Why are my characters so snarky?

[Prince of Spires]

Sounds like you leased our Etienne Knight for the day.

Etienne was definitely more honorable than this one Though maybe I was just missing a stimulant addicted mage for him to fall in love with...

But I can definitely see how much fun Etienne would have been to write. And that's the funny thing here. When reading I generally like my good guys to be good. They can be flawed and all, but I like them to be honorable and winning and all that. And when I started writing, that was what I wrote as well. Then I wrote this character. I really did need to convince myself to write him. But once I started putting words on the page, he was just so much fun to write. It actually surprised me.

That doesn't mean he was easy to write. Like I mentioned, regressing with characters until they all match my primary personality is something I need to keep paying attention to. But there's something great about having a character contemplate all the ways he can smash someone's face into a table, or having him knee someone in the groin during a civil negotiation just because it's taking too long. That sort of thing. Yes, writers are terrible people, but it really is fun.

It starts with being aware that you need to write the other, and that you give yourself permission to actually do so. And I my case I sometimes need to forget that my father in law reads my books before I can give myself that permission...

 

[A. E. Lowan]

Etienne was definitely more honorable than this one Though maybe I was just missing a stimulant addicted mage for him to fall in love with...

But I can definitely see how much fun Etienne would have been to write. And that's the funny thing here. When reading I generally like my good guys to be good. They can be flawed and all, but I like them to be honorable and winning and all that. And when I started writing, that was what I wrote as well. Then I wrote this character. I really did need to convince myself to write him. But once I started putting words on the page, he was just so much fun to write. It actually surprised me.

That doesn't mean he was easy to write. Like I mentioned, regressing with characters until they all match my primary personality is something I need to keep paying attention to. But there's something great about having a character contemplate all the ways he can smash someone's face into a table, or having him knee someone in the groin during a civil negotiation just because it's taking too long. That sort of thing. Yes, writers are terrible people, but it really is fun.

It starts with being aware that you need to write the other, and that you give yourself permission to actually do so. And I my case I sometimes need to forget that my father in law reads my books before I can give myself that permission...

Yeah... my in-laws read our books, too. >.< And my parents probably would have if they'd been given a chance, but they did get to see the proof of Faerie Rising and hold it, and when my dad grinned at my mom and said, "It's real!" that was the best moment of my life.

I'm also glad they didn't read them. Writing fun is only the half of it and my mom was a harridan of the highest order and my first writing teacher. There are some things I did not want her making mental lists about, and Winter's parents were one of them.

And yes, you are absolutely right and OP's going to want to make a note of this: good characters are not always easy characters to write. Some of ours have gotten me crying so hard I couldn't see the keyboard to type. Fortunately, I'm a pro and don't need to see to do my job. Such emo. Many cry cry. The Books of Binding: Soap opera with a side of dragons.

 

[Ban]

To veer a little off-topic, I believe not all snark is equal and some serves a better or more apt purpose in a given story than others. There's a teenager's snark, marked by irony, sarcasm and an underlying fear of genuine displays of emotion. If written well, such snark can give life to a character of that age and reveal the insecurities and immaturity inherent to being a teenager (whichever former teenager who didn't snark may cast the first stone). If attached to a fully grown and seemingly mature adult (as often occurs in fiction) this form of snark comes off as poor characterization however.

Another form of snark is what I'd call "salt of the earth" or tradesman's snark. Anyone who has ever worked trades will be familiar with it. It is masculine, light-hearted riffing and pestering that serves as a way to pass time, test the boundaries of colleagues and haze those fresh to the trade. There is purpose to this version of snark that builds bonds and enforces group dynamics. The utility is different and the application as well from the previous form of snark, as it arrives from a different background and need. By extension, this is the type of snark I would miss in a story where tradesmen, soldiers or similar professions are front and center.

Then somewhere in between I'd place sorority/fraternity snark. Adolescent in its emotional source and manner, but alike the tradesman's snark in purpose and utility. Of course one could find more types of snark, but I think I illustrated my point. Different contexts and different manners bring with them different relevance. A writer must discern whether or not their inclusion of snark serves a worthwhile purpose, or is mere deflection from deeper emotional scenery.

 

[pmmg]

When I think of 'snark' I think of Bart Simpson, which for me, might work for that character, but I do not appreciate in others. For me, it more likely to be a turn off than something the makes me want to read more.

But...it is definitely true that some interact this way, and is a bonding mechanism.

 

[Fyri]

When I think of 'snark' I think of Bart Simpson, which for me, might work for that character, but I do not appreciate in others. For me, it more likely to be a turn off than something the makes me want to read more.

But...it is definitely true that some interact this way, and is a bonding mechanism.

Lol, I think of Ian Malcom from Jurassic Park.

 

[pmmg]

Yeah...we probably would not have gotten along.

 

[Jackarandajam]

To veer a little off-topic, I believe not all snark is equal and some serves a better or more apt purpose in a given story than others. There's a teenager's snark, marked by irony, sarcasm and an underlying fear of genuine displays of emotion. If written well, such snark can give life to a character of that age and reveal the insecurities and immaturity inherent to being a teenager (whichever former teenager who didn't snark may cast the first stone). If attached to a fully grown and seemingly mature adult (as often occurs in fiction) this form of snark comes off as poor characterization however.

Another form of snark is what I'd call "salt of the earth" or tradesman's snark. Anyone who has ever worked trades will be familiar with it. It is masculine, light-hearted riffing and pestering that serves as a way to pass time, test the boundaries of colleagues and haze those fresh to the trade. There is purpose to this version of snark that builds bonds and enforces group dynamics. The utility is different and the application as well from the previous form of snark, as it arrives from a different background and need. By extension, this is the type of snark I would miss in a story where tradesmen, soldiers or similar professions are front and center.

Then somewhere in between I'd place sorority/fraternity snark. Adolescent in its emotional source and manner, but alike the tradesman's snark in purpose and utility. Of course one could find more types of snark, but I think I illustrated my point. Different contexts and different manners bring with them different relevance. A writer must discern whether or not their inclusion of snark serves a worthwhile purpose, or is mere deflection from deeper emotional scenery.

An example of teenage snark in an adult would be the computer guy sidekick from National Treasure, I think. A pretty common trope for showing the audience "what the MC is about to do is dangerous and audacious, see how reticent this dry-humored lackey is?"

 

[Fyri]

An example of teenage snark in an adult would be the computer guy sidekick from National Treasure, I think. A pretty common trope for showing the audience "what the MC is about to do is dangerous and audacious, see how reticent this dry-humored lackey is?"

Riley!

To combat the idea that this is poor characterization, I identify with his character most out of the characters in National Treasure. Adults are sarcastic and witty and childish too. I think the art is more--making the motive/personality clear and making sure it fits realistically for character in the situation at hand.

People say funny things in dangerous situations sometimes. I yelled at a fire alarm to shut up at 3am in college. Actually, me yelling ended up waking up my roommates where the fire alarm didn't. XD

 

[Jackarandajam]

Riley!

To combat the idea that this is poor characterization, I identify with his character most out of the characters in National Treasure. Adults are sarcastic and witty and childish too. I think the art is more--making the motive/personality clear and making sure it fits realistically for character in the situation at hand.

People say funny things in dangerous situations sometimes. I yelled at a fire alarm to shut up at 3am in college. Actually, me yelling ended up waking up my roommates where the fire alarm didn't. XD

Oh, I don't think it's a bad trope, just commonly mishandled. It's almost always a 2 dimensional side character whose sole purpose is to make the MC look brave.
Even in national treasure I thought the character was extremely underdeveloped.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

We lean in on dark - or gallows - humor for our tension relief or else we'd probably veer a bit closer to Grimdark than I'd like. I come from a medical family and my parents were both from New Jersey. The combination meant I was raised with an extremely sharp edge to my funny. This is actually something I wrote last night for our next book just as a very tiny warning label for anyone foolish enough to pick this series up mid-run.

~~

Jessie snorted with the deep note of the gallows’ drop that was so often associated with Seahaven’s local sense of humor. “The people who periodically try to kill me don’t seem to care about my graduation status one way or another. And once my magic gets used up, I go back to just being a little fat chick with a razor wit.”

 

[Naruzeldamaster]

Reading your comments, it might be a case where you have to step away from your primary personality a bit and make the characters less like you. When writing, it's very easy to make characters like yourself. After all, that's how you know how to react and that's your primary reaction to most situations. I know I'm definitely guilty of this.

It takes a concious effort to write someone else. The good thing is that you know how to react like this. You either have done this yourself in specific situations. You're not always bantering with everyone you meet. Maybe you've been shy once. Or just hated someone on sight. Or whatever. And/or you've seen other people react in different ways. Dig into that. It can be uncomfortable, but it's worth it.

Also, it can be a lot of fun, once you allow yourself to do so. At one point I needed an asshole as a character. A complete bastard who swore at everything and everyone. Allowing myself to write him was hard. but once I gave myself permission he was a lot of fun. You get to do all the things you in real life maybe don't dare. Or to experience someone else. So do that, and dig deeper.

Small note, keep reminding yourself of this as you write. I've noticed a tendency during novels that characters tend to converge to a single personality as the story progresses, unless I pay attention to their different personalities.

It is part of my 'process' in character creation that I take a facet of myself (hell sometimes it's just a fragment of a facet, like taking one of my pet peeves and applying it to that characters personality) and crank it up to anime levels of goofy extremes when writing my characters. I've gotten some interesting results especially for female characters, since at the core they're based on me but they're very different due to gender based things in general.

I need to learn to lean into what's different from them compared to me personally and focus on that more.

I've found out that I don't enjoy writing a stoic, whenever I use that personality type I always wind up writing the kind that are 'aware' of their stoic-ness and their whole character arch is finding their own ways to overcome it and become less stoic. In some cases they succeed, but to say they are socially awkward due to not understanding emotion at all is an understatement.

 

[LittleOwlbear]

I like some good banter in moderation, but maybe you do it, because you have seen it in a lot of popular movies. Like cheap, snarky one liners in Marvel movies and other action movies, in some romances love interests constantly being snarky etc.
Snark often becomes annoying when it gets too much or in situations where it wouldn't fit right.