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Q&A Do my characters need to have different mannerisms in order to be perceived as different?

My editor returned to me with her initial critique of my novel, saying some characters were too similar, and that they had the same likes and dislikes and flaws. The characters she mentioned were ...

2 answers  ·  posted 6y ago by Klara Raškaj‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T08:46:43Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/35996
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar Klara Raškaj‭ · 2019-12-08T08:46:43Z (almost 5 years ago)
My editor returned to me with her initial critique of my novel, saying some characters were too similar, and that they had the same likes and dislikes and flaws.

The characters she mentioned were exactly the characters whose personalities were more shown through their actions throughout the story, rather than dialog and me (the narrator) flat out pointing it out to the reader.

Who's in the right here? Am I just delusional or something, or do people really not catch on more subtle differences that aren't cartooney and extreme. Is it really true I can't have two characters be, for example both jolly or both stern and serious because then people think they're the same even though their motivations, goals, and more subtle aspects of the personalities are completely different?

I wrote this book keeping in mind that people thought I was treating my audience like idiots, constantly spelling things out for them and overexplaining. Now that I finally tried to back away from that, it backlashes.

I'm not sure what or who to believe anymore.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2018-05-08T06:23:12Z (over 6 years ago)
Original score: 11