Webnovel.Forum

Well, making this post because a lot of you suck at writing realistic characters.

Characters should not be acting like a 'gender'. Majoirty of novels I've read are fantasy, and in a fantsay setting, for every, or at least the vast vast majority, of characters to 'act their gender' makes no freaking sense.

In the vast majority of chinese novels I've read, authors are beyond trash at writing characters, especially female.

Either they wear all pink, love flowers, always try to look beautiful, care about how others perceive their age, hold hands, etc etc.

Bruh, in a world where people die for anything and everything, does this make any fucking sense? These authors are either extremely ignorant and bad writers or just plain sexist (which most are). I mean, they don't even try.

The same goes for male characters.

Stop writing characters as their gender and start writing them as actual characters. Make them realistic, meaning make them act at least similar to how they would act in such worlds.

There are some exceptions, but for the majoirty of novels to be this bad at writing characters is just sad.

Huh, while I basically agree with you.

The whole thing can just be resumed into:

• Make interesting characters.

• Don't make shallow characters.

Vam_V

They don't have to be interesting, just realistic. And not every character should be interesting.

Misguided_Rooster I see, well, I personally favor interesting over realistic, specially on fantasy.

Misguided_Rooster And not every character should be interesting.
Also I disagree on this.

Not every character CAN BE interesting, due to things like not enough "time" to give all minor characters their chance to shiny, but, a writer should still try to make the most of its characters, the main ones should be interesting at least.

Also, now I am kinda curious... what makes a character realistic for you?

Misguided_Rooster

I generally agree, I don't mind if a character has some stereotypical traits that match their gender, but the gender can't be the character. + sometime the opposite of the stereotype is more interesting to read. (not just about gender, just anything in general.)

It's not just the gender, but the gender thing you mentioned is a big issue for me too.

I also hate the cliche bully/greedy/petty, the one who keep causing trouble even after they get hurt for it over and over.

The cliche nemesis who keep getting away each and every time and come back to cause trouble later. Once or twice would be fine, but they should die and be replaced at some point.

Or the cliche friends who follow the MC around without a brain of their own, or a single reason for actually being there.

The lack of actual adversary or threat to the MC's life and his/her companions.

And generally the lack of intelligent characters. Don't get me wrong, some characters are meant to be stupid, sure, but even stupid people have something they're good at, something they understand better, etc.

It's just my personal taste though, plenty of people enjoy these things, as you can see, they have plenty of readers. Some people enjoy these stories, because it doesn't require a lot of thinking or understanding, so nothing is wrong with it, I just don't have to personally like it. Which is why I prefer writing most of the fantasy I read myself.

Also, keep one more thing in mind. What makes a character realistic to you? (as was asked above) If it's their choices, decisions, and personality, then it's just characters that you personally don't like. None-realistic character would be a character that break the rules of the world, not a character that makes a very illogical decision, people aren't pure logic.
1. People can be hypocrites, go against their own morals and ideals due to various emotional or logical reasons.
2. They can make dumb mistakes based on emotions alone and ignore their logic or morals.
3. Or commit mistakes based on their morals and the ideal way they view the world, while ignoring logic and their feelings.
4. They can forgo all of the above for desire and direct gains such as greed, lust, or even hunger at some cases.
5. Certain characters can act on whims or instincts as well, which (if written right) makes them unpredictable and interesting.
6. now try to combine multiple factors and make them overcome other ones...

Logic, emotions, ideals, desires, whims. These 5 usually influence character's choices. If anyone think I missed something please let me know. Would be happy to hear if I missed a factor because it'll improve my writing.

Selene97 Interesting, so a realistic character to you is a character with many kinds of motivators pushing him toward multiple directions, even opposing ones...

Definitely not the kinda of answer I was expecting, but that is what makes it an interesting answer to me.

Vam_V

Indeed. That's how I see people.
We all have things that we like or dislike. We all have things we consider right and wrong. We all have our goals, dreams, we all think logically about things, or get emotional about them. If you play enough with these things you can make interesting characters. At least I hope they're interesting...
Also have to be careful not to make characters declare what they like, unless they're meant to be dumb characters. You also don't have to show most of it, only the tip of the iceberg.

It doesn't have to be conscious attempt for the writer though, that's why I think most characters are realistic characters. They can be uninteresting, or a repeated cliche, sure, but they're still realistic.

As I said, unrealistic characters would be ones that break the world's norms without a reasonable explanation. I guess a marry sue character can infringe on that category as well, but I've seen some of these characters who weren't bad to read either.

Another point that can make a character unrealistic, is how much the world around him/her is about the character. If a character is written with the whole world revolving around him/her and everyone is worshiping him/her or can't stop talking about his/her deeds etc. That could be immersion breaking.
That being said, if that character played some major role in saving the world, or the character is a famous movie star, then it'd make some sense.

To sum it up, for me unrealistic character is defined by the influence they have on the world around them, if that influence is treated in a realistic way, then their personality can be anything!

Selene97
I was focusing more on the character themselves and not on their outside influence. Just how the outside world influences THEM and their behavior.

Pretty much the examples I stated, but deeper. I'm not talking about them making logical decisions or being smart or anything.

It just makes zero sense for the majoirty of characters, and the main being female, to just be hot hair. They have nothing, no personality, no decision making skills.

They only look beutiful or ugly, smart or shy, wears pinks, etc etc. They're scared of everything, scream at everything, always need a man ( in most cases ) to save them.

How the hell, in a world of 'dog eat dog', are they all so weak? It makes no sense at all.

By realistic, I mean realistic in the sense of themselves. Like for us, Most, if not all, are influenced by ur enviorment. We develop ourselves based on that and other factors. But in these novels, it doesn't matter where, these characters are going to be the same.

I won't even go into depths about the sheer stupidity of chinese and some orignal novels when it comes to characters and the various influences ( the most basic example being a several thousand year old person who faced adversaty acting like a child for literally no reason with no thinking ability or even the slightest personality).

Misguided_Rooster

Ok I get your point, I both agree and disagree.

Disagree on the "realistic" aspect. There are girls in reality who act like spoilt brats, worried about their looks, wear pink scared of everything, scream at everything, and like having a man around. No matter what their environment is, if there's a powerful man or a powerful parent sheltering and spoiling a girl, she can be like that even in a dog eat dog world. Not saying she will be, but she can be. (just look at the queen/princess who said the people can eat cake when she heard they don't have bread to eat)
Not saying all of us are like that, plenty of girls who aren't like that at all. Just saying girls like that do exist, even in harsher realities. So I wouldn't call it an unrealistic characters.

Environment influence everyone differently, same goes to a dog eat dog harsh environment. Some people will be influence with the "what doesn't kill you make you stronger" true. But not all humans are the same, some people will turn paranoid, some people will turn predatory. And yes, it's possible for a girl to find herself a man to protect her, then turn spoilt and worry about things like her looks etc, not unheard of.

A thousand years old person... I don't know about a thousand years old, but I've seen sixty and eighty years old who acts like children, it exists. But a thousand years old has to be very dumb to not learn anything about life through a thousand years... I agree, it does break immersion.

Is it fun to read about such characters? No, at least not for me. They can be annoying and repetitive, they usually have nothing interesting about them, and just a copy paste to a mediocre/shallow stereotype personality.
Yet, there are people who enjoy reading such characters, and there are even people who treat such a life style as a power fantasy.
Otherwise these books would never be looked at, think about it...
So, you and I don't have to like it, but nothing is wrong with it.

Selene97

Realistic in the sense of the book realistic. I'm not judging the characters by real life standards (etc) but based on the world where they live.

People are influenced differently, I agree, but for the majoirty to be the exact same and pretty freaking dumb is stupid. It's not about a girl finding a man, but the fact that every girl wants to find a man.

Have you ever noticed in the majority of these novels, majority of strong characters are male? And when a female character is introduced, she has to be beautiful or some bs crap.

And, no, I don't agree with the first point you made. In some settings, it's a literal world where people die from anything and everything. And the female characters basically have no drive for survival. I get it, some people are like that, but for the majority if just bs.

Just look at the way male characters act in these novels. Then look at female characters. Why is the difference so striking?

Male characters are also pretty fucking stupid also. Especially chinese novels, holy shit.

The characters don't have to be interesting, they just have to some qualities that show how they've been influenced by their world. If it's a peaceful world, some things are understandable. But most of these worlds aren't, and to me, it makes soo little sense.

Of course, it's not supposed to make sense. it's just supposed to sell. Fast food over good food.

Misguided_Rooster They only look beutiful or ugly, smart or shy, wears pinks, etc etc. They're scared of everything, scream at everything, always need a man ( in most cases ) to save them.

How the hell, in a world of 'dog eat dog', are they all so weak? It makes no sense at all.

Apparently because they are designed for the sole role of being saved by the "strong" male protagonist and being added to his harem later.

Tomoyuki So they are basically loot.

Misguided_Rooster

Maybe I just don't read enough of those novels, I usually switch what I read if I lose interest, and when I encounter the things you described I just drop the novel. I'm a bit picky when it comes to my read... guess I'm a picky eater?
But for me it's less about realism, (and realism is very important to me) and more about the characters being shallow, stupid or unlikeable.
Also when it comes to stupid characters... nothing is worse than a character the author describe as smart over and over, and then that character acts like a total idiot. This one I encountered quite a bit, and constantly worried I'll make this mistake so I try to avoid describing my character's personality when I write, and just let the reader decide.

Vam_V

Literally. I've read a few novels where the author states it's better for men to decide what a woman should do. In a martial arts world. Where anyone can get stronger.

Yeah, most chinese authors are dumb.

Selene97 Huh, that is a pretty good writing philosophy.

Vam_V Yeah...which pisses me off.

Misguided_Rooster Literally. I've read a few novels where the author states it's better for men to decide what a woman should do.

Against the Gods is one of the worst culprits. "If you're a woman, you should just let a man protect you!" What the f.

Tomoyuki

Yep. One of the reasons why harem novels are and will always be trash.