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The thing you're seeking to avoid is creating a character who is nothing but an inverted collection of stereotypes. That's arguably better than just relying on the original stereotypes, but not ...
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#3: Attribution notice added
by
System
·
2019-12-08T11:35:33Z (about 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/44258 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision
by
Chris Sunami
·
2019-12-08T11:35:33Z (about 5 years ago)
The thing you're seeking to avoid is creating a character who is **nothing but an inverted collection of stereotypes**. That's arguably better than just relying on the original stereotypes, but not by all that much. You avoid this by putting the work in to create a three dimensional character. Some typical advice for doing this is: - Give her a complete backstory (not in the story, but in your mind) - Do the research (interview, study, read about, or otherwise get into the head of someone like your character) - Make sure she's not just serving a functional purpose in your story. Samuel Delany suggests guarding against this by giving your character [three types of actions](https://writing.stackexchange.com/questions/40240/what-is-meant-by-purposeful-habitual-and-gratuitous-actions) --purposeful (goal oriented), habitual (characteristic of this particular character), and "gratuitous" (related to a life outside the framework of the story).
#1: Imported from external source
by
System
·
2019-04-01T18:40:39Z (over 5 years ago)
Original score: 15