Marginalized Characters

Marginalized characters.

At the gym one of my female friends told me about a lesbian who is also a teacher who’s a pain in the ass because she makes waves and wants change. “She’s hard to stomach.” My gym mate is also a school counselor! I found a way to present to her a new way of looking at the problem as she saw it and also serve this blog with a method to put into the writers’ tool box, especially for developed characters like heroes and heroines.

I said, “when a person is traumatized by a group or individual who does not accept them, they often become defensive, especially if this happens over a lifetime. Some act out. They feel unloved and therefore have difficulty opening their heart. They might feel a need to justify themselves by rocking the boat. They may be perceived as having a chip on their shoulder. They scream instead of engage in dialogue. These people are deeply hurt. Knowing this, is the first step to becoming a friend and/or helping them.” My gym mate paused worried that I thought she had a prejudice. I told her that she obviously wanted the best for her lesbian co-worker, right? She looked to me as if she’d take a new approach to her co-worker. I dodged a bullet, because as a general rule one should not lecture another adult, however subtle it is delivered. A friend is a friend and perhaps she grew, if there was any growing to do!

What about the writers’ toolbox. Every one of us have been the other at one time or another in our lives. This is a critical tool in writing what motivates your character as the story arc takes them on a journey of change. I don’t mean to say that this is just another form of relativism. There is evil and good. There are not good people on both sides, as Donald would have us believe (does he think he’s educating us?). Good people can turn bad and bad people can turn good but they cannot be good and bad regarding something as fundamental as “all men are created equal.”

Make sure to give your hero or heroine some background/opinion/conceit or even prejudice that is at odds with the antagonist and make it dramatic. Yep, he’s the killer and the hero is the cop who’s going to catch him. Extra credit goes to the writer who applies maximum drama through the differences between the hero and heroine in a HEA. Or, the hero is black, and he resents the white female lifeguard who saves him from drowning. Given, the slings and arrows one gets while growing up and thereafter, the hero can be seen in a different light, if skillfully written.

Writing any genre or non-genre has the same feel when you ramp up the emotional, spiritual, and/or physical stakes.