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Impulsive Characters

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After my rant last week about stupid characters, one of the next books I picked up opened with the heroine doing something stupid and impulsive that got her in huge trouble that ended up affecting other people in her life. Then her adult mentor got her out of that trouble and told her exactly what she needed to do — or not do — to avoid even more trouble that would affect her whole family, and about thirty seconds later she completely neglected to do what he told her she needed to do and went off and did something else and, yeah, got into even more trouble.

This was a YA book, and I know I’m not the target audience. Rash and impulsive is pretty much the teen “brand,” so maybe teen readers aren’t groaning about what an idiot the main character is. This book was really quite successful — a lot more successful than any of my books have been — so maybe the teen readers are enjoying the teen characters ignoring the adults in their lives, even if ignoring good advice leaves a swath of destruction in their wake. Meanwhile I, as an adult, want to give them a good spanking and ground them for about a month.

And I suppose there wouldn’t have been much of a book if the character had listened to the advice — though, really, the trouble she was in was big enough that I don’t think it would have made that much difference. I’d be a lot more sympathetic if she followed the advice and still ended up in trouble than I am when she rebelliously ignored the advice and landed in trouble.

It really is a tricky balance. Smart, reasonable characters who listen to good advice may not be as likely to get into the kind of trouble that makes for a good story. And this does give the characters room to grow. Maybe over the course of the book she’ll learn to listen and think before acting and will realize that her mentors know a thing or two. Right now, she’s just coming across as bratty, wanting what she wants, with no thought for the greater good or even the good of anyone else but herself, and that’s not sympathetic to me.

The heroine I’m writing now has done something quite rash and rebellious, but she thought it through and had a reasonable plan. I guess she was sensibly rebellious rather than stupidly rebellious. She ended up in way over her head, but she did avoid some danger. I’m saving the danger for later in the book.

One Response to “Impulsive Characters”

  1. Tineke

    I personally don’t like stupid and rash characters now and didn’t like them as a teenager, but I know I might be an exception. I guess your more reasonable heroines are one reason why I like your novels. The off-screen villains are another one, because neither do I like reading from the villain’s POV.
    Have you ever read Honor Raconteur’s The Case Files of Henri Davenforth? While rereading those novels in preparation for the next book coming out later this month, I kept wondering if this is the kind of cozy fantasy you once said you would like to write in the future. I personally find those novels very relaxing to read (although the conflict in book 1 might resolve a little bit too easy) and I really love the friendly and positive (work) relationship between the main characters. They know that they each have their own strenghts and they respect this. They both have their flaws as well, but those didn’t annoy me, and I liked that the two main characters are a bit older than main characters generally are. Not that I’m not happy that you’re thinking about writing a new Rebel Mechanics book, because I am, but it’s nice to have some variation.

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