Wattpad Rants

22. Orphans/Abusive Parents

"My parents are dead. Yes, they died in a fire when I was ten."

WARNING!: This chapter contains brief mentions of child abuse. If at any point you feel uncomfortable, feel free to stop reading.

I don't even know what to say. The number of orphans on this site is too damn high!

Listen, I know it's difficult to write about family members for characters, but you don't have to just delete them out of existence!

At this point, the main character's introduction is basically: Name; location; dream; how their parents died. I'm not even exaggerating.

And the weird part is that it's always some "trauma-inducing accident when they were really young". Why can't we have any "orphans" whose parents died at a ripe old age and they were able to healthily accept it? Believe me, if you want to give your characters trauma, there are plenty of ways to do so. Plenty of ways that you have to think up yourself.

Also, why do the deaths get mentioned so rarely? I swear it's like a once-in-a-blue-moon occurrence. Once during their introduction (or the very first time it's brought up), another handful of times during the story (where they probably get shut down very quickly), and eventually their singular chapter dedicated to a breakdown and getting over it.

That's it. Sometimes there are subtle mentions or traits that the characters have that point in the right or wrong direction of coping, but those are in good stories. I'm talking about bad stories. Ones where a parent is either nonexistent or abusive.

SPEAKING OF WHICH—abusive parents. Or, more often, singular abusive parent. This honestly, just feels extremely insensitive. Abuse shouldn't be joked about. I am, in no way, shape, or form, qualified to talk about this topic, but here we are. I'm not saying any of this to make light of the real people going through these horrible situations, I'm just pointing out how it's often portrayed on this site.

While of course, this isn't every story, I see this sort of scenario pop up pretty often:

"My [insert parent here] is just awful to me. I don't know why; all I've ever done is try to make them proud, but it doesn't ever work. The only reason why they haven't killed me yet is because of [insert other parent here], who is the only person who makes my life worth it anymore."

Y'know?

And then, there are the instances where "parents being parents" is equivalent to "parents being abusive". If a parent IN A COMPLETELY FICTIONAL STORY is trying to have a civilized conversation with their child, and said child is being a dick for no reason, then we have a problem. If you want me to know that a person in a story has a bad family life, feel free to actually add some instances of the bad family life instead of your main character going, "Oh yeah, those are my parents... they're super abusive." Again, showing usually gets a point across better than telling.

And now, you might be wondering, "But Coffee, everything in a story is "telling," you have to read it." and to that, I say, good observation, but not everything in a written format counts as "telling". For example, actions don't quite count as telling, even if you're reading them off of a page. Dialogue can also show a character's intentions without the narrator's predetermined judgment of them.

Anywho, this is getting off-topic. Where were we again? Oh, yes, dead parents.

Listen, if your protagonist's parents aren't a plot point, just say they moved somewhere else or MC has gotten over their inevitable death. It's not that difficult. AND AGAIN, it's completely fine to write a story where someone has a deceased loved one, it affects a character's personality or shows signs of coping that vary wildly—and can be an important part of the plot—I'm just pointing out how it can be overused/misused in writing on this site.

~•~

673 words

"I see this A LOT in fanfiction. What do you think? Honestly, this one got the slightest bit unhinged, but I believe all of them have at this point. Vote, comment your thoughts, and I'll see you next chapter!"

- Coffee