The Pitfalls of Passive Protagonists
As some of you know, last year I attended an absolutely phenomenal workshop, the Odyssey Writing Workshop up in New Hampshire. I had no idea when I applied just how great it would be, though. In all honesty? I went thinking to myself, “Well, I already know how to write. But this will be great for making connections and learning about the publishing world.”
That delusion lasted approximately twelve minutes into the first lecture on the first morning of the first day.
I encountered a lot of surprises in my own writing over the six weeks of the workshop, but the one that was by far the hardest to swallow was this:
I wrote passive heroines.
Now, I love a good kickass heroine. I mean, I’ve grown up with Robin McKinley and Joss Whedon as my masters. I’m that person who started cheering in the movie theater when Giselle kicked off her heels, picked up the sword, and went off to save her prince in Enchanted. When I was a kid, I devoured every instance of a kickass heroine I could find, and I still do. They’re the reason I’m who I am today. They’re the reason I write.
So you’ll understand just how devastated I was to learn that I was churning out passive character after passive character in every single one of my stories. And it’s not just about failing to hold the line, as a female author writing about women--it just plain makes for bad stories. When things just happen TO your characters, after a while it becomes very clear that the author is pulling the strings. The actions, decisions, and emotions of your characters don’t feel real--they feel forced.
Once I got over my dismay at this revelation (and I spent longer in denial than I wish to admit) I started to look for answers. Because the thing is, I’m not the only one. Writers tend to default to passive characters. We’re often pretty passive ourselves. So I figured I’d share some of the things I’ve figured out about how to avoid this pitfall, in case anyone else suffers from the same tendency.
Plot the causal chain. Whether you outline or not before you write (which I don’t) I highly recommend doing some kind of outline at some point during the process. I find it really helpful to outline the story after I finish my first draft. Whenever you do it, make sure to look at the causal chain. Why does everything happen? One event should lead to another should lead to another, etc. And your protagonist needs to be the driving force behind these events. She should make them happen--they shouldn’t happen to her.
Make her skilled. This one comes straight from Odyssey, and it’s so simple and brilliant. Give your character something she’s really good at. Not only does this make us like her (we like competent people!) but it also means that she’ll be able to affect her world. And the events in it. She’ll be driving the truck, rather than strapped into the back seat.
Make her try more than once. If your character gets everything on her first try, it’s pretty clear the author’s conveniently lining things up for her to succeed. Make it hard for her! If she tries to do something and can’t, she’ll have to get creative about what she does next.
Give her a reason to fight. It’s not enough that someone gets forced into a situation--you need to give them reasons to care about what’s happening, so that they’d fight whether they had to or not. Think about Katniss in THE HUNGER GAMES--she has to go into the arena, yes, but she has reasons to fight and to survive, and she keeps getting more as the book progresses: Prim, Rue, Peeta. Personal survival is never enough--raise the stakes!
Have a moment of crisis and decision. I sometimes have characters so battered around by circumstance that they often only have one choice. This, as much as anything else, gives the impression of the author playing puppeteer. Let your characters make a choice. Give them an easy option and have them refuse it for the harder road. It doesn’t have to be a huge dramatic scene--it can be as small and subtle as a single sentence in a single scene. It’s the moment where Han Solo comes back to bail Luke out as he destroys the Death Star. It’s the moment where Katniss sings to Rue and covers her with flowers, knowing the Capitol is watching. It’s the moment where your character stands up and says “I’m going to do this thing even though it’d be easier to go home.” It’s Giselle grabbing that sword.
Got any other tips for me? Does anyone else ever struggle with passive characters?
That delusion lasted approximately twelve minutes into the first lecture on the first morning of the first day.
I encountered a lot of surprises in my own writing over the six weeks of the workshop, but the one that was by far the hardest to swallow was this:
I wrote passive heroines.
Now, I love a good kickass heroine. I mean, I’ve grown up with Robin McKinley and Joss Whedon as my masters. I’m that person who started cheering in the movie theater when Giselle kicked off her heels, picked up the sword, and went off to save her prince in Enchanted. When I was a kid, I devoured every instance of a kickass heroine I could find, and I still do. They’re the reason I’m who I am today. They’re the reason I write.
So you’ll understand just how devastated I was to learn that I was churning out passive character after passive character in every single one of my stories. And it’s not just about failing to hold the line, as a female author writing about women--it just plain makes for bad stories. When things just happen TO your characters, after a while it becomes very clear that the author is pulling the strings. The actions, decisions, and emotions of your characters don’t feel real--they feel forced.
Once I got over my dismay at this revelation (and I spent longer in denial than I wish to admit) I started to look for answers. Because the thing is, I’m not the only one. Writers tend to default to passive characters. We’re often pretty passive ourselves. So I figured I’d share some of the things I’ve figured out about how to avoid this pitfall, in case anyone else suffers from the same tendency.
Plot the causal chain. Whether you outline or not before you write (which I don’t) I highly recommend doing some kind of outline at some point during the process. I find it really helpful to outline the story after I finish my first draft. Whenever you do it, make sure to look at the causal chain. Why does everything happen? One event should lead to another should lead to another, etc. And your protagonist needs to be the driving force behind these events. She should make them happen--they shouldn’t happen to her.
Make her skilled. This one comes straight from Odyssey, and it’s so simple and brilliant. Give your character something she’s really good at. Not only does this make us like her (we like competent people!) but it also means that she’ll be able to affect her world. And the events in it. She’ll be driving the truck, rather than strapped into the back seat.
Make her try more than once. If your character gets everything on her first try, it’s pretty clear the author’s conveniently lining things up for her to succeed. Make it hard for her! If she tries to do something and can’t, she’ll have to get creative about what she does next.
Give her a reason to fight. It’s not enough that someone gets forced into a situation--you need to give them reasons to care about what’s happening, so that they’d fight whether they had to or not. Think about Katniss in THE HUNGER GAMES--she has to go into the arena, yes, but she has reasons to fight and to survive, and she keeps getting more as the book progresses: Prim, Rue, Peeta. Personal survival is never enough--raise the stakes!
Have a moment of crisis and decision. I sometimes have characters so battered around by circumstance that they often only have one choice. This, as much as anything else, gives the impression of the author playing puppeteer. Let your characters make a choice. Give them an easy option and have them refuse it for the harder road. It doesn’t have to be a huge dramatic scene--it can be as small and subtle as a single sentence in a single scene. It’s the moment where Han Solo comes back to bail Luke out as he destroys the Death Star. It’s the moment where Katniss sings to Rue and covers her with flowers, knowing the Capitol is watching. It’s the moment where your character stands up and says “I’m going to do this thing even though it’d be easier to go home.” It’s Giselle grabbing that sword.
Got any other tips for me? Does anyone else ever struggle with passive characters?