Expanding on his previous post on Writer Unboxed, David Corbett continues his exploration of character. Earlier, he suggested that moments of helplessness can reveal character without the writer having to resort to backstory. In this post, he discusses how those moments can generate behavior.
How characters avoid dealing with negative emotions can be revealing. Do they drink, talk, or eat too much when they feel threatened, overwhelmed, or rejected? Do they lash out when they are criticized or feel lonely? Corbett likes the term “pathological maneuvers” precisely because it conveys the maladaptive thinking and actions that arise in these moments. He offers some specific examples of how a painful or humiliating experience can cause a character to behave in unhelpful ways.
Moments of helplessness might teach your character avoidance, deflection, projection, or denial. They might act out, self-injure, or take irresponsible risks. Unconsciously, they might model the maladaptive behavior that caused them harm, or bad behavior that helped someone else get what they want. “Pathological Maneuvers are the collection of behavioral traits that reveal the false sense of safety, control, empowerment, or concealment that allows the character to ward off the depression, self-hatred, or anxiety she feels when she recognizes that she is not the person she truly wants to be, or living the life she truly wants to live,” Corbett explains.
However, they are also persistent virtues. Consider the times your character learned courage, forgiveness, self-regard, or trust, and how that influences their behavior. Did they learn to be brave under fire or the value of unconditional love? “Using this methodology will allow you to envision opening scenes for your story where the character, by exhibiting the Pathological Maneuver or the Persistent Virtue—or both—implicitly indicates her troubled or confidence-boosting past without belaboring it through a detailed explication of backstory,” Corbett says. “The unique, problematic, puzzling, or just plain odd nature of that behavior will create empathy, intrigue, or both, forcing the reader to wonder what in the past has produced the curious thoughts and actions exhibited by the character.”
This method also allows you to reveal how your character changes by showing how their behavior changes. You may or may not reveal the underlying events, depending on the nature of your story and how well the revelation fits. “Sometimes leaving unanswered the question as to what caused that behavior lends intrigue or poignancy to your portrayal, and explicit explanation would only undermine that,” Corbett says.
