EXAMPLE:
Amy was a passionate photographer who enjoyed walks in nature and had a conflict with her mother because of their different religious beliefs.
But then, Amy met Pad. And after Pad entered her life, Amy’s existence focused solemnly on Pad. No more photography, no more nature, no more mentions of her mother nor of her religion.
She's now in love with Pad, and very soon that will be the only thing you'll be able to say about her.
Her identity collapsed and focused on another character, turning her from meaningful to a one-dimensional character.
Breaking down what probably happened in the scenario:
Amy was a well created character - she had her hobbies, but also some personal struggles. She was realistic.
But the writer didn't stay true to their own creation. They abandoned the original concept and focused on Pad to the point where Amy, once important, got neglected.
Amy's character is now empty and lacks its humanity. She's submissive to Pad.
Perhaps the writer didn't have a plan for Amy's growth or didn't look in the future at all. Perhaps the very plot was more empty than filled out.
What does it cause for the story?
Amy's character doesn't grow, quite the opposite, making her unlikable and perhaps even despicable
Questions about Amy's role in the story arise: why is she even there? Why were we introduced to her? Why was she important before but isn't now?
The reader is frustrated since a character stopped existing in a way that was working before
The writer ignores Amy’s potential and the story's overall quality drops.
Of course, there's an exception where the explained change isn't a faux-pass, and that is in a case it was all planned out from the beginning, and Amy's degradation makes sense and points out to some real life issues, such as controlling relationships.
But in that case the change was a part of the original plan. What we were discussing in this post was a case where the writer's poor skills caused a character to flop.
The described scenario was quite an extreme one. Of course, the same mechanism can happen without being that drastic. For example a side character gets a new job and now everything about the character is about the job. Whenever they appear in a scene we know what it's gonna be about - and who wants to read such a predictable story?
How to write the Amy X Pad situation better?
- make Pad influence Amy; show the impact he has and explain why that is
- remember who Amy was without Pad and keep writing HER
- have a plan set - where are the characters going, why, how, when
- give Pad a personality and life, explain why he influences Amy so much
- if the influence is remarkable, make Amy or her surroundings react to it
For the ending, as we're already in the topic, you can check out those tropes including the identify loss:
“quest for identity”
“identity breakdown”
“empty shell”
“lost in character”
(check at tvtropes.org)
…wait, what ARE the tropes?
TROPE = a significant or recurrent theme; a motif
tvtropes.com holds a great collection of all kinds of tropes for any kind of story. You can check it out for some inspo!
Comments
Post a Comment