Touche Cliche ― The Book of Cliches

-rant; using a character

03. using a character

[explicit content ahead, beware your child-like eyes]

This is going to be a different type of chapter [yes, I'm going to act like I didn't drop this book for over a month], what I call a rant. This is going to be unedited [except for grammatical errors] and just straight from the heart. 

There are various ways to use a character [usually a very undeveloped one]: we discussed the himbo/bimbo and scapegoat in the second chapter, but I wanted to talk more broadly about it today. 

Over my month hiatus, I've taken the time to read a bunch of books, online and in real life. Here are some examples of using a character in literature:

THE DEAD DIVERSE CHARACTER;

I cannot tell you the number of times I've read about diverse characters who end up dying to attempt to 'raise the stakes' in a book (usually a thriller). 

I have no problem with a diverse character dying, but the authors who use this often kill them abruptly, with no foreshadowing or build-up or tension. 

It infuriates me to read because it feels like the character was only added when most of the book was written and the author was like, 

❝Oh, I forgot to add a person of colour/an LGBT+ character and my story feels like the characters are walking around with invisible shields around them. I know what I'll do, I'll add an LGBT+ person of colour and have them die to make my story realistic and kill three birds with one stone.❞ 

Horrendous dialogue aside, the trope is just downright offensive and, as a person of colour myself, I DNF a book when I see something like this unless I have faith the author will save the book somehow.

THE VICTIM;

[TRIGGER WARNING]

Unlike the first one, I will DNF a book as soon as I see this trope on a page. It's disgusting whenever I see this sort of thing happen. 

This is characterised (by me) as when an author will write a villain and then add another character to the story who is tormented by the villain and whose only purpose is to show that the villain is a bad person. 

I've read a book where a woman rapes a man three-quarters of the way into the story then the man is never mentioned again. 

You cannot use a heavy topic like rape and then completely ignore the victim of said assault. I'm not gonna go in-depth on rape because it is something I'm not ready or comfortable enough to discuss yet, but it seriously put a bad taste in my mouth after that. 

[TRIGGER WARNING]

There are other things a villain can do to the victim like everybody's favourite; torture, assault, murdering/tormenting a friend/loved one, gaslighting, extreme harassment, the previously mentioned rape/sexual assault and forced drug use, to name a few. 

These are all very offensive to those who have suffered from them and a good author would steer clear of these and try to develop a well-rounded complex villain (should I create a guide on that?)

THE HARLOT;

[TRIGGER WARNING, though you should know by now.]

This is different from the bimbo and is most commonly found in YA books, this character is always female. 

The only purpose of this character is to place the main protagonist on a pedestal and make her 'effortlessly beautiful' whilst the harlot has to add tons and tons of makeup to her face and use sex as a way to affirm her beauty. 

This character shouldn't be shamed, especially in YA where you have impressionable teens reading this! 

This character disappoints me more than it disgusts me as you could flip it on its head, have the 'effortlessly beautiful' girl be the antagonist, set in her ways, whilst 'The Harlot' is the complex main protagonist, both are complex and provide a better storyline (see, I just came up with a better story in five minutes). 

[That's it, folks, stick around if you want to hear me poorly explain why I left.]

Long story short, I've been studying for exams since April, I had my exams in May and couldn't write stories or essays only commenting on some books I was reading between study sessions. 

Now, over the past year or so, my charger for my laptop was broken because everything I touch breaks (yay!) and I've been using my sister's, but that broke because that's what you get when you buy your chargers from a shoddy Poundland ripoff. 

We've just got new ones for £26.00 each and now we're completely broke, but I will be able to upload new chapters, so yay?

WORD COUNT; 813

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED; Mon, 18 June at 7: 40 pm