Dark Heroes and Why We Like Them

Everybody loves an anti-hero these days. Whether it's the massively successful Deadpool or the growling, scowling Wolverine, heroes that kinda aren't are huge.

But why?

Perhaps it's the frustration with the rules and laws that so many people see in their lives.

People get busted due to technicalities while others walk free due to loopholes. Laws that are unfair or unjust may be passed, or fair laws may be reinterpreted in ways that no one anticipated. Whatever it is, there is an undeniable growth in people's anger and fear about the Law of the Land and how it is enforced. Even if you don't agree with that assessment.

We've all had something unfair or unjust happen to us. We each have had that one person who used the rules to hurt us or someone we cared about. We've all had our Umbridge to deal with. We all know what it's like to want to get revenge on someone who was only technically right.

Perhaps it's the freedom that the vigilante style promises. The Merc with the Mouth can say pretty much anything he wants to, and consequences are temporary at best. How awesome would that be? We spend a lot of time thinking about how what we say will affect us, usually through how it makes other people feel. Whether we agree with such consideration or not, it can be stressful.

Perhaps we want to be able to dispense justice where none is available. The Punisher was able to give "untouchable" criminals what they deserved. Of course, that was by his determination. If more people did that kind of thing, they'd likely start hunting each other down. Which might be amusing...

Perhaps we are just sick and tired of having to process so much, care so much, invest so much with so little return. Maybe we would rather not give a damn, like so many anti-heroes do in their own lives. Maybe we want something so sweet and pure that it makes us want to care again, like so many anti-heroes encounter.

The point is, we live in a world with a lot more gray than black and white, perhaps more than ever before, or perhaps that's just the perception we have. Who knows?

Either way, we have a very dark and nihilistic view of the world, right now, as a society. Our heroes and protagonists are reflective of that, and we want our heroes and protagonists to reflect some secret, closely-held part of ourselves.

Stereotypes are Not Character Creation

I participate in a lot of writing groups - support groups, networking groups, etc. It's part of the life of an author. Many of these groups talk about the writing process, which is always an interesting insight into how others approach writing.

One thing that I've noticed recently is a string of questions about characterizations. These questions are many and varied, but generally come down to this: "I'm writing a character that is gendered/racial/LBGT. What do you think about the character being XYZ stereotype?" Except they don't admit that what they are asking about is a stereotype.

Too vague? Well, some of them have been about how "hard" it is for men to write women and for women to write men. Why? Because men writers have to be careful not to masculinize women, and women writers have to be careful not to feminize men.

I ask for clarification, cuz I'm just begging the querier (shut up, spellcheck, it IS a word - the google says so) to take back the -ism. I've gotten responses like "women aren't as aggressive as men in the way they think", or "men don't look at the directions when putting things together".

These are stereotypes, my friend. And they make for bad writing.

I'm sure some of you are thinking I'm being pretty harsh. After all, we all know those guys who try to put together IKEA furniture without the paperwork, or the woman who backs down from a kitten. Yeah, I know those people, too.

So?

Those are individuals, with individual quirks. One of these stereotypes isn't going to break your character, but when you have a guy who never "thinks or acts feminine"... well, I don't even know what that means, first of all. Secondly... never? Never ever? Never has a single thought like "damn, that's a fine looking furniture set!"? Nada?

Characters like that are, quite frankly, one-dimensional and boring. It's a boxed-cake method of character creation, and the reader can tell. The really sad thing about it is that it is so easy to fix those characters!

The truth is, people are people... are people. To make awesome characters, think about the people you know. Think about the things they do, what you know about their emotions and thoughts. Use that.

Make a cheerleader character. Make her blonde and petite and pretty. Make her not very into school. Maybe she's a little boy-crazy. Then give her a twist - she's a super-powered chosen one who is destined to save the world from vampires and demons with her strength, speed and high-kicking ability. (Yeah, you know who I'm talking about - but there's a reason that character works.)

Using a stereotype and standing it on it's head in some way gets people interested. People do embody stereotypes to a small degree, but there's always something deeper. People are nuanced, characters should be nuanced, too.

I have two LBGT characters in Too Wyrd. The truth is, I didn't create them to BE LGBT characters... they just were. In other words, they are not **GAY CHARACTERS**. They are characters who, as their nature/personality/characterization came to my awareness, were gay.

I'm currently working on a character who is black and from New Orleans. I knew she was Southern, but it wasn't until I started thinking about her appearance and personality did I realize that she's black and Cajun - and ends up pulling Nicola out a a pretty tough situation.

These characters are not their characteristics. They are not stereotypes of these characteristics. They are just people facing issues - sometimes those issues are about discrimination, which lends even more nuance to the characters. It's a fascinating exploration of humanity to find all the ways that people can just BE people.

So don't spoil the people by making them a stereotype. If they have a stereotypical characteristic, have a reason for them having that characteristic. Make it a part of THAT CHARACTER.

Nicola's Interview on The Protagonist Speaks

Nicola got her own interview - talk about meta!

My thanks to author and blogger, Assaph Mehr, for hosting these interviews on his blog, The Protagonist Speaks.

Nicola Crandall (of Too Wyrd by Sarah Buhrman)

Dear readers, tonight with me is a simple woman, living a quiet life – a single mother, a herbalist, and a heathen witch. When she discovered her step-sister disappeared after joining a cult, she went after her – and was not quite prepared for what she found out.

She is here to tell us of her adventures, and all the things she found out becoming an accidental hero. 

Character Backgrounds

How I see Joseph Andress

I love knowing so much about characters, and I know my own characters the best! But, sometimes, I don't know what I know about the characters until A) someone asks me, or B) I push myself to write some background.

I did some character backgrounds during the Too Wyrd Book Release party on Facebook. It was a lot of fun, and I got to bring out some details that had been rattling around in my head - useless to the plot of the book, but fascinating, otherwise.

One of the characters who came out with something... surprising was that of Joseph. I had known that he wasn't really looking for someone to love, but I never really considered why until I was writing this character background.

The details are wrong for Hound Dog,
but the feel of this image is perfect.

Other character backgrounds that were wonderfully insightful were those of Hound Dog and Detective Ames.

It's always quite satisfying when writing something about a character, even something so simple and quick, can make the author cry.

That's right, I was crying.

Apparently, it made others tear up a bit, too.

Check out the character backgrounds and much more on my website, authorgoddess.com