Insecure characters?

[Noma Galway]

I was going over my master character list in my head today and realized I have no characters that aren't messed up in a pretty major way...in any of my works.

Noma: Suicidal
Briahna: Cutter
Kori: Anorexic, suicidal
Mari: Body dysmorphia (altered a bit)
Cassandra: Revenge obsessed (to the point where she brought her dead sister back to life just to kill said sister's widower)
Lara/Rayla: Brainwashed
Trysala: Grief-disabled
Leah: Avoidant personality disorder
And the list goes on...

I was wondering if this is normal. As a stage actress, I find most of my confidence comes from my adoption of a different persona, but none (repeat NONE) of my female characters have an assertive personality (except Trysala, but with the death of her sister, she has lost most of her drive). I find it comforting to slip into a different persona in daily life just to hide my own insecurity, but I also use it as character development sometimes, like roleplaying. This might make me sound vaguely insane, but I'd like to have just one character in my work that I can adopt the persona of to give me some social confidence. None of my characters really have that. I don't write confident main characters. I write main characters who seem confident to others (sometimes).

I guess my question is (and I may be in the wrong forum entirely)... Why is writing a confident character more difficult than writing an insecure character, and why do my attempts at creating a confident character tend to go awry?

 

[DaFlaminUnicorn]

I think it's because we nerds are typically insecure and unsociable because society rejects us. Of course now, society is mostly nerds (at least where I am) of some kind whether its tv, literature, or fashion. More confident characters are typically popular or have an "I don't care" attitude and I haven't seen you in school so I don't know if you were unpopular but I think you (and I) most relate to unpopular and insecure characters. I know you have probably seen and felt some kind of traumatic experience and I know of one of those that you have encountered. I have experienced traumatic things as well so I know how it feels. Most of your characters lash out and/or kill someone because of their problems or trauma/stress. Maybe this is your way of coping or dealing with said traumatic experience/s and stess.

 

[DaFlaminUnicorn]

(Just thought of this as well)
I know you write for fun and want to write for a profession but I think maybe some of your personal feelings are going into these characters and your thoughts are going into making them and their actions and feelings. This is like major philosophy and psychology right here but I think that this might actually be what's happening.

 

[Noma Galway]

I'd just like to say as a writer I think my own thoughts go into everything I write. And definitely if you want to go into the metaphysics and epistemology of writing it can get pretty deep. On a more surface level, I write cutters and suicidal characters because the mindset is easier for me to get into than a confident character. This is what I decided while I was eating. I've had both of those issues (I've also struggled a bit with body image and eating disorders), and you're probably exactly right. I write what I can relate to.

 

[Incanus]

Hmmmm. I think you should go ahead and try inventing and writing a confident character. If for no other reason than to stretch yourself. It will be difficult, but the attempt would almost certainly be a learning experience, resulting in a little growth (as a writer).

Maybe one way to try to get in the mind set is remember a time when you did have confidence about something--and it need not be anything large or important, like having confidence that your favorite basketball team was sure to win the upcoming game or something, and turning out to be right (not a sports fan, don't know why I thought of that). There must have been something in your life you felt sure about, and were justified. Take that and put it in a character who feels that way about everything, and you might be on your way. Add in some observations you've made about assertive, up-beat people and blam! Instant character.

I find it difficult as well, as someone riddled with doubts. This confident character somehow manages to brush off most of the nagging doubts that folk like you and I have. Yeah, try stepping into that role.

My two cents--

 

[psychotick]

Hi,

Because if I had to guess you're writing what you know. Your characters mirror some aspects of your own insecurities. Not necessarily a bad thing. But if you can't find that self confidence / security in yourself you're going to find it hard to write that sort of personality into your characters. I quite liked Incanus' idea as a project.

This is actually a wider topic than just confidence / insecurity in my view. As writers we are often encouraged to write what we know - and it is good advice in many ways. We come out with more realistic plots / world builds and more believable characters. But then we have to write a bad guy. And because we're not bad guys (I hope) we run the risk of writing cardboard cutout bad guys. It's very hard to get into the mind set of someone who's completely different to us.

Having said this I've been having fun lately writing totally horrible bad guys. My latest is a sexist, mysoginist, murderous pervert whose entire life is an extension of the phrase "Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely." It's actually quite fun painting him with a brush of complete self involvement and a total lack of insight into others - despite being a mind bender.

Maybe though I need to see a therapist!!!

Cheers, Greg.

 

[Chessie]

Oh, but insecure characters are so much more fun to write than confident ones! And really, everyone in this world has some sort of insecurity. We all have our positives & negatives. Your characters sound like real people to me. Maybe mix it up and have your insecure characters also have strong points. People with serious issues such as eating disorders battle with control in general, so maybe your character can be overconfident or fake confidence somehow.

 

[Noma Galway]

That is a good idea, Incanus, I may try it .
And on the topic of bad guys...I always think my bad guys are better than my good guys. My favorite character in my WIP (yes, I pick favorites) is Briahna, who isn't exactly evil, but she definitely has a sadistic, controlling streak, and I write that better than niceness.

I try to give my characters strong points, definitely. For Kori, I still don't know, though. She isn't as far along in the story as I'd like her to be (and the story is her diary, so that is also how I'm developing her).

Thanks!

 

[Feo Takahari]

I find it striking that you don't mention any characters who're overconfident. They might rush into a dangerous situation and get themselves hurt, or do bad things because they're certain their cause is righteous, or make tactical errors because they ignore others' expertise.

 

[Noma Galway]

I don't tend to write overconfident characters, which is why I excluded that category of characters.