Book Club on Sidechat | I hate when someone defends terrible writing with “well sometimes people—“ they’re not people they’re characters. Everything about a character should serve a purpose or make sense narratively. IK irl people are inconsistent but characters shouldn’t be.

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Book Club 1d

I hate when someone defends terrible writing with “well sometimes people—“ they’re not people they’re characters. Everything about a character should serve a purpose or make sense narratively. IK irl people are inconsistent but characters shouldn’t be.

Anonymous 21h

ehhh i actually feel like this is kinda a hot take terrible writing and inconsistent characters are two different things. sometimes if a character is inconsistent it actually makes them feel more relatable and more real BECAUSE of that human aspect

Anonymous 2h

agreed about defending terrible writing; however, NOT everything has to exist for a reason, and some people will find certain aspects necessary that others do not. the Law of Conservation of Detail is important in many ways, but it’s not necessary in every book at every place

Anonymous 1d

unless being inconsistent is actually apart of the story of course

Anonymous 3h

it’s like tv shows where you really know the characters and then you’re like ??? why the fuck would they do that that makes no sense in general and especially for their character? all to create some new plot line

Anonymous

#1 19h

Ironically, even a character’s inconsistency has to be consistent. If they’re constantly wavering because of their flaws and/or circumstances, that’s a character trait. If they magically and suddenly pivot for the sake of plot convenience, it’s bad writing.

Anonymous

#1 19h

Agreed.

Anonymous

#1 18h

I agree because lowkey I’ll think “why the heck would they do that?” Then I look around in real life and think… yeah these “inconsistencies” are very similar to people I often run into

Anonymous

#2 18h

Yes! You worded that perfectly.

Anonymous

#6 2h

this is not about the specific thing you’re talking about; this is more an objection to “everything about a character should serve a purpose or make sense narratively” as the purpose or sense isnt always revealed until later, or the lack of purpose & sense PROVIDES purpose & sense.