Character stereotypes (idealism)
"Hi, my name is Tiana and I don't write idealistic characters".

So my screenname on here is Metruis, appearing as Ariane. Shhh.

Idealism! It's a trait commonly seen in sci-fi and fantasy... SFF for short. You see it in, oh, I don't know--LUKE SKYWALKER--ever heard of him? No? Oh, okay. And various others. It's a coming-of-age story necessity. It's almost always seen in Quest stories.

And I don't write it.

Now, those who know me (ohhhhhhhhh... none of you...) know I'm very against stereotypical writing. I've seen it all. I started in fanfic... now I write original fic... I started in fanfic and READ fanfic too. And liked it. I now read novels. I did then. And it's very hard to keep my interest. I'm almost tempted to try for a career as a literary agent or editor just because of my cruel critical streak and knowledge of what's cliché, and what's not. Now, I'm certainly not claiming to know it all. Most definately not.

But I don't write idealism.

Ironically, as much as I am against idealistic characters, I don't dislike the idealistic character that grows to become a broody cynic. A cliche? Definately. In fact, it seems most stories are completely made up of the naive, idealistic farmboyish character, and the broody, gloomy cynic.

What defines idealism, beyond optimistic hope for the future? How can you make these characters? And why doesn't T write them?! Yet, why does she approve of a cliche?!! That's the big question. Read on, dear readers (...? Readers? What are those? I'm probably just ranting for myself.)



HI!

Idealism vs cynicism. A lovely contract, well played out in fantasy and sci-fi. I've met idealistic people. They tend to be optimists who, unlike me, cannot define themselves as a CYNICAL optimist, my preferable answer to 'are you a pessimist or an optimist?'. They have hope. Not to say us cynics don't. It's just a different sort of hope.

In text, this complete glow of 'everything will be fine! People are good! Everyone is nice at heart! Kitties!' just comes across as lame. It can't convey the same sense of glow most optimists have. Thus, when optimistic characters are written, people write them as... surprise... coming of age characters.

Why is this?

Because it's a fact.

People write things because they're true, a lot of the time--and they're simply so overwritten that they appear as cliches. But do you see that many cynical children? Most kids aren't like us adults/older teenagers. So into literature this fact falls and it turns into overdone coming of age stories in which the hero challenges himself as he grows from this childish stage, into the next part of his life--somehow the entire fate of the galaxy is at stake in the meantime to prompt him, or even just a family crisis. With a female heroine, often she cuts her hair.

In the end, though, they come out as new characters. Generally not so idealistic anymore. Either they turn out as stronger adults, like Luke Skywalker, or they come out as dark cynics. I can't think of any examples offhand since I stopped reading so much...

And yet...

I hate coming of age stories, but I don't mind lesser characters that develop from idealism to cynicism.

So, the other side of the scale. As often as you see the idealistic peasant/farmer/servant/whatever, you see the tall, dark, broody, and above all CYNICAL anime guy. Unless, of course, they aren't dark, and have silver hair instead. Contrast... Sora and Riku, Kingdom Hearts. Sora is a lovely example of an idealistic hero. He comes from a sheltered life and now has to SAVE THE WORLD. Riku lived in the same sheltered life, hated it, and cracked out of it. Except, unlike happy, friendly Sora, he's broody, taller, and has straight silver hair rather than spiky hair. Yeah, visual clues here.

A cynical character is usually a supporting character. An anti-hero. Yes, I will rant on anti-heroes. I write (unpublished, but JUST WAIT!!) and my main characters are often anti-heroes.

Anyway, you see the point here? Optimistic characters have spiky, crazier hair. They wear bright clothing. They think everything's good until they get thrown into a nasty world.

Cynical characters have straight, black or silver or blue hair. They wear less exciting clothing, often dark. They're gloomy.

Optimistic characters grown up usually cut their hair, change their clothes, and have a pretty good sense of the world.

Cynical characters changed just act a bit happier. Sometimes. Usually you don't see a cynic grow to become an optimist. For some reason this plotline isn't put into play very often.

Visual clues mean a lot. You can tell if someone's cynical usually by their hair and clothes. ^.^

Then you get the optimist who slowly becomes cynical as the world tears him/her apart. People call these characters unbelievable, I call them close to heart. I hate idealism.

I wonder if half the reason I hate it isn't because I used to be it.

This isn't angst. This is just a bit of a look at how we develop ourselves might possibly effect how we write. I used to be an idealist. I changed. There's just a little bit of that left now, but I'd say I'm a cynic now. I don't admire that trait any more than I did my idealism. It's quite possible to have an optimistic cynic.

I wish people wrote them more often.

But think about it. So many people hate the book Eragon. Do you hate it? Really? Or is it maybe just because you used to want to write that way that makes you hate it.

I know I used to write that way. I bet a lot of us started with crappy plotlines like that. I don't hate Eragon. I won't be promoting it by any means, but I don't hate it. In fact, as much as I hate cliche and stereotype in writing, it all has a place.

Because most of it's become that way because it's real.

Anyway, now that I've ranted a bit, I'm going to go and rant about why people always like the anti-hero/gloomy guys... (wanders off)



This post also made to test cuts. Anyway.