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- Looking for partners
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- One post per day
- 1-3 posts per week
- One post per week
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- Intermediate
- Adept
- Advanced
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- No Preferences
- Genres
- Urban Fantasy, High Fantasy, Epic Quest, Sci-Fi, Time Travel and World Hopping, Steampunk, Action/Adventure, Modern Drama, Mystery, Slice of Life, Romance, and many more.
Let's talk Chase for a sec
(Yes, Mini has been binging House again.)
But seriously, can we talk about this guy?
He's the most successful surgeon in his hospital. He's confident, well-paid, talented, and let's be honest, pretty damn gorgeous. He's able to bang basically any woman he sets his sights on, but has had real, meaningful relationships as well. Oh, and he has a hot accent.
On paper, he sounds like a total gary stu, but he isn't.
Many are quick to cry "Sue"/"Stu" when they encounter a character as fortunate as Chase, but as the writers of House, M.D. prove, you can have a character who has it all (or seems to) without them falling to the dark side of characterization.
Usually, when we are looking to avoid or counter-act sue-dom, we pile on flaws. Working with the above, we might say "Okay, so he's a rich, talented, Australian-British doctor with a mug that could make Captain Kirk see ranibows, but he's a terrible cook and is terrified of wasps." And sure, that would help a bit, but there are faults and then there are faults, and some work better than others at relieving sue-dom.
Faults like being bad at cooking or terrified of wasps are situational; they won't be present all the time, in fact Chase might go very long periods of time without having to cook or be near a wasp. Depending how he spends his money and where he lives, he may never have to. A fault isn't a fault if it doesn't affect a character's life; that's like making a character blind but then letting them see with magic. A fault needn't be around every second of every day, but if it's too easily avoided or compensated for, it barely counts.
Faults that go farther to correct sue-dom are usually more subtle. Chase is vain, he envies meaningful family relationships, he comes from a broken home and has given up on reconnecting it. He has scores with his father which will never be settled, he is stubborn to the point of recklessness, and will go way too far to prove a point, he's arrogant.
Personality flaws and other more subtle traits go a lot farther to keep a character human than an inability to make a souffle. Whether they manifest in a situation or not, they are always present. And if the writer is keeping all elements of their character in mind while writing (as they should) then they are able to recognize when this is a situation which would make the character's bitterness over their past cause them to be jealous of another character's presence, or when something would cause them to feel threatened in some way that they start acting a little extra arrogant and douchey, or when a fear or insecurity would cause them to behave irrationally and start screwing things up.
TLDR: When giving your character flaws, don't stop at situational issues, and don't rely soley on problems that a character can easily avoid. Make sure you include some subtle flaws which are always with them, even if they aren't constantly active.
(Yes, Mini has been binging House again.)
But seriously, can we talk about this guy?
He's the most successful surgeon in his hospital. He's confident, well-paid, talented, and let's be honest, pretty damn gorgeous. He's able to bang basically any woman he sets his sights on, but has had real, meaningful relationships as well. Oh, and he has a hot accent.
On paper, he sounds like a total gary stu, but he isn't.
Many are quick to cry "Sue"/"Stu" when they encounter a character as fortunate as Chase, but as the writers of House, M.D. prove, you can have a character who has it all (or seems to) without them falling to the dark side of characterization.
Usually, when we are looking to avoid or counter-act sue-dom, we pile on flaws. Working with the above, we might say "Okay, so he's a rich, talented, Australian-British doctor with a mug that could make Captain Kirk see ranibows, but he's a terrible cook and is terrified of wasps." And sure, that would help a bit, but there are faults and then there are faults, and some work better than others at relieving sue-dom.
Faults like being bad at cooking or terrified of wasps are situational; they won't be present all the time, in fact Chase might go very long periods of time without having to cook or be near a wasp. Depending how he spends his money and where he lives, he may never have to. A fault isn't a fault if it doesn't affect a character's life; that's like making a character blind but then letting them see with magic. A fault needn't be around every second of every day, but if it's too easily avoided or compensated for, it barely counts.
Faults that go farther to correct sue-dom are usually more subtle. Chase is vain, he envies meaningful family relationships, he comes from a broken home and has given up on reconnecting it. He has scores with his father which will never be settled, he is stubborn to the point of recklessness, and will go way too far to prove a point, he's arrogant.
Personality flaws and other more subtle traits go a lot farther to keep a character human than an inability to make a souffle. Whether they manifest in a situation or not, they are always present. And if the writer is keeping all elements of their character in mind while writing (as they should) then they are able to recognize when this is a situation which would make the character's bitterness over their past cause them to be jealous of another character's presence, or when something would cause them to feel threatened in some way that they start acting a little extra arrogant and douchey, or when a fear or insecurity would cause them to behave irrationally and start screwing things up.
TLDR: When giving your character flaws, don't stop at situational issues, and don't rely soley on problems that a character can easily avoid. Make sure you include some subtle flaws which are always with them, even if they aren't constantly active.
