Common or annoying characterization mistakes
POSTED BY: jetflair
UPDATED: Friday, October 19, 2007 12:13
VIEWED: 28421
PAGE 1 of 9
This was inspired by the grammar thread, although unfortunately it's not nearly so easy to pinpoint characterization mistakes. To me, nothing spoils the feeling of an otherwise well-written fic than "off" characterization.
Here are a few of the common things that tend to bug me; perhaps others could list some things to avoid as well?
MAL: The two most common issues I see with him is that people tend to write his extremes; he's a complex and sometimes unpredictable character, and that can be hard to get right. I tend to see overly sweet, noble, cuddly and considerate Mals, or Mals that are brutal and mean and cold, often just for the sake of being that way.
Mal is neither. He's a complex blend of qualities that is admitttedly very difficult to get right. When all else fails, remember that Mal is a very human character.
SIMON: I hate seeing Simon written as either a towering whimp or an emotionless robot. He's an understated character, but a brave, intelligent, and expressive one too.
"Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down, tells you when she's hurting 'fore she keens. Makes her a home." .......We love you, captain.
"This is the captain. We may experience some slight turbulence and then.....explode"
www.serenityverse.com - Zoe necklace replicas, Serenity dogtags, jewelry, image gallery w/ custom DVD covers, other goodies!
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
And making River talk about herself in the third person all the time.
(I have to wonder if River could ever have been the engaging, fascinating character she is without Summer. I doubt it.)
___________________________________________________
High Priestess of Pork and Ag-Related Activities of the MYTHICAL LAND OF IOWA
Click on my profile for my Annoyingly Long List of Firefly Links.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Overdoing Kaylee's 'hick-speak'. I've seen it really exagerated in a lot of fics. A LOT of fics, and it always bothered me. Her slang wasn't much more pronounced than the rest of them. I also think most people don't write enough about her relationship with the ship, making it seem like she's just always thinking about boys. That bothers me.
Many people complain about River talking about herself in the third person, but I haven't seen that as much, I guess. It would definitely annoy me. Remember folks, River is a genius. And dangerous. And sometimes a little crazy.
Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship. - Gautama Siddharta
NOTIFY: N | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Jayne the gentle giant. Sure, there were a couple of times in the show and the movie when he expressed true concern for another member of the crew; but by and large, Jayne cares about very little besides himself and his money. And Vera. So it kinda makes me shake my head when I read a long scene - or a long succession of short scenes - where Jayne is being Mr. Nice Guy, looks like he's on the verge of sitting on the bed next to distraught Kaylee, hugging her and rocking her to sleep. (Yes, I know you Jaylee fans go bibbledy over scenes like that, but that's just me. 
) I just can't see that kind of behaviour from Jayne; frankly, nor can I see him falling in love with anyone or anything besides a boatload of cold, hard cash.
Oh, and I don't much care either for River constantly talking on herself in the third person. Being that she only did it twice on the show, it gets pretty old after the fourth or fifth line of dialogue. 
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
MAL: The two most common issues I see with him is that people tend to write his extremes; he's a complex and sometimes unpredictable character, and that can be hard to get right. I tend to see overly sweet, noble, cuddly and considerate Mals, or Mals that are brutal and mean and cold, often just for the sake of being that way.
Mal is neither. He's a complex blend of qualities that is admitttedly very difficult to get right. When all else fails, remember that Mal is a very human character.
I'm loving exploring Mal in my writing! He is incredibly complex, and trying to get him right is a great challenge!
*************************************************
The 3 rules of aging:
1. Never bypass a bathroom
2. Never waste an erection
3. Never trust a fart
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
For me, it's giggly Kaylee. Can't take it. She may be innocent and cute, but I don't recall her ever giggling in the series. She's not a teenager - she's a grown woman for criminy sake! She's also fairly tough - ie. calmly eating an apple while the Captain's being tortured to death and Zoe and Wash are preparing to go get themselves killed. Also, not freaking out when her crush Simon got left behind in Safe.
Kaylee's a cool customer folks. She won't fall into hysterics near so often as she does in fics.
BTW, I was making this error myself until a beta reader (LeeH) pointed it out to me. I'm much happier writing a cute and naive but grown-up Kaylee. She's more believable and interesting, IMHO!
-----------------------------------------------
I'm the president. I don't need to listen.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Mal4Prez pointed the Kaylee thing out to me and I had to agree with her! It's a subtle change, especially in my writing, but it makes a world of difference. Thanks mucho babe!
For me, the biggest thing is making Jayne a cute, adorable, soft little teddy bear. He's not. He cares about himself, his money, and Vera... and his whores, of course.
That's not to say he doesn't care about other things, but so many writers overdo how much the man cares about the things/people around him and completely ruin his characterization by doing so.
"A government is a body of people usually notably ungoverned."
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
For me it's when the balance in a relationship is lost.
River may have teased Simon about being a boob and said that he "takes so much lookiong after", but there are just as many moments where she honestly adores him. In "Safe" and when he tells his stupid little story in "Out Of Gas" and such... People often over-emphasize her teasing into being patronizing.
Similarly, Simon is often robbed of a lot of complexity. He's written as the clumsy nerd or a cardboard prince charming for Kaylee, but that ignores his very strategic mind and keenly intelligent dry sarcasm. Not to mention, he may be noble, but he also has some very justified misgivings about his current life. There is ooften too little valid conflict.
Also, before Zoe would ever approach Inara about her relationship with Mal, she would approach Mal. It's the respectful, adult thing to do between friends and professionals. And Zoe is all about integrity. Fics with Zoe teling Inara about how mean she is to poor Mal... there are just too many of those.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
My pet peeve is folks not knowing what to do with Book, so they just kinda forget he's on board at all.
Book often operates in the show not only as the group's conscience, but he's a great tactician. Use it people! But also remember...he's not perfect. He'll make morallly borderline decisions. He's afraid of a death he can't fight. More on this in the Spoiler Zone.
Select to view spoiler:
Okay, was. Did ya notice he wasn't afraid when he actually was dying in the BDM where he'd actually been able to fight back, unlike in OoG where'd he'd been very frightened of dying by asphyxiation?
Just remember, all the characters are suppose to be human. They're all going to have off days (sometimes all at once) they get crabby at folks in retaliation for being annoyed with someone else, they'll say the wrong thing at the wrong time and have blind spots about some subjects.
******
RMMC
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
This thread is making me think, a lot! That's a good thing.
I have a problem with many Book charaterizations. Okay, we know he has a myterious and quite probably violent past, and a fic deliberately exploring that could be an intersting read. But on the show, and in fanfic attemting to stay true to the characters, Book is a gentle, sincere man of God. Remember his confession to Inara in the first ep? Or in the comics, his increasing involvement in violence being his reason for leaving the ship? When Book is violent, it should be startling, a "Huh" moment. I've seen a few too many fics read something like this:
"Hey, where's Book?"
"Book? Oh, he's off in the other room torturing some guy."
"Oh, okay. Cool."
NOT!
"Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down, tells you when she's hurting 'fore she keens. Makes her a home." .......We love you, captain.
"This is the captain. We may experience some slight turbulence and then.....explode"
www.serenityverse.com - Zoe necklace replicas, Serenity dogtags, jewelry, image gallery w/ custom DVD covers, other goodies!
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME