/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.15369232]

Why do people use the expression "out of character" for fiction? In my experience, most people in real life are inconsistent and unreliable in terms of their emotions and behavior.

[Anonymous No.15369248]

>>15369232
i agree somewhat
for example, I didn't understand why people complained characters didn't act in character during the last season of GOT.

fiction isn't realistic, though.

[Anonymous No.15369257]

>>15369232
There's a term for people who always remain in character. We call them NPCs.

[Anonymous No.15369258]

>>15369232
I feel the same, anon bro. People even go so far as saying "lol this isn't realistic" or "they ruined his character, show now sucks": They expecr fucking made up, fictitious stories to adhere to some transcendental laws that don't exist at all. Reality is stranger than fiction. This is unironically why I can't enjoy fiction as much as I used to, I'd rather read philosophy or history.
It gets even more retarded when die-hard aspies argue about stuff like "Goku'd totally trash Madara lol": I could simply invent a character named "One Gaze Man" who kills both of them simply by looking at them once.

[Anonymous No.15369290]

>>15369248
>fiction isn't realistic
Right, fiction has to adhere to rules that aren't binding in real life and is under more pressure to always be "consistent." Patricians go to History of the Peloppenisian War for epic stuff, not fucking Game of Thrones.
>inb4 "b-but there's some made up stuff in Thucydides, too!"
shut up, faggot

[Anonymous No.15369360]

If a character undergoes a psychological transformations which makes them act differently it is your job as a writer do not gloss over it.

[Anonymous No.15369396]

>>15369232
>most people in real life are inconsistent and unreliable in terms of their emotions and behavior
Those people could be described as acting out of character. It's a description, not a criticism, although lazy thinkers often use it that way.

[Anonymous No.15369409]

>>15369290
nigga thats the most stupid take on this literally
go suck your tranny moms dick retard

[Anonymous No.15369441]

>>15369409
What the fuck did you just fucking say about me, you little bitch? I'll have you know I graduated top of my English Lit class at Yale and I've been involved in numerous secret raids on r/books and I have written over 300 peer-reviewed articles in academic journals. I am trained in Ancient Philosophy and I'm the top Nietzsche scholar in the entire Western Hemisphere. You are nothing to me but just another pseud. I will wipe you the fuck out with reasoning the likes of which has never been seen before on this Earth, mark my fucking words. You think you can get away with saying that shit to me over the Internet? Think again, fucker. As we speak I am contacting my secret network of Nick Land bots aross the Shanghai area and your IQ is being assessed right now so you better prepare for the storm, maggot. The storm that wipes out the pathetic little thing you call your mind. You're fucking dead, kid. I can be anywhere, anytime, and I can refute you in over seven hundred ways, and that's just with my somatosensory cortex. Not only am I extensively trained in Guenonian Traditionalism, but I have access to the entire arsenal of Scholastic writings on modal logic and I will use them to their full extent to wipe your miserable ass off the face of the board, you little shit. If only you could have known what unholy retribution your little "clever" comment was about to bring down upon you, maybe you would have held your fucking tongue. But you couldn't, you didn't, and now you're paying the price, you goddamn idiot. I will shit memes all over you and you will drown in them. You're fucking dead, kiddo.

[Anonymous No.15369777]

>>15369232
Characters changing in fiction is only good if well done and on purpose as that is nearly the point of fiction; that's why fanfiction is bad and you shouldn't compare your life to fiction because people are fickle.

[Anonymous No.15369927]

>>15369232
I only ever hear this complaint about TV shows or other stories with multiple writers, where a character might act differently depending on who's writing the episode. Actual literature doesn't have this problem. Maybe you should try reading a book.

[Anonymous No.15370305]

>>15369777
So people are fickle in real life but they can't be or shouldn't be fickle in fiction because...?

[Anonymous No.15370346]

>>15370305
In fiction, they must be predictably/explanably fickle or at least believably so in relation to other fictional characters.

[Anonymous No.15370575]

>>15370346
>in fiction, they must be predictably/explanably fickle or at least believably so
>they MUST be
Says who? Is there a codex fiction writers have to follow lest they get kicked out of the Author's Guild and most people simply aren't aware of it? Where did you pull this from? Hint: out of your ass doesn't count.

This is the reason some guys stop reading fiction and focus on philosophy, religion, history, economics, politics etc. Fiction HAS to make sense, whereas real life has to do shit. I bet if 9/11 was written as a novel exactly the way it went down there'd be a ton of autistic try-hards on the Internet whining about the "massive plotholes" and "unrealistic characterization". It's ok to crave escapism once in a while but if it ever gets to the point where you complain about "unrealistic" characterization so much you write 3000 word essays on it you definitely need to get an actual life.

[Anonymous No.15370621]

>>15369232
Despite what postmodernists would have you believe, stories that don't make sense are not entertaining. In order to make sense characters have to stay consistent to their motivation, they can't just switch from one personality to the next without warning otherwise the suspension of disbelief is broken and the story becomes stupid

[Anonymous No.15370655]

>>15369232
I agree with this entirely. It's always annoying reading film critics saying things like "that was out of character", like the ending of Nymphomaniac. Fuck no, it wasn't.

[Anonymous No.15370664]

>>15370575
I'm sorry I hit a nerve, I only meant that it must be so because that's what mainstream entertainment dictates and people find acceptable, otherwise you will have people crying plot holes and OoC, not that you should listen to them if they aren't your audience.

[Anonymous No.15370670]

>>15370621
That sort of beats the point of realism, ironically. Given that people in real life are not consistent with there motivations.

[Anonymous No.15370705]

>>15370670
That's why 99% of people are not entertaining, they're actually quite dull sweetie :)

[Anonymous No.15370710]

>>15370621
"Guys, I'm telling you, this World War II shit is dumbest thing I've read. Why the fuck would that Hitler guy attack Russia if he had a NAP with them? He could've just leave them be and focus on the Western Front. Major plothole right there. Also, no way an entire section of the populace would've been ostracized put in concentration camps. Nobody would do that to that many people. Totally broke the immersion. Whoever wrote this can't write for shit."
This is how retarded you sound. Also,
>le ebil postmodern boogie man
Seethe harder.

[Anonymous No.15370719]

>>15370705
Depends. I think a lot of drastic and explosive decisions are quite entertaining to watch. Like sudden crimes and stuff.

[Anonymous No.15370743]

>>15370664
>that's what mainstream entertainment dictates
In creative endeavors like literature and film, rules are meant to be broken so long as it's done skillfully
>people would be crying about plotholes
They'd do that no matter what. Who cares? Although I see and awknowledge your point, I get what you're saying

[Anonymous No.15370757]

>>15370710
>NOOOOOOOOOOOO FICTION HAS TO BE CONFUSING AND CONVOLUTED JUST LIKE REAL LIFE YOU CAN'T HAVE LOGIC AND CONSISTENCY IN YOUR STORY NOOOOOO
You obviously don't know how to write fiction, much less what makes fiction good or not

[Anonymous No.15370801]

>>15369232
being inconsistent and unreliable would be that person's character, thus making their alleged out-of-characterness very much in-character

[Anonymous No.15370840]

>>15369258
>I could simply invent a character named "One Gaze Man" who kills both of them simply by looking at them once.
No way man UI Goku could take him

[Anonymous No.15370865]

>>15370757
>NOOOOOOOOOOOO FICTION HAS TO BE SIMPLE AND MAKE SENSE JUST LIKE A VIDEO GAME YOU CAN'T HAVE REALISM AND INCONSISTENCIES IN YOUR STORY NOOOOOOOOOOOO

[Anonymous No.15370872]

People don’t change except over long periods of time. They are predictable once you pin them down. Games like poker or mafia/werewolf aren’t fun when you intimately know the group of people, as they will all act In predictable ways according to their character. Exerting effort to first think of something different to do, then to have enough willpower to do that thing that is uncomfortable for the person as the action is outside their scope of common activities is exceedingly rare.

[Anonymous No.15370876]

>>15370801
Sure, but that's not how most people use it.

[Anonymous No.15370914]

Why convolute a story with realism unless it unless that realism is part of the story you are trying to tell?

[Anonymous No.15370925]

Why convolute a story with realism unless that realism is part of the story you are trying to tell?

[Anonymous No.15370931]

>>15369232
It's for when forced bullshit has to happen in the plot and requires an uncharacteristic move from a character.

[Anonymous No.15370974]

>>15370865
>PLOT HOLES? ASS PULLS? RETCONS? THOSE ARE THE MARK OF QUALITY WRITING BECAUSE THEY'RE "REALISTIC" BECAUSE PEOPLE IRL ARE SO UNPREDICTABLE AND CHAOTIC AND ITS EVERYTHING

[Anonymous No.15370988]

>>15370974
>I DON'T UNDERSTAND THIS, THEFORE, IT'S A PLOT HOLINO!! WHY DOESN'T THIS CHARACTER ACT LIKE I WOULD ACT??!!! THIS MAKES NO SENSE NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO I WANT MY VIDEO GAME LOGIC BACK!!!!

[Anonymous No.15371012]

>>15369232
It is comfortable when people are somewhat predictable. When people act in ways we don't expect we are thrown off-guard. If that happens too much or too intensely it can give us severe trust issues. The whole world depends on us staying true to form. Of course we need to give creativity some room but not too much, lest we start expecting a cat in every hat.

[Anonymous No.15371025]

>>15370988
Fine, tell me your favorite book, movie and anime.

[Anonymous No.15371032]

>>15371025
The Brother's Karamazov
8 1/2
I don't watch anime

[Anonymous No.15371040]

>>15371025
Finnegans Wake, El topo, idk Evangelion I guess.

[Anonymous No.15371048]

>>15370743
Calm down, Beavis. He's not making a personal attack on you.

[Anonymous No.15371145]

>>15371040
>nonsensical drivel
>Finnegan's Wake
Why am I not surprised?

[Anonymous No.15372610]

>>15371145
>Finnegan's
Pleb. Opinion discarded.

[Anonymous No.15372907]

>>15370621
>Despite what postmodernists would have you believe

Dropped. Go clean your penis, lobsterboi.