Why I Hate "Out Of Character"

Why I Hate "Out Of Character"

My soul is burning with the desire to complain about shit so this time we're going to be doing a huge big category for:

Why You Shouldn't Write "Out Of Character"

Here is my philosophy for why I hate when fanfictioners and writers alike write characters out of character

Lack Of Attachment

When I am searching for fanfiction about a character whether or not it's ship-based, adventure, canon compliant, or even canon incompliant, I am searching for that character. Unfortuantely, I am not interested in your original characters because it's basically the equivalent of having a huge party with all your favorite people and then a stranger arrives.

I don't want to hang out with that stranger. It's awkward. So when a favorite character of mine starts acting like a stranger then ~they're just somebody that I used to know~

2. Stereotypical

Oftentimes, when an author consciously makes the choice to change a character it's often made to remove the complexity from a character in order to fit a certain mold. This can be done for a multiple of reasons and with various outcomes:

In Part 1, I talked about woobification and how authors, in an attempt to write their villain characters and angsty bois and gois as sympathetic, often get rid and ignore their horrible flaws and turn them into permanently crying messes I can't stand.

In Part 2, I talked about how male characters are often feminized or masculinized when they are written in a mlm fiction. These characters are either the Sissy archetype or Toxic Masculinity.

This stereotypical lends, at best, oversimplifies a character's complexities in order for them to fit into the narrow constraints of a trope and, at worst, homogenize an entire community of people with an undercurrent of bigotry.

FINAL REASON: Author's Hand

When reading/writing a story the best place for the author to be is in the background making the magic happen while the characters are on stage acting out their lives. The problem with the "Out Of Character" stuff is the fact that it feels like a character has been placed inside a glass box where they must act out their lives. Confined to tropes.

I'm totally fine with people having different character interpretations and character arcs. Those aren't my issue. It's only when these bland stereotypical paperdoll-like stories are the only thing I can read that I start getting snappy.

Bad Writing Advice

If you have ever asked for advice on writting a queer character you have probably gotten the advice

"Just Write A Normal Guy/Gay/Pal"

But what does this mean exactly? Basically, this person is saying to:

Avoid stereotypes

Avoid specializing

HOWEVER, when writers here this advice they actually think:

Avoid any traits that could be considered stereotypical

Never write interesting characters whose sexuality/gender plays a role in their life

That Interpretation™? F#CK THAT

The problem with the Sissy™ stereotype or the Non-Passing Trans Person™ wasn't that they were fundamentally bad but that they were one-dimensional and the only form of representation which was weaponized against minorities.

You can write the most flamboyant and high fem gay man or the butchest lesbian in the world if you give them an interior life!

You can write a highly masculine trans woman or highly feminine trans man if they aren't just one-dimensional transphobic caricatures

Those traits were never the problem and avoiding these specific personality types does a disservice to all the queer individuals who fit these stereotypes! To write a queer character all you need to do is write a well-developed character who has gayness or queerness as apart of their well-rounded personality

As a stiff-faced stoic asexual who loves bread and hates relationships, platonic or otherwise, I am the stereotype.

Writing Advice: Stop With The Worldbuilding Homophobia

Write lgbtqia+ characters that want to be identified by random people as queer!

Write lgbtqia+ characters who don't have angst over their sexuality/romantic orientation/gender identity!

Obviously, if your character is based in pure reality in a homophobic part of the world then they might not do that for safety reasons.

HOWEVER, If you have any sense of fantasy in your book, why is it your first leap to say "this world/part of the world is homophobic".

If all it does is make this one or more character(s) more angsty and fit with your predetermined assumption that all queer characters are in agony of their sexuality then you can throw it away!!!!

There are thousands of queer people in the real world who don't live in constant agony and internalized homophobia. Why do authors willingly ignore this section of the spectrum!?!?!

It's not like all queer people are preuploaded with gay-based trauma!

If homophobia and discrimination is not one of the core themes you are working with then you can throw that cliche agony away and actually do some interesting character-specific angst!

The Key To Writing Good Angst

"I looked in the mirror on my way to school. I looked so ugly. My flowing blonde locks which wrapped around my face always made my feel insecure about my porcelain skin. I guess I just need to suffer with my dull and dry appearance...."

I'll point out the problems with this cliche bit of angst line-by-line to give a full illustration on what seperates interesting internal conflict from boring superficiality!

"I looked so ugly"

Vague. When writing insecure characters and characters that are angsting about something/someone, the trick to isolate the exact pain. What makes a character agonize over this specific event or person above all else? What has caused this turmoil? For CHARACTER A, their insecurity comes from "looking ugly"

But what does that mean really? What about their appearance makes them think that they're ugly? Is it their skin? Their hair? Facial structure? WHAT IS IT? Not only does giving details fill up the pages more, it can add more relatability to your character while also giving the reader a deeper insight into the character's thoughts.

"My flowing blonde locks which wrapped around my face always made my feel insecure about my porcelain skin."

2. Description. When describing a character's insecurity, getting inside their head is the most important! You, as the author, can use diction(word choice) and imagery to demonstrate to the non-seeing audience what exactly the main character sees!

For CHARACTER A, describing their hair as "flowing" immediately gives the hair a beautifully etheral appearance which is further highlighted by the use of "porcelain" and "locks".

In this case you could say that the "The dry and permanently matted nest, which was always proliferated with dead ends, managed to highlight another sore spot for them. Their skin looked eternally lifeless like a corpse buried in the desert. When it combined with their deep-setted eyes contoured by utter darkness from many sleepless nights, they really did look dreadful"

See! Now the reader knows and most likely understands the insecurity CHARACTER A has while not feeling superficial!

THE LAST WORD OF ADVICE: SHOW, DON'T TELL!

It may sound tedious but it's true. If you want your readers to properly internalize how angsty your character is you need to show the negative effects of this internal conflict!

EXTERNAL CONFLICT SHOULD BE A MIRROR FOR INTERNAL CONFLICT

Writing Rant/Advice: Part 2, OOC

It is 8:52 and I am slighly off my rocker again so why not rant? Again. Previously I hated on oversimplifying/changing characters with a specific focus on distilling down a character through TOO MUCH BAD ANGST and unrealistic sympathizing. Now we're on too:

FEMINIZING CHARACTERS:

this section will involve how fanfic writers tend to associate "sympathetic characters" with matriarchal figures. While this isn't necessarily bad, it tends to either go way too far or be mysognistic/homophobic/transphobic.

FIRST INSTANCE: Chicks With Dicks (sorry, that's just the name)

You(aka Me) wanted to read a fic about your favorite mlm queer ships! Maybe you are way too obsessed with fandoms on life support so you ship something like Saiouma or Wrightworth. Maybe you're a bit of a classic so you want Klance. Maybe you're a crack shipper so you conjure up some voodoo and pick 2+ names out of hate.

Either way you go onto AO3 looking for mlm ship content but something seems amiss? Your normally fiesty male lead who wears only shirts and pants now suddenly behaves like the most submissive "man" on the planet who goes by femboy and only wears skirts? Maybe your male character has turned to the holy yet sexy madonna herself for his "alpha macho manly man" who plays with red flags?

I AIN'T TALKING ABOUT TRANS MEN: WE SUPPORT TRANS RIGHTS HERE

NO! The problem is the fact that the bottom in the relationship has been socialized like they're a stereotypical woman from a horrible romance novel or WATTPAD.

Literally!:

Referred to as a "boy/girl" instead of man?: CHECK!

Huge Madonna/Whore Complex?: CHECK!

Sexualized Due To Their Innocence/Virginity?: CHECK!

The Huge Prevalance Of Female-Dombinated Tropes?: CHECK!

Shipped With An Absolute Red-Flagged Macho Man?: CHECK!

You can see what I mean right? Literally the bottom is just if a "female character" changed their pronouns to he/him. Not even the descriptions change! I want to read Character A fall for Character B! Not feminized madonna who maybe has a dick and sorta looks like Character A but shorter and tinier fall into "love" with toxic as f#ck macho man who sorta looks like Character B but taller and stockier.

It's also just shitty because it's obvious these stories aren't meant for queer men to read otherwise the author would know better than to associate men to these heteronormative ideals of gay sexuality which conforms to old school stereotypes of the "Sissy" and markets itself the same way that straight stories are! It also tends to be:

MYSOGYNISTIC: Expect every single woman character to be either relegated to the side and never mentioned or horribly changed into a monsterous obstactle for the relationship.

HOMOPHOBIC: It's pretty homophobic to believe that what makes a queer character a queer character is not their existence but their presentation and actions. Turning queer men into simple caricatures of weak femininity and toxic masculinity is pretty shitty!

TRANSPHOBIC: Oftentimes these high fem characters are made to be trans which kinda sucks due to the association that a trans character must OBVIOUSLY act like their opposite gender! It tends to fetishize trans men in NSFW works :(

Seriously, just tag your stories as original works! I wouldn't have a problem with these stories if they weren't shoved in my face all the time!

Good Writing Advice For Characterization

As someone who has to collect all the personality traits of a character from the various daydreaming things I do, here is some questions I use to help "streamline" the entire process while not losing all of this interesting character!

Question 1: "What is your character's main philosophy expressed in one quote?"

This is helpful for finding the "core" of your character! Once you remove all the cool gimmicks and superficial personality traits, what do you have left?

Here are some of my examples:

"All I Need Is Love"

"I Need To Dissapear"

"I Am A Victim"

"I Am An Observor"

Second Question: "Can You Turn These Contradictory Personality Traits Into Purposeful Aspects Of Someone's Psyche?"

Let's be honest with ourselves. The majority of people are hypocritical and complicated.

Many people are self-absorbed and insecure!

Many people want to stand out from the crowd while also finding belonging within that crowd!

Many people simultaneously love some aspects of themselves and hate some aspects of themselves!

Many people are reckless in some ways and cautious in others!

If you purposefully do this with your characters this can add amazing internal conflict over their hypocrises and conflicting desires, create authentic drama, and add more realism to your characters!

Complexity is the art of meaningful contradiction!