NEW PARIS BOOK IN PROGRESS IN 2024: OUT OF CHARACTER – Blog # 23.
Diverge. Go wide. Go out of character. Does the character in your book always have to be in character? Do people in real life always act according to their own character? Is a person’s character ‘fixed’ or is it changeable? Is being ‘out of character’ normal or usual or what? Why do I have so many questions as I write by new Paris book?
Psychologists David DeSteno and Piercarlo Valdesolo, in their 2011 book Out of Character, say that a person’s character isn’t a stable set of traits, but rather “a shifting state that is subject to the constant push and pull of hidden mechanisms in our mind.” A person’s character is dynamic, they say. They even say that people are both saint and sinner in the one body and that everyone has an unpredictable character. DeSteno and Valdesolo conclude that it’s no use strictly defining someone’s character because people are “continually going to be surprised when their behaviour falls outside of those bounds.”
What does that mean for a writer trying to define a fictional character?
Is acting out of character just plain baffling or is there something deeper going on?
Is Jay Gatsby, the title character from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel The Great Gatsby acting out of character in his pursuit of Daisy Buchanan? Is he transformed by wealth and acting “out of character” for a person of humble beginnings? I’d argue no, he is in fact creating his own character to reinvent himself in his relentless quest for her.
Does Shrek in William Steig’s 1990 book Shrek act out of character in his anti-social, hostile state when he wants to be alone in his swamp, and then meets Fiona? Is he really a big scary monster? And – spoiler alert – what is Fiona’s real character at night when the world is sleeping?
Does a character acting out of character make for interesting reading? Does it make the novel’s plot unpredictable? I like the thought of this. I do have quite an unpredictable character in mind – acting out of character! I need to explore this more.
American actress Allison Williams said,
“In real life, we do things out of character, constantly. A couple of days ago, my shoes were hurting, so I walked barefoot through New York. Someone who has known me my whole life would think that was so out of character. But I did it because of the circumstances.”
Shoe pain was probably not what American author Sarah Jio was thinking of when she wrote, “People act out of character when they’re in pain.”
Some say jealousy makes people act out of character. Others say insults make people act out of character. Or nervousness. Or guilt. Or stress. Or societal pressure. Or sickness. Or psychosis. There are many reasons for a person to act out of character. Alexander McCall Smith, Scottish author of the 1998 novel The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, said,
“If a person acts out of character, then there’s one thing you can be sure of: there is something wrong.”
American actor Mark Ruffalo of the 2024 movie Poor Things said, “everyone’s been hurt, everyone’s felt loss, everyone has exultation, everyone has a need to be loved, or have lost love, so when you play a character, you’re pulling out those little threads and turning them up a bit.”
Mark Ruffalo sums up quite well why people act out of character from time to time, and why it’s interesting to explore why they are not doing what readers would expect them to do. It’s an inconsistent act – it’s temporary, but it could have extreme consequences. Serious consequences. Seriously good or seriously bad. Monumental consequences. Or … a twist of fate.
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Photographer: Martina Nicolls
