Just like good parents, writers are often certain their stories and characters are the cutest little thing that ever breathed. You may not carry pictures around in your wallet or brag when your baby takes his first steps before the neighbor’s kid does. But you still want everyone to understand how brilliant/brave/beautiful (you fill in the blank) your characters are.
So you make sure to tell readers, at every opportunity, about your characters’ super-awesomeness.
You know the drill: The character pauses to admire his gorgeousness in a mirror or, as in a historical mystery I just finished, is congratulated for his brilliance or bravery by another character. In this particular book, the secondary character croons that the protagonist has:
…a way of cutting to what’s true, an’ making sense of it.
The 2-Sided Problem of “Telling” Your Love for Your Character
The problem with such a declaration is two-sided.
1. It’s Repetitious
If you’ve managed to create a character that has, indeed, done something extraordinary, readers have already seen the character’s actions. If the reader already knows how wonderful the character is, he hardly needs to be told.
In fact, harping on the character’s brilliance, even if it’s true, can alienate readers because it skews the balance of strengths and weaknesses.
2. It May Be a Lie
The other pitfall of this technique is that, as in the book I read, the character really hasn’t done anything worth bragging on. As a result, when the author starts patting her “brilliant” character on the back, readers are likely to scoff in disbelief and reject the book and the character alike as unrealistic and perhaps even just plain irritating.
The best way to handle your character’s strengths is to let them speak for themselves. If she really is brilliant, brave, or beautiful, your readers should be able to grasp that through the story itself.
