Keeping Characters 'Streamlined'

~ClefJ Jan 11, 2013 Hobbyist Digital Artist

Having a rough challenge in this most recent work of mine. It's never usually been a problem, but if it has for you and you've overcome it, I'd like to hear it.

I'm working with characters who are... More or less 'hardened'. I'm having difficulty keeping them hardened yet still interesting in chapters of low-action. Introspection has helped a tad, but it's also a challenge keeping them from becoming, oh, too dejected. Emotionally unstable, y'know.

Perhaps as equally difficult is writing a female protagonist who's personality reflects Bruce Willis ala Die Hard in a good way. As he was always flung into the action while this character is not.

I suppose what I'm getting at is, would you find this a challenge to keep a character 'in character' with their base personality? Or does it help to shift their moods into unfamiliar territory?

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Devious Comments

~Fafenheir Jan 12, 2013

I write my characters as people first. No one fights all the time. (In fact, in real life, even "hardened" warriors only ever fight a few battles on average. It is a rare soldier that manages to kill five of the enemy and live to tell about it. Forget Legolas vs Gimli style contests to see who can kill however many dozens of enemies.) And note that most famous warriors in history who went above and beyond those numbers (like Musashi, Alexander, etc.) were also intellectuals aside from being warriors or leaders. They enjoyed things that what some today would consider "unmanly", like poetry and theater.

I'm sure you've met some people in real life you would consider very tough, maybe you have a brother that is a marine or works a dangerous job. And I'll bet you see them as people with various tastes and likes. Just because someone is tough and can do what needs to be done doesn't mean they can't be emotionally available or like classical music.

And lastly: not everyone that has been through trauma or danger becomes callous and distant. Some of the most sensitive and pacifistic people I ever met fought in war. My grandfather fought in Korea, and afterward hid his medals away and refused to discuss war with his children or grandchildren, thinking that the world would be a better place if people focused more on hard work and building rather than breaking.

I hope I've helped you a little.

~ClefJ Jan 13, 2013 Hobbyist Digital Artist

Sounds like a good rolemodel, that grandfather. ^^

Yes, a good time, thank you for your insight. A few interesting tangents popped up just now, but you have helped.

Heh, forgot about Alexander. Exceptional warriors are often exceptional people in other fields too, good point there.

~Mr-Timeshadow Jan 11, 2013

The late, great Theodore Sturgeon experimented with stories featuring tough-as-nails characters who still have an internal life. One thing he did was to have them vaguely aware of things they hadn't noticed before. Your choice what that is. In one story, for example, a character's personal evolution starts with the question, "Why's the wet end of a towel darker than the dry one?" He never finds out, but he slowly begins asking such questions more often, until he learns to find the answers as well.
This is only one approach, but I'd suggest the general idea would work for you. Have your character distracted by something small that we tend to overlook, and don't have them was philosophical about it; just notice it. And then another, later. Maybe the things begin to link up without being consciously related. And so on....

~ClefJ Jan 11, 2013 Hobbyist Digital Artist

Hm. Hadn't thought about that. That'd be a great way to get some things rolling in a mystery setting.

Perhaps why tough-as-nails PI's were good for those stories, eh?

~Mr-Timeshadow Jan 11, 2013

Well, I think it was as much momentum in that genre as anything else, but yes: it's a solid, unobtrusive way to evolve the character and the story, as well. I'll be curious to know if the notion works for you, and if so, what you do with it...

~ClefJ Jan 11, 2013 Hobbyist Digital Artist

We'll see. I'm 170 pages into some old POS scifi that I'm trying desperately to revive. XD

~carusmm Jan 12, 2013 Student Writer

Scifi doesn't need characters, it needs people.

P.S. What is POS scifi?

~ClefJ Jan 12, 2013 Hobbyist Digital Artist

Well, it's got people. Hah.

Censored, piece of crap.

~Mr-Timeshadow Jan 11, 2013

A story (novel?) you're writing, I gather? Well, perhaps this is a great opportunity. You aren't emotionally invested in it. You think it's awful. It can do nothing but pleasantly surprise you, at this point...

~ClefJ Jan 11, 2013 Hobbyist Digital Artist

Correct, a novel. Trying to be one anyways. Tis the mindset I keep with most the things I make; I enjoy having a forced modesty about things. XD Always look at the storm dreading rain, forgetting that you Like rain.

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