Hello, writers. Lately I’ve been noticing how many characters—particularly secondary characters—seem to be based on stereotypes. This comes up a lot in the work of unpublished writers (I’m not talking about anyone here, btw) and, really, pretty often in the work of published writers as well.
In fact, the shelves of bookstores and libraries seem to be populated with helpless maidens, dialect-speaking Jews, Italian-Americans with ties to organized crime, limp-wristed gay men, and Asians and African-Americans whose speech has to be spelled out phonetically, even though the words of the white characters are apparently pronounced exactly as they appear in the dictionary.
Weirdly, this often seems to be done in the name of Diversity.
And I’m talking about books published recently. You’d think writers who want to stereotype would at least pick 21st century stereotypes. These characters from Central Casting appear to be based on prejudices that were current back when the average immigrant was European-born and the average woman was Archie Andrews’ mom.
So, what can you do instead? Subvert the stereotype. One way to do this is to have the character appear to act in stereotypical ways but just be faking it because s/he thinks it’s expected. This is hard to get away with (unless you’re famous).
Another is to simply hire the character from Central Casting but give him or her unexpected characteristics. Some of these quirks are so common that they’ve become cliches in themselves: The hired thug with a passionate interest in French Impressionism, the fair damsel who kicks ass, the little old lady who packs more heat than the entire LAPD. That’s okay. They can still be fun to write.
Tonight’s challenge:
A callow youth (the Chosen One, natch) is seeking the Jewel of Togwogmagog. He’s been told he can get some information about where the Jewel is hidden from one of the following characters from Central Casting:
1. A hooker with a heart of gold.
2. A little old lady given to making cryptic predictions.
3. An old family servant, not-too-bright but very loyal.
4. Insert your least favorite stereotype here.
Write a scene in which the Callow Youth asks the Character from Central Casting (or CCC) to tell him/her how to find the Jewel. But subvert the stereotype. Make the CCC a bit different from what the reader expects.
Or add in a quirk that’s more quirky than the usual quirk.
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