ON REALISTIC (BORING?) CHARACTERS:
I love perusing query-related blogs, so naturally I love Query Shark. This is the result of one of my searches:
"Real life rarely has a plot."
-Query Shark (http://queryshark.blogspot.com/)
Reaction: :(
After a bout of sadness, I thought mulled over this quote, because truth be told I am a sucker for REAL LIFE because isn't quite as simple and lackluster as it seems (don't lie to me!). REAL LIFE is full of stories to be told and stories to relate to (Because don't all readers love it when they can click with the characters and their struggles? Please don't tell me you've ever had to engage in a televised fight to the death because that is really alarming).
There aren't many real life plots out there. There are YA contmeporaries that try to mimic real life but in the end don't quite succeed because the boys are kind-considerate-gorgeous/mythical-or-paranormal-creatures. Or the protagonists have special abilities. Or interesting stuff just happens in school. Or the adults are conveniently missing and teens actually have power. Or...you get my point.
Linked with un-REAL LIFE plots are un-REAL-LIFE characters. If the plot if going explode into a ball of flames, then the characters might as well be bad-ass enough to escape said fire or have special powers to conquer said fire. Mixing REAL LIFE characters with the un-REAL LIFE plot just doesn't....no, it just doesn't work.
Like real life plots, there aren't enough real life characters out there. The first one I can think of on the top of my head is Holden Caufield and again, I hope that the majority of the normal population does not find itself in Holden-like situations.
Don't get me wrong--I adore the heroes and heroines of YA fiction. I love Percy and his demi-god awesomeness and Katniss with her berry guruness and Tris with her nine lives. The pitfall? Yes, I may be able to understand the fear of jumping off a ten story building. I mean, isn't fear just fear? Yes, I know fear. I KNOW what it feels like to fail a math test. The heart starts hammering, the palms start sweating, and the little voice goes off: oh no oh no oh no OH MY GOD. Flailing and spazzing ensues.
Ahem.
Let's go on a tangent here. Say I was a novel character. This would be on my character spreadsheet:
Female, 5'2, brown eyes, glasses, black hair. Likes to read, write, bake, draw. Incredibly bad at making on the spot decisions. Fear of heights. Fear of pain. Fear of dying. Fear of germs. Fear of bugs. Horrible balance--cannot stand on one foot. Life saving skills: none. Life saving knowledge: none. Good liar? Not really. Persuasive: eh. Supernatural powers: none. etc. etc. etc.
Now, I might be an extraodinary case of a useless, mundane, real life character, but you can see that there are little things that fictional characters take for granted. For example, running. I have a big thing about running in YA. I have not met a protagonist in a dystopian who is NOT good at running. Not just any running, but the running-for-your-life running-away-from-bad-guys. No YA character goes down because they get a cramp or fall. Also, another thing: 20/20 vision. I am literally blind without my glasses. I would actually run into a wall. Those exercises where there's a hypothetical house fire and you have to grab your five most important possessions? I have to waste one on glasses. Tell me if you know of a YA fantasy/dystopian/adventure protagonist whose Achilles heel is that they can't see (Simon from The Mortal Instruments does not count. He gets perfect vision after he's turned into a vampire.)
I myself am guilty of writing an UNREAL LIFE character for a semi-UNREAL LIFE plot. My MC is resourceful, a prodigy in interior design, and good at making deals. Granted, she's doesn't have the edge of physical or magical powers, but I've deliberately given her enough strengths so that she can play her role in a terror-filled plot and won't go splat at the inciting incident.
I want to make it clear that I do not think that any of the UNREAL LIFE characters are perfect by any means. They are flawed! They battle their own dilemmas and emotions! That's why they are so fun to read about. But they are no where near flawed on the miniscule level as any REAL LIFE character would be.
What do you think? Do you find it harder to relate to characters who have unrealistic lives? Does it not matter to you if you can relate--is the story itself more important? Do you write real life characters in an unreal life plot, or do you find yourself giving your character the skills to play on your twisted game-board of a story?
Ahem.
Let's go on a tangent here. Say I was a novel character. This would be on my character spreadsheet:
Female, 5'2, brown eyes, glasses, black hair. Likes to read, write, bake, draw. Incredibly bad at making on the spot decisions. Fear of heights. Fear of pain. Fear of dying. Fear of germs. Fear of bugs. Horrible balance--cannot stand on one foot. Life saving skills: none. Life saving knowledge: none. Good liar? Not really. Persuasive: eh. Supernatural powers: none. etc. etc. etc.
Now, I might be an extraodinary case of a useless, mundane, real life character, but you can see that there are little things that fictional characters take for granted. For example, running. I have a big thing about running in YA. I have not met a protagonist in a dystopian who is NOT good at running. Not just any running, but the running-for-your-life running-away-from-bad-guys. No YA character goes down because they get a cramp or fall. Also, another thing: 20/20 vision. I am literally blind without my glasses. I would actually run into a wall. Those exercises where there's a hypothetical house fire and you have to grab your five most important possessions? I have to waste one on glasses. Tell me if you know of a YA fantasy/dystopian/adventure protagonist whose Achilles heel is that they can't see (Simon from The Mortal Instruments does not count. He gets perfect vision after he's turned into a vampire.)
I myself am guilty of writing an UNREAL LIFE character for a semi-UNREAL LIFE plot. My MC is resourceful, a prodigy in interior design, and good at making deals. Granted, she's doesn't have the edge of physical or magical powers, but I've deliberately given her enough strengths so that she can play her role in a terror-filled plot and won't go splat at the inciting incident.
I want to make it clear that I do not think that any of the UNREAL LIFE characters are perfect by any means. They are flawed! They battle their own dilemmas and emotions! That's why they are so fun to read about. But they are no where near flawed on the miniscule level as any REAL LIFE character would be.
What do you think? Do you find it harder to relate to characters who have unrealistic lives? Does it not matter to you if you can relate--is the story itself more important? Do you write real life characters in an unreal life plot, or do you find yourself giving your character the skills to play on your twisted game-board of a story?
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