Re: The Generic Heroine

In message <87bqcedt55.fsf@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Elf M. Sternberg <elf@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes

My concern, though, is that Caprice is boring. She has so much go for
her: her undying loyalty to Humanity-- a nebulous term that will get
her into trouble again and again throughout the series-- her tragic
past, her secret (even from her) origins, her current troubling
assignment. And yet so far she's not very deep. I need to get deeper
into her head. And it's funny; I have no trouble synching up with
competent characters, but I don't have enough of Caprice yet.

I could joke and say that she's an Asimov character tried and true--
all surface, no depth, a puzzlebox mechanism playing out her role. But
that wouldn't be fair. I want the reader to empathize with her even as
we disagree with her initial motives and attitudes. I just don't want
her to be generic, y'know?


I had this problem with one of my characters. Whatever I did to him he just came out as 'nice' and 'good' and both of those tend to equate with 'boring'. I tried messing with him but he didn't want to be messed with and in the end I settled for other characters around him being not-nice.

But I tried to make his very niceness cause him problems. In the end the absolute loyalty he had to one character caused him to be uncharacteristically (but believably, I think) not-nice to another.

How can you give Caprice hidden - or not so hidden - depths? Find things which irritate her, or things that she's scared of. (Y'know, like Indiana Jones and snakes.) What are her passions (besides her undying loyalty to Humanity)? Can you give her something to care about that's on a more human scale? Maybe after she's saved the world she has to go home to care for her sick kitten. That may be stupid, but you get the idea. Add some layers that maybe don't move the plot forward (though they might be persuaded to, which would be ideal) but at least they add depth to the character.

The tragic past sounds interesting. Has it left her with any permanent foibles? Maybe she lost someone to the ocean, so she's scared of water. That's not a serious suggestion, but you know what I mean. How can you use that tragic past to give her failings that will make her interesting?

Hope this helps.

Jacey
--
Jacey Bedford
jacey at artisan hyphen harmony dot com
posting via usenet and not googlegroups, ourdebate
or any other forum that reprints usenet posts as
though they were the forum's own

.

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