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| Or perhaps not Too Stupid to Live |
This is the character you want to slap upside the head and shake until they grow a brain.
I've read a few books with this type of character recently. The most frustrating ones are those who are supposed to be smart, yet ignore all the evidence and continue to get themselves into bad situations. Most frustrating is when the book is told from the character's POV, so all the information the reader gets comes through the character, and yet they STILL ignore the facts.
In a book I just finished reading, the MC was in a situation where they needed to resolve an issue or BIG WORLD DESTROYING events would happen. There was a lot of information available to the MC (and therefore the reader), and the MC came to a conclusion (the wrong one) in what would seem like a logical way. They examined the facts and decided on a course of action. The problem was, all the facts they considered important were the ones leading them in the wrong direction. The ones that would have resulted in them making the right choice the MC only noticed in an offhand manner (maybe to create foreshadowing for the reader) and then discarded.
If you want me to believe your MC is a smart, resourceful character, don't make them only pay attention to the information leading to the wrong choice, and discarding the other information, simply to create a disaster. Obviously for the purposes of increasing tension the disaster needs to happen, but when it happens in this way it is too much showing the hand of the author, and I get too damned frustrated with the character to bother reading on to find out what horrible thing is about to happen to them (and which I now think they deserve for being so daft).
Ok... sorry. Rant over.
What pet peeves have you come across recently that have made you want to throw the book, strangle a character, or write a ranting blog post? Do you also get frustrated with supposedly-smart-but-oh-so-dumb characters?
Making MC smart and resourceful doesn't mean, he goes wrong in reading everything. He/She must get almost everything right and go wrong at some turning point which MC will eventually realize all by himself or with help!!
ReplyDeleteLet it go like that!! That is what I would do!!
with warm regards
http://becomingprince.blogspot.com
Oh, this one is right there at the top of the rant list. But with it is first and second novels in series that can't stand by themselves. I feel like so many series books are just stretching a small amount of information just to get the story to cover three books. Maybe we don't need all that long drawn out information. Maybe a three book series would actually be better as two books...or, heaven forbid, just one stand alone awesome tale. Hopefully I never fall into this trap with my writing.
ReplyDeleteOkay, sorry rant over. :)
TSTL characters are a huge pet peeve of mine, too. Also, characters who are supposed to be experts at nuclear physics (or whatever subject) who can't get the answer to the puzzle, while I've known the answer for the last five pages, because I learned it in high school science class.
ReplyDeleteAnother one is bad endings: either one that I can see coming a mile away, or one that just comes flying out of the blue and would have been entirely impossible to guess based on the clues available to the reader.
Haha, no need to apologise! This is a safe rant zone ;) I agree with the three book series that could easily be one book. That can be frustrating. I have read a few three book series that are really just one story that I adore though. But in those cases I prefer to read them once all the books are released. I get very impatient to read the next one!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on too stupid to live. Another one is they are in torment over the same issue, page after page after page after page, and never think of anything else. Or the convenience plot - all of a sudden there's a badger in the road. What? Can happen in real life, but not fiction. Funny how that happens. Or there's a gun in the scene and the characters behave as if it's not there. Then why have it? Aaaa. Or the whole kingdom knows the character's husband is a cheating cad, but the heroine. She never even suspects. yet she doesn't live under a rock.
ReplyDeleteShayne, so true. It really detracts from their so-called intelligence. In a sort of similar situation, do you remember the show Prison Break? My partner is a civil engineer and when we were at uni he and his engineering friends used to laugh at the characters' attempts to talk about engineering type things. To the average watcher it actually sounded quite technical, but apparently they were just stringing engineering words together that made no sense!
ReplyDeleteHaha, Mpax, I love this "...all of a sudden there's a badger in the road. What?" Made me laugh. These are definitely some peevish scenarios!
ReplyDeleteWhat makes me mad is when they run headlong into an obvious trap to save someone that may or may not be there. I mean STUPID! Okay, some people can craft that scene to the story, but others shouldn't even try.
ReplyDeleteThanks Brooke! Yep, that's the epitome of the TSTO character :S
ReplyDeleteI agree, Nata. Especially if it's written in first person POV. If it's obvious to the reader when they're getting all the same info as the MC, then it should also be obvious to the MC.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree. It's kind of like that person in the movies who always goes toward the noise.
ReplyDeleteI've also given you an award. ^^ http://brookerbusse.blogspot.com/2011/03/madeline-alberta-are-lovely-and-so-am-i.html I think you're lovely.
Thanks Carrie :). Rants are great sometimes aren't they? Yea that's a sure sign of poor and unrealistic character development.
ReplyDeleteNice rant! I have read a few books lately where the MC is first described as very timid but then out of nowhere starts doing very dangerous things when there are LIKE 50 SAFER AND SMARTER OPTIONS!
ReplyDeleteYes! That's another of my pet peeves! So frustrating... I just finished reading a series where the characters were so in love and were ripped apart for real reasons. It was so heart wrenching and I was trying not to cry. In the situation you described I would be irritated rather than devastated. Probably not the effect the writer would be going for.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely, Kari Marie. Other, far more realistic and satisfying ways.
ReplyDeleteI agree, Shari. The TSTL people link to that for me. If the character annoys me so much from their stupidity, I start thinking they deserve all the bad things that happened to them, and yea, I no longer care.
ReplyDeleteI agree. I also can't stand the formulaic romances in which the heroine/hero have really stupid misunderstandings about each other's feelings, thus dragging out the getting together for inane reasons, rather than something substantial.
ReplyDeleteDo I have to pick just one? Okay, other than the stupid people one you mentioned, it's when I don't care enough about the characters to care about what happens to them.
ReplyDeleteOh yeah. I've come across a few of these and it is so aggravating. There are other ways to complicate a plot.
ReplyDeleteI still cannot BELIEVE the stupidity of the person who decided to put staples through condoms!
ReplyDeleteJust one? LOL Other than stupid people, I have a hard time with characters that are just...there. Like don't really have a personality and I'm supposed to care about them. I just read a book like this and even though I finished it, I can honestly say I was not a fan of the main character just because he was boring. And he did some pretty stupid things.
ReplyDeleteI also have a problem with love triangles sometimes. Especially when the girl goes through the whole first book in the series trying to decide between two guys. Then makes a choice at the end. But lo and behold, in the second book, she changes her mind and is pining over the other guy again. SO ANNOYING!! After all the inner turmoil about choosing the right one, and the happy couple finally getting together, she is still indecisive! Drives me crazy. Okay. Rant over. :)
Lol, Rachel! Nor can I O.O I just hope no one was stupid enough to use them!
ReplyDeleteEverything in this Post reminds me why I ALWAYS hated Harry Potter. HATED Him. i read HP for the surrounding characters and the world beacuse I could not stand him. gah! he is soooo stupid!
ReplyDelete