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Plotting in character mistakes



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Sat Jul 21, 2018 2:14 am
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Rosendorn says...



One of @Lareine's biggest crusades is making it the characters are wrong. This is a very important point of stakes and developing character relationships, because if people aren't wrong then there's no reason to doubt they'll achieve their goals, which makes the climax and general arc for following the characters actually be scary.

And this is probably my biggest bad habit, when it comes to writing. My MCs are usually in positions they can't be wrong, and as a result they do everything in their power to make sure they are never wrong. Which means there are no stakes.

So how do you put in character mistakes? Does it come naturally to you, or do you have to remind yourself that the characters need to get in trouble at some point? If it doesn't come naturally to you, how do you keep it your characters make mistakes?

For me, I try to actively plot major events around a mistake. Found the wrong person? Let their guard down at the wrong time? Made an assumption that is spectacularly incorrect? That is now a major scene, and I have to have the results after the fact, and play out how and why those mistakes happened and there is going to be pain as a result.

What about you?
A writer is a world trapped in a person— Victor Hugo

Ink is blood. Paper is bandages. The wounded press books to their heart to know they're not alone.
  





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Sat Jul 21, 2018 2:48 am
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TheSilverFox says...



I like to believe character mistakes come easily to me? Mistakes are fun. They mess up the plot, they make character relationships into rollercoasters, and they befit the war and politics-heavy environments that I like to write (where random chance and good/bad timing have far more influence than anyone wants to admit).

As you can imagine, I love structuring major plot events around mistakes. The problem with my novel - BAtP - is that it has a cast full of intelligent and dangerous people, many of whom can worm their way out of all kinds of situations. So I like to create situations where they're misinformed, influenced by their mental state, or just plain wrong. I've scripted one battle way off in the future where the protagonists get surrounded and crushed. Their opponent is convinced they conspired against/stole something valuable from him, which they deny. Aaand then it turns out the resident kleptomaniac had panicked earlier and had actually stolen something valuable. Thanks to misunderstandings and mistakes, a lot of people die, despite the personal intelligence of those involved. Which describes both politics and war quite well.

I also like to throw mistakes into character arcs. As I'm gradually shaping the emotional profiles of my characters, I focus on what drives them, and what their flaws might be. What's their one big weak spot? What's the one issue they have that could get in the way of how they get along with others? How could what drives them put them into conflicts? By answering those questions, I create and shape character arcs.

I am, uh, not very good with stakes, especially because so few members of my casts actually die. But, mistakes are integral to my stories, and I don't know what I'd do without them.
S'io credesse che mia risposta fosse
a persona che mai tornasse al mondo,
questa fiamma staria senza piu scosse.
Ma per ciò che giammai di questo fondo
non tornò vivo alcun, s'i' odo il vero,
senza tema d'infamia ti rispondo.

Inferno, Canto 27, l 61-66.
  





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Sat Jul 21, 2018 3:29 pm
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PrincessInk says...



I agree that, yes, the stakes cannot be high without characters making mistakes! And it's realistic for people to make mistakes--I don't believe that anyone can undergo a big arc without erring.

In my current WIP, one of the characters does something that can be considered a mistake--at least, I believe she regrets it a lot--though I'm not completely sure. (A tangent: during first drafts, I'm never completely sure about my characters or world; that's for later drafts to figure out.) This act is the catalyst for the events in the story. Basically, I like mistakes--or important character actions, whether they seem minor or significant already--to cause large ripple effects.

This thinking makes me realize that maybe I have a little deficit of character mistakes :P I have more like character actions that lead to Issues (or tension) in the story, not necessarily mistakes, but Issues, especially between character and character. And, yes, I do sometimes remind myself during the outlining stage that the characters must get in trouble. It's hard to push my characters into problems they caused when they're already facing lots of obstacles. But that's an integral part of their arcs, in my opinion. They can't really learn without making mistakes, just like we can't.
always daydreaming, always clumsy
  





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Sat Jul 21, 2018 7:42 pm
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StellaThomas says...



Your characters are - most likely - human, and that means that they need to act like humans. This means that they are these incredibly flawed, beautiful creatures that are sometimes ruled by emotion, sometimes reckless, sometimes vengeful, and sometimes just wrong.

My characters drive my stories. This means that the plot naturally curves to match their actions, whether those actions are right or wrong. And they're often wrong. Silk, for those of you who have read it, and those of you who haven't, revolves on things that Pip and his family, the Starsfalls, do wrong. They are petty and greedy about some jewels. They are disrespectful about magic, and then Pip is disrespectful about magic again despite it going badly for him the first time. And by the end of the novel, he and Milady have both done stupidly vengeful, cruel things. Why? Because they're human (even if one of them is a giant spider). And humans make mistakes.

Even in high stakes situations, we do mess up. Talking about your mistakes and owning up to them even when the pressure is on is something that we are, in theory, encouraged to do in my line of work, but our society as a whole does not. Accept. Mistakes. And maybe that's why we find it difficult to write them into literature. But even when the stakes are high, you're going to make mistakes. Think about it, think about sitting an exam or performing a play in front of an audience for the first time - aren't you more likely to misspeak, or forget, than you are when you're alone and preparing for it?

I think the easiest way to write them into your story is to remember what your character's flaws and weaknesses are. Are they arrogant, reckless, impulsive, angry, vengeful? Or alternatively are they over-cautious, hesitant, easily swayed? Can they not think straight when their family is at risk, or when someone they fancy is speaking to them? And consider the situation you've put them in - are they sleep deprived, hungry, emotionally drained, injured?

If your character is perfect all the time, it makes for a boring story.

I keep harping on about these books, but I'm reading the Rebel of the Sands trilogy at the moment. Minor spoilers - one of the main things that our MC Amani does at the start is that she literally always puts her own survival first, and will risk anyone else dying or getting left behind as long as she makes it. Which is sensible, until it starts to bother her, and then she starts making a really concerted effort to not let that happen anymore - except often situations are outside of her control and she has to let things go, but it begins to trouble her more and more, and eventually her insistence on not leaving people behind gets her into trouble. It's character development at its very best, and it's all surrounding this one flaw of hers that she's trying to improve, and the mistakes she makes on the way. Also, everyone should read these books. Five stars.
"Stella. You were in my dream the other night. And everyone called you Princess." -Lauren2010
  








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