08 July 2012

Character Behaviors I Hate


I read so much in my spare time, so I have the opportunity to notice patterns of things happening with amateur writers. I'm an amateur too, so I get to pick on you. This is how I convince myself to stop doing these same things which I abhor! It's the simple behaviors I find to be the laziest ways for building characters. 

Please don't do these things anymore and I promise I won’t either. There are better ways to get your characters to interact. The verbs I hate the most are: scoff, nod, frown and giggle. I'll tell you why.

1. He scoffed at her.

What does that look like? What does it mean?

Example:

She placed the napkins on the dinner table, ensuring each lay precisely an inch from the edge. When done, she aligned the utensils one half inch from each other on their respective beds of embroidered cotton.

He scoffed at her.

Okay, that falls flat. What did he actually do or say? What was his body language? If it was important to have us read all that detail from the woman, why isn't it just as important to share the actual scoff itself?

Try this:

She placed the napkins on the dinner table, ensuring each lay precisely an inch from the edge. When done, she aligned the utensils a half inch from  each other on their respective beds of embroidered cotton.


He took another pull from his Victorian pipe, "Why waste your time with that nonsense? The guests won't even notice."

What a snobbish thing to say! I'm outraged! This is a great opportunity to get your readers involved and caring about your characters and the things they do. If someone doesn't really know how the scoff comes across, the effectiveness of the scene is lost. Think about it.


2. He nodded.

What purpose does this serve? It's no different than saying, "I agree." It does nothing to move things along or to create conflict. Whenever you feel an urge for one of your characters to "nod" in agreement, it's time to insert some conflicting dialogue, which can add a little flavor and depth to your story. Here's an example of two men on foot while chasing someone:

"We'll head them off at the north entrance."


Randy nodded.

Boooorring! How about a little conflict or insertion of some testosterone? Guys don't just typically agree with one another either:

"We'll head them off at the north entrance."


"No, there are two ways out. You head them off at the north, I'll take the riverside."

The nod has been eliminated and we have a more interesting and realistic exchange!



3. He frowned.

Really? I'm impressed. Seriously though, I see this a lot and it is not worth commenting each time I see it because it feels a little nit-pickyish to me. But in the overall scheme of things, this is no better than "he nodded" because it doesn't do anything for the character or the plot. It's just there. So, okay.  Now we know your character isn't happy. There are better ways to do this.

Example:

She read the results of the paternity test to her ex-boyfriend, "It says that there's a 99.9% chance you are the father."


Richard frowned and snatched the report from her hand, "Liar!"

I don't think we need the writer telling us the character frowned. It almost inserts a sort of slow motion reaction to her revelation because he has to pause to get that frown on his face before he snatches the report. 

It's not necessary. Try this instead:

She read the results of the paternity test to her ex-boyfriend, "It says that there's a 99.9% chance you are the father."


Richard snatched the report, "Liar!"

See how immediate that seems? We can tell he's probably got a look on his face other than one of complete and utter bliss. It may not be a frown, a scowl, or a look of complete lunacy, but we don't care. We know he's not happy, and we know without having to be spoon fed this information. It just plays out visually in our heads. Note I also removed "from her hand". It's not necessary. We're smart enough to realize he probably didn't snatch the report from her teeth or any other part of her body.



4. She giggled.

To me, this one should be self-explanatory so I won't give examples. It's just that after a certain age, female characters do not giggle. Male characters NEVER giggle. And if I ever read a giggle coming from an alpha male, I will rub bleach into my eyes and drink a gallon of liquid Gain to cleanse my soul.


So, what actions annoy you the most and why? There are plenty more out there and I've used them all as well. I'm weaning myself off them, however, and I hope you will too!

40 comments:

  1. Okay, I do use nod but I couple it with something more. How's that? Sometimes my characters are too choked up to answer so the gesture with a little something else works better.

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    1. I think the emotional nod conveys so much more than a simple nod of agreement. I'm okay with those. :D

      A few more come to mind like:

      He grimaced.
      She grinned.
      He shrugged.
      She sighed.

      When other actions are added, I don't notice them very much, but I see these standing all by themselves at times and I have to shudder. lol

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    2. Oh, I totally forgot to tell you I gave you two awards on my blog today. :) http://kellyhashway.blogspot.com/2012/07/monday-mishmash-and-more-blog-awards.html

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    3. Yay, I get to work on another post for my awards! Thank you Kelly!

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  2. This is such a great reminder to me to avoid these things. You're right, there are much better ways to show these overused descriptions. Great post!

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    1. Happy to put out reminders, Lauren. I need them always! :)

      I used "giggle" for the longest time until I realized that women my age don't giggle, we cackle. lol

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  3. Great post! I noticed I'm using some of these a bit too much in my WIP. They're a crutch, I know ;)

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    1. I like to scan everything for certain words too. I scan for the word "that" because I have super bad about using this word it seems every other sentence! lol

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  4. I agree Diane, but I usually explain as in: She was so happy she started giggling and said, "Please don't feed me anymore Nutella!" Great post though. I'm sure I'm guilty of all kinds of things.

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    1. It's why I love re-writing more than writing. I find myself doing what my most brutal instructors told me not to do. It's like finding bugs in my code. The discoveries are so much fun, you always have something to tweak. :D

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  5. Damn it, guilty as charged. Going back to the editing board. :(

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    1. Just remember, I'm only one reader. There are plenty of less nit picky readers than I am. :D

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    2. Although to be fair, we men tend to be tight lipped. If a nod will do, then we will nod. Not getting it is the best way to p!$$ a guy off.

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    3. Actually, that's good info there. I asked my husband about this and he was puzzled, but my daughter was like, "Seriously, so true!" She agrees that guys she knows would be pissed if they didn't receive some sort of confirmation.

      This may very well be a generation gap in how fiction works! If there are more young readers, then it may be better to include such behaviors as they are expected as a courtesy of sorts.

      Good point!

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  6. I'm nodding in agreement with your post. I've never thought those words before but your excellent examples show how they stop the action in the story and illustrate a better way to write it.

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  7. I'll have to check my MS if I'm using nodding too much. I don't think so...

    As to frowning, I might be inclined to replace it in an MS with rolling the eyes... which my characters have a habit of doing.

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    1. I think rolling the eyes was on my list, along with raising an eyebrow. :)

      Heck, I have so many, my post would have been very long if I chose to include them all! However, I'm just a reader. I don't have anything near ready to publish, so I'm not one to be considered an expert either! I'm just a reader who hates certain things. lol

      Thanks for your input. Love it!

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  8. My characters smile way too much. Way too much. I have a ton of crutch words I need to edit out once I get to the editing part. For now they'll stay until the first draft is finished, whenever that'll be.

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    1. I was trying to remember what they were called! Thanks for the reminder. I've heard of the crutch words and couldn't think of the word "crutch". :) <---- I do that too much, too.

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  9. Scoffing looks like this:

    See? yeah, me neither. I giggle at the idea.

    But there is one time when I use a couple of those examples, and that's when I need a quick replacement for a dialogue tag. Instead of "That Green Orion Slave Girl has Jim's Kirk's eyes," Saavik said, I might put in: Saavik frowned. "That Green Orion Slave Girl has Jim Kirk's eyes." Now we know who's talking, but also a bit of a clue as to how she feels about what she's saying. Another way to battle the evil "said".

    But really, hard and fast rules make me scoff. And giggle.

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    1. I think another character situation where giggle would feel right for me is the drunk character returning home with friends. They stumble through the front door and almost tip over a lamp, shortly afterwards a slight giggle from one and a shush from the other. LOL

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  10. Ugh, I hate giggling too! Real women just laugh loudly ;) I also hate 'tears sprang into her eyes'. How can tears spring exactly? Also, I appreciate making a character have a vulnerable side, but if she is crying every five pages because of the smallest things it is just annoying.

    I must admit I might be guilty of the frown one. Though I usually go more detailed, like 'his eyebrows furrowed' rather than outright saying he frowned. Don't think that is much better though!

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    1. I love metaphors for frowns.

      The angular features of his face turned to stone.

      :D

      Not literally though. Lol

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  11. If I read about furrowed eyebrows again I will scream!

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    1. I'm the same way about "raised eyebrows".

      Like:

      "Oh, so you misunderstood what I said?"

      He raised an eyebrow. "No."

      Reminds me of that cartoon character (years ago) who tied the princess to the train tracks and left her there.

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    2. I have a scene where two characters raise their eyebrows within minutes of each other, and the subject of their scorn makes note of it ... a little bit of parody that I hope the reader will get.

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  12. Great little guide here, at least that's how I read it. Funny enough, I was reading a novel and 'he nodded' was abused. I like your suggested changes.

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    1. Thanks magic! I think the abuse is more what I hate than the actual character behaviors.

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  13. I love this post so super much! You're absolutely right. One of the other ones that irks me is when something reflects in someone's eyes. Is there a point to this reflection? Is it in any way relevant to anything?

    Great post. Using dialogue is a much better way to get the point across than is using cliched facial ticks.

    :)

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    1. You're right, randi. When I'm reading and I stumble across some words that make me question, "wait, why did that happen?" I think it's something that could have been left out and the story wouldn't change one bit.

      Sometimes I wonder if these things are meant to take the place of what's missing because we're not watching television. When I read a book, I want the immersion. I can imagine so much that need not be written! :)

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  14. Nodding at your plaints, I have to agree, Diane. I'm frowning, though, because there are only four! On the inside, I'm giggling at the frivolity of it all, but I would never scoff at your decisions no matter what.

    I love it!

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  15. I am falling behind with comments this week on blogs I follow, so I am sorry my comment is late. I did want to let you know this post created a desire to go and write. So many times you hear writers say, "Show, don't tell" and yet they stop there. Really? New writers may not understand what is meant by that phrase. You explained it so clearly! It makes perfect sense to eliminate the useless attributes and replace with colorful dialogue and creative actions. Thanks!

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    1. Was directed to this post. I hate my iPhone sometimes.

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  16. Welcome! If new writers (like me) aren't shown why something shouldn't be done, we will continue to do these things that seem to fall flat. I'm glad you were inspired!

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  17. You JUST give excellent examples of JUST what not to do as well as suggestions for JUST better writing. JUST any overused word or trite phrase will JUST stop a reader and JUST interrupt the flow of the narrative. I JUST think we all have favorite words. I call JUST my favorite insert-anywhere-four-letter word that I JUST have to find and replace or delete.

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    1. JUST thank you for stopping by with your feedback, Jenny! I JUST absolutely appreciate it. :D

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