story that everyone is missing out on.
So, it's always super important to make sure that the main guy (typically the love interest) is super fit. But you have to realize, you don't get muscle definition without some form of physical labor. You just don't. I don't care what you say, you don't. And something else that is incredibly true (especially for females) is that abs are made in the kitchen. Especially as you get older. Do you know how much dieting and training it takes to get the muscle definition and strength described in these stories? A shit ton more than authors write about.
Y'all know my best friend was a hell of an athlete. He pretty much lived in the gym, but he was also so good because he was always on a special diet (and bless his heart, he missed out on the good days of his metabolism when he could eat absolutely anything he wanted and not feel sick). Like, for basketball season our sophomore year, he was a vegetarian. Granted, he had other health issues that helped him make the decision, but he also know that diet would give him the muscle leanness and build that basketball players needed. Different sports require different diets, workouts, etc. That's a really interesting conflict.
I just remember when he was dieting one year, right before state (so he'd been on the diet for a whole season and was so tired of eating healthy food), he finally just broke and cheated and ate some kind of junk food (I think it was pizza, but I don't remember for sure). And it made him feel icky and he got so mad about it. Poor guy was so upset because he was so used to eating healthy that it didn't even taste good to him anymore. And I laughed so hard. Bless his poor little lettuce eating heart.
So give me more of that. Give me more of people saying no to the big pizza party because they have a big game coming up. Give me more of people in the gym instead of at the big bonfire. Give me more people on the field/court/whatever working on their craft instead of telling me they're the best but they don't even have to try.
3. They always change (for the "better")
It's interesting to note how many characters end up the complete opposite of what they start out as. And while that's not always a bad thing, sometimes they don't actually change for the better. For example, how is it better that a girl goes from "I don't date like other girls. I don't need a man. I am completely independent and I love myself for who I am." To doing absolutely anything and everything to win the affection of some random dude (with a six pack for no less).
How is it better that she goes from "I'm comfortable in my own skin. I'm beautiful with no makeup and my naturally long and dark eyelashes." To talking about how she's the most gorgeous girl that gets all the boys when she cakes on all the makeup she can fit on her face for the school dance.
To me, none of that is better. I'm fine with characters changing. I love when they change! But I want them to change for the better. I'd rather she go from being dependent to indepent. Or she change from being self-conscious to completely confident. I'd rather they grow and become comfortable with who they are and what they can accomplice. And that's how I feel about that.
And that's my rant. What do you guys think? Do you have any tips/tricks to add? How do you feel about super relatable characters? Love 'em? Hate 'em? Leave your thoughts below (or in my inbox or email or whatever).
The question of the day is: How do we make characters relatable without alienating our readers? Thoughts? I'd love to hear them.
My funny story? My twenty-two pound cat got stuck in a tree. And I couldn't find him for an entire evening, so I ran around in the dark calling for him. Finally, in the morning (after a storm) I found him, meowing wildly in the tree. Except, my brother had borrowed my ladder, so I couldn't get him down. I mean, I could've climbed up there, but then I woulda been stuck because how the hell am I supposed to climb down a tree with a twenty-two pound ball of wet, wild fur trying to claw my face?
So I call my dad (who, if you'll remember, shared custody of the cat while I had my apartment) and although he claimed the cat would be fine getting down on his own, he rushed right over with his ladder. Then, he insisted on being the one to climb up and get the cat. And the cat wouldn't go outside for a week afterword. Even though he was a stray cat and lived outdoors for four years before coming to live with me. He's quite possibly the largest fraidy cat I've ever known. He goes outside now, but he jumps at everything. If a blade of grass moves wrong he goes into panic mode.
Seriously. Twenty-two pounds of cat fur and he'sscared of everything these days. So much for my attack cat...