Craft Glossary · term

Characterization by contradiction

← Craft Glossary · Character & Dialogue

Plain English: People feel real when they don't fully add up — the tough one who flinches at the dentist, the genius who can't park a car. Lamott: pay attention to quirks and contradictions.

Rule: Give important characters at least one telling contradiction, shown in behavior.

Fail: The "sainted genius" — a character whose only flaw is being too brilliant or too good. (This repo's editor-feedback method fixes a sainted figure with un-noble cost to others, grafted onto existing scenes, with the narrator refusing to excuse it.)

See: Editor-feedback craft method (memory) · academic/EXTERNALEDITORIALFEEDBACK.md

Arjuna Badger Press · Craft Library

Glossary · Doctrine · Anti-patterns · Triptych form · LLM tells

← Back to glossary