Loading…
9
A beta reader told me my main guy was 'just a cardboard cutout with a gun'
I was sure my action story was solid, just needed more fights. Then a friend who read it said my hero had zero real wants besides revenge. She wrote, 'He's just a cardboard cutout with a gun. I don't know why he likes dogs or hates the rain.' That hit me hard. I spent the next week throwing out my old character sheet and writing a new one. Now he's scared of deep water from a bad thing that happened when he was a kid, and he collects weird mugs. The plot is mostly the same, but he makes different choices because of those small things. It's way better. Has anyone else had a simple note totally flip a character for them?
3 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In3 Comments
terry_hayes185mo ago
Man, that 'cardboard cutout' line would have wrecked me for a week too. Good on you for taking it and doing the work. It's wild how the smallest details change everything. My guy in a thing I wrote was just angry all the time until I gave him a thing where he fixes old radios. Suddenly he had a quiet side, a place to think. It made the angry moments mean more. Those little habits are everything.
7
the_gray5mo ago
Exactly! I see this all the time with people, not just characters. My neighbor is just "the grumpy guy" until you learn he walks his dog at the same time every morning and knows all the local squirrels by name. That one habit flips the whole script on who you think he is.
5
rowan_thomas3mo ago
Hold on, is it really that simple though? Slapping a fear of water and a mug collection onto a character doesn't automatically make him deep if his core motivation is still just revenge.
6