Speaking As Someone Who Writes And Reads A Lot Of Character-driven Stories, I Think It Would Do Us All

Speaking as someone who writes and reads a lot of character-driven stories, I think it would do us all some good to remember that people aren’t always consistent. So many writers end up falling into the trap of equating realism with consistency, giving themselves a headache in the process.

The truth is, people don’t always act and react in ways consistent with past actions. We’re constantly making choices and sorting through ourselves and our experiences, often subconsciously, in a way that can make actions unpredictable. This is doubly true of moments when we’re dealing with a lot of input over a short period of time.

Not only that, even the conscious choices we make can be inconsistent for seemingly no reason. Someone might teeter between dressing uber-formal and uber-casual without explanation. Some people (myself included) talk in a weird hybrid of over-formality and under-formality. Someone who likes going out on weekends has the capacity to just shrug on another and want to stay home. They’re not tired, they’re not stressed, there’s nothing wrong, they just don’t want to because humans are inconsistent and beautiful.

Inconsistency is a part of human reality, so why not give your characters the chance to react in new ways? You don’t have to hold yourself to writing them in such a way that every action is traceable because not every human action is traceable. Hell - it might even give you some ideas for new stories.

Just trust yourself and the characters you’ve created.