Jun 15 2009
Please do not make your characters generically nice
I'm a former assistant editor with advice about how to write novels, comic books and graphic novels. Most of my content applies to fiction-writing in general, but I also provide articles specifically about superhero stories.
Generic niceness is a dangerous trait to give a character– particularly the protagonist. First, it’s not very interesting if the character is always agreeable and only does things that the audience is meant to sympathize with. That reduces the potential for conflict. In practice, a character that’s 100% nice is usually boring and/or a Mary Sue.
Here are some traits that suggest that the character probably has issues with generic niceness.
- Polite
- Compassionate
- Agreeable
- Kind
- Personable
- Friendly
- Social
- Helpful
If your protagonist has traits like these, I’d recommend taking them in a direction that they might be potentially problematic. For example, a social character might be so social that he tries to negotiate even when the audience knows that action is necessary. A character that is too polite might be stiff or nervous about speaking his mind. A character that is too helpful might try to help even when it’s unwise for him to do so.
Of course, you can have characters with these traits, as long as they have other , less generically nice traits, such as selfish, lazy, immature, stuck-up etc. etc.
Right?
Yeah. I’d recommend having the flaws take center-stage, though… they’re more interesting. Also, in some cases, generic niceness might be necessary. For example, if the hero is retarded or otherwise significantly off, he HAS to be friendly (ideally outgoing) because socializing is pretty much the only way to make him likable. To some extent, that’s true for most characters that are very, very unrelatable.
What if their whole race is like that? Polite? And helpful in some cases to certain people … but like they were all brought up that way?
Well, they have tempers but they’re also very cultured so they hide it that way …
So what’s the avenue for conflict? One thing you might consider is that they’re often very helpful, but are predisposed negatively towards the hero(es) for whatever reason. Preferably because of something he did (rather than something beyond his control).
hmmm … I guess. I’ll have to figure that one out–what he could have done, I mean. The realm already dislikes his kind in general; and that’s because of humans influence. They dislike other races as well but humans really hate his kind; the wolves, and dragons … those types.
Maybe because of his temper he got in trouble … ? But they also try to stay away from his kind because they know what he does; just like what the dragons will do.
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What if their whole race is like that? Polite? And helpful in some cases to certain people … but like they were all brought up that way?
Well, they have tempers but they’re also very cultured so they hide it that way …
>>
There is a cost to everything. If they’re perfectly polite like Vulcans are perfectly in control of their emotions, then they should quite literally die smiling over matters of etiquette. (Vulcans might be a bad example because in practice Vulcans are perfectly in control of emotions until the storyline requires them to lose it in a we-totally-did-not-see-that-coming fashion, but that is neither here nor there.)
Perfectly Polite + Volatile Temper + Rigid Culture Controls Temper = recipe for a warrior caste society that will gut you like a fish if you touch their topknot. See, e.g., contemporary representations of feudal Europe or feudal Japan. (If their rigid culture controls their volatile temper 100% of the time, *they do not have a volatile temper*.)
If they’re inhumanly polite, then politeness should occasionally require them to do things that are recognizably inhuman. Otherwise they’re just Better than Human, which is a trope that I think has been mentioned negatively a few times here before.
“If they’re inhumanly polite, then politeness should occasionally require them to do things that are recognizably inhuman.” I like that. Also, if the characters are protagonists, it should also require them to do things that make their lives more difficult/dangerous. For example, if the villain has invited them to dinner, it would be terribly uncouth to say no. Incidentally, it is also very hard to say no IN JAPAN!
… they’re very polite/stand-off-ish/emotionless, to be true, but it’s all to keep a curb on their tempers and try to make themselves more likeable (since most don’t like them at all except for the dragons and faeries). Which doesn’t always work; which doesn’t help them much.
I have somewhat of a cost, now, but not much–they do almost literally smother themselves because they bend over backward to be polite (and they don’t use contractions, ever) and be in control. Which does cause some to actually leave their Veimpr village and their politeness/emotionlessness actually does the opposite and pushes people away more because who wants to be friends with someone who never laughs, grins, rarely gives the hint of a smile, and is constantly polite? Not very exciting, except the rare occasion they may lose their temper because other equals badger them to death and they can’t take it anymore.
It is quite a pickle, though.