Monday, July 26, 2010

How to Write a Cardboard Character

If I lived in a one dimensional world with my one dimensional mind, I’d want to know how to create a one dimensional character. It would be a terrible thing if my readers should ever care about my characters. To avoid this embarrassing eventuality, I’ve written a guide to help the imaginative writer to improve their unimagination.

1. Don’t give your characters any goals to strive towards or any lessons to learn. Make sure your characters are the same at the end of your novel as they were at the beginning. The single dimension can’t pull off anything as engaging as – shudder – growth.

2. Stick to clichés like glue. We all know that builders, truck drivers and miners are burly men, so if your character is any of these, then he must also be burly. We all know librarians wear glasses, so why give your librarian character good eyesight? Your main character has to be beautiful and she must be good at everything. Don’t rock the boat in the one dimensional world. No one likes surprises there.

3. Avoid motivations. Who cares what may have caused your characters to react a certain way. No explanation needed.

4. Only write as much about the character as is required by the plot. Make sure they are only driven by the story you want to tell. Don’t waste the reader’s time with internal conflicts. Don’t try to add any extra dimensions. One dimension means one and one only.

5. Don’t smudge the borders of good and evil. Make evil characters evil and good characters good. If your character wears the proverbial black hat then he must not show any goodness in him. Let’s not confuse the readers.

What are some of the mistakes you might make while trying to create a cardboard character?

18 comments:

Jemi Fraser said...

Great post! We'd have to make sure they showed absolutely no growth through the novel - they can't learn a darn thing :)

vic caswell said...

be sure to have super sharp scissors because cardboard is really hard to cut???

really, great post! (copied onto a post-it; stuck on my desk)

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

Jemi, learning is fail :P

Aspiring, lol. Glad you liked. I did have fun with this post.

Charmaine Clancy said...

And let them just linger around and not actually take part in the narrative (had a father of a character in my story always 'just there' without any real input, he started to look creepy). :-)

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

haha Charmaine..actually that sounds too interesting for one dimension :P

Helen Ginger said...

Make sure you tie up every single loose end by the end of the book. One-dimensional characters only live in one book, so their lives must be tied in a pretty bow by the end so readers don't worry about them or want to read another installment.

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

lol, for sure, Helen! Nice one :)

M Pax said...

Did you make the cutouts yourself? That takes talent I don't have. :D

Oh, make the character have the same reaction always - nodding, shrugging, etc ...

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

M Pax - yes, I did :) And yes, I had to chuckle at your great suggestion. My current WIP has everyone scowling. Every time I write I think, rawr. Then I shrug and tell myself, meh, it's only the first draft. Gotta keep writing...

Terri Tiffany said...

Oh I love the flip of this! Awesome! I am trying really hard to make my characters full of life!

Sharon K. Mayhew said...

LOL...You might really enjoy Dan Bergstein at Spark Notes...He writes great character development suggestions,too. :)

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

Thanks, Sharon, for the suggestion :)

D.M. SOLIS said...

Dear Lynda,

This is so very fine indeed! May I add your blog to my "Duct Tape and Razor Blades for Writers" blogroll? It's a practical writing tips section. Either way, peace and continued good things for you in writing and in life. Sincerely,

Diane

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

Hi, Diane. Yes, for sure. I feel honoured :)

D.M. SOLIS said...

Great! I'll post it directly. Again, thank you, peace and a wonderful weekend.

Diane

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Anonymous said...

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