Yeah Lets Go With That - Tumblr Posts
Thank you so much for adding my thoughts! Sometimes I have to cut down on information and exceptions for the sake of clarity and to make a point. Luckily, I don't have all-comsuming influencing power over people's writing ;)
Writing Advice: Writing Out Of Character
No, this time I am not going to trash bad examples of characters being "out of character". Instead I am going to explain to you what seperates a good character who is behaving differently and a bad character who is behaving illogically.
Question 1: Why Is The Character Behaving Like This?
When we writers put our characters through the ringer we often see our characters change in drastic and "unexpected" ways. This is an example of "good character arc" and not "out of character" because if you supply justification for why your character is changing things up and doing different things then it's character development!
Virtuous Character A, in a desperate bid to stay alive and after being repeatedly pushed to the brink by these harrowing cirumstances, kills Character B? That is good character development!
Intelligent and prudish Character C suddenly starts acting like they're staring in a smut fic towards Character D as their "body betrays them" due to horomones they should've learne to control in their teens? That is out of character!
Has this writer(me) been writing informative yet argumentative works but has tried to start offering a softer and less confrontational side in order to appeal to more people? That is character development!
Question 2: Have You Given Your Character Enough Time To Evolve?
Unlike what love stories try to convince you, it takes a pretty long while for people to change their behaviors and mindset!
Has your normally stoic character who has been practicing understanding their emotions finally expressing some emotion? That's character development!
Have I been slowly adding more informative perspective and softer actions throughout my rants? Then it's much more believeable that I would express a softer side towards this issue!
trust me i totally know what im doing
