Stereotypical

[silver_dreams]

I've noticed something lately in a lot of fanfiction I've read: the characters have no depth. I know it isn't that easy to make a made-up character seem believable, but they aren't THAT shallow, people.

[b]Section 1- Predictable, forever-unchanging personality[/b]

Like I said before, there are way too many fics in which the characters have no depth. This may not apply as much to people using original characters, since their personalities and suchlike are decided by the author, but more to people writing anime fanfiction, such as myself.

Allow me to use InuYasha fanfiction as an example, since it's a widely-known anime.

In most all of the InuYasha fanfictions Ive read, the characters always behave superficially. Inuyasha is always angry and stubborn, Kagome is always pathetic and clingy, Miroku is always nothing but perverted, Sango is always stand-offish towards Miroku, Shippo is always 'KAWAIIIIIIIIII' and funny, Sesshomaru is always cold and uncaring...etc. etc. This is fine if you were perhaps writing a parody in which the whole point is to make fun of the characters, but in a more serious fiction, it's just stupid.


[b]Section 2- Why is it stupid?[/b]

Since I don't want to be just talking without any support to my claims, allow me to give an example. An InuYasha deathfic I read recently is a perfect model for what I am trying to say.

[i]"INUYASHA!!!!!!!" Kagome said. Crying. Inuyasha fell down to the floor, bleeding. A big cut on his stomach was bleeding. The monster that killed him laughed, then was sucked into the wind tunnel-thingy by Miroku. Kagome ran to Inuyasha, crying. Sango slapped Miroku for trying to touch her butt.[/i]

This isn't the exact quote, but something very close to it.

Can you see all the things wrong there? Lets deal with their reactions to stay on topic:

Kagome cries and runs over to Inuyasha. Notice that there is only one prominent emotion there: sadness. No grief, regret, anger towards whatever killed him? If you were in Kagome's place (with the same attitude towards Inuyasha as her), wouldn't you be even the least bit angry at whatever killed him?

Sango and Miroku are also being very typical; Miroku being a pervert and Sango being stand-offish. They may not be often portrayed as much other than what one can see from a moment's glance at the manga or the anime, but they would feel the same emotions as Kagome, wouldn't they?

The characters have more than one side, they're more complex than just 'stupid' or 'clingy' or 'perverted' or 'mean'. Even though they're simply fiction, they have humanistic qualities too. If you don't include those things, they won't seem believable.


[b]Section 3- Superhuman[/b]

Another thing Ive noticed is that no matter what, the characters never seem to have any faults. Like previously stated; they may not be real, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't be realistic!

Same thing goes with the characters ability to be injured or die: just because you loooooove the character and you would [i]never[/i] want any harm to come with them doesn't mean they can't get hurt.


[b]Section 4- Making a character seem more human[/b]

Even the smallest things can make the characters seem more human, more real; give the character a fault, an obsession, perhaps a dark kinky secret. Make the character imperfect, even in the least bit.

Let the character make a mistake and get hurt, let them get killed; the point of fanfiction is to be able to play around with the characters, to be able to put them into all kinds of wild situations that would never happen in the anime/manga. Don't be afraid to give a character a fetish for guys with one eye, or an obsession with post-it notes, or an extreme love for cupcakes with steak sauce. It only makes them seem more human.

[b]Section 5- Man overboard![/b]

You should try and make the characters seem human, but that doesn't mean you should give them so many odd faults and suchlike that they don't even seem themselves. There's a delicate balance between having unrealistic characters, and having them become OOC (Out Of Character). Kagome having a secret shrine to Inuyasha in her closet is believable; Kagome kidnapping Inuyasha and holding him captive in her closet is not.

[b]Section 6- Voice[/b]

A character's point of view and the way they talk and think can be very unique and quite different from what is normally seen in fanfiction. If the character speaks in a sophisticated tone, their thoughts won't be any different. You wouldn't be able to believe Sesshomaru thinking 'OMG!', now would you?

Let's use Sesshomaru as an example again. From the way he acts and speaks, his thoughts would most likely use a lot of advanced words and phrases. But then we run into that problem of being typical again. Like previously stated: don't be afraid add in a few obsessions and suchlike, as long as you don't take it too far. Sesshomaru secretly thinking of Rin as a daughter is believable; wanting to f**k her is not.

[b]Section 7- Conclusion[/b]

For those of you who were too lazy to actually read all of that, allow me to sum it up for you:

[i]Don't be afraid to give a character faults, obsessions, dark secrets, fetishes, etc, but don't make them seem out of character. A good character would be one that is believable, but not to that dreaded point of no return called OOC-ness.[/i]


Thank you to all that took the time to read this rambling, and hopefully it somewhat helped.

[LadyoftheDeadlyDance]

It was very good, helpful too, seeing as it's pretty easy for an author (myself included) to slip into cliches.

Perhaps you could make another post on fleshing out original characters too!

[silver_dreams]

maybe i will, one of these days..