How Easy Is Character Development?

My purpose for writing this article is mainly to gather whether or not other users of the site see what I am about to discuss as an issue.

The matter concerns characters in stories. For the premise of this article, I will limit my analysis to creative writing on Mibba, including both Fan and Original Fiction

I am stating clearly now that I am not talking about anyone in particular. However it is highly likely that every writer, certainly on this particular website, has used 'characters' in their story and therefore will be able to relate to what I am about to discuss.

The topic is, as the title implies, character development.

It irritates me how firstly a great many of the central protagonists you encounter on Mibba, whether they be Mary Sues, Gary Stus or half well formed (the latter is fairly rare and often disguised as one of the first two), they are seldom given the chance to mature or grow in an manner that is fitting to their initial nature i.e. the impression we the readers are given from the outset.

I will demonstrate this for you now with a character and a scenario off the top of my head. The character will be an archetypal damsel protagonist, named Shelly Winters.

Shelly Winters, our young heroine, is first portrayed as being shy, often well read, with only a few close friends, and quite often not terribly experienced with the opposite sex, even though one of the close friends may well be an attractive male that has somehow escaped her attentions romantically.

I will explore the shy trait first. Shy Shelly Winters will be minding her own business and run into a conflict, perhaps with a bully in some form (usually a more socially accepted creature, more than likely resembling the qualities of a 'cheer leader' (see Footnote 1) when a young, dashing hero will step in and come to her aid.

Now, while this scenario is in keeping with the primary conception that Shelly Winters might not be able to stand up for herself at this early stage, the following part, which can be seen especially in fiction involving a band or musical group of some form, Shelly Winters will often almost instantly undergoes a metamorphosis. On being introduced to the young, dashing heroes friends, acquaintances and general allies, she is suddenly no longer a shy person - she is magically transformed into someone who can freely discuss her thoughts and feelings.

There will be a number of the young, dashing heroes friends who, just as he does, go out of their way to protect her, immediately assuming, as the young, dashing hero (and we the readers) did, that Shelly Winters is an intrinsically good person/character. She will immediately feel comfortable confiding in his friends about a possible love interest between herself and the young, dashing hero. Shelly Winters may also adopt a female friend at this point, usually someone of a 'bubbly' nature, perfectly happy to play the fun loving sidekick and gossip and shop in order to further bring out Shelly Winters fun, spontaneous side.

This is a very nice fantasy and often good rollicking fun (depending on the author and the spelling supplied) but it is not simply not good enough for a number of reasons.

Firstly, while it is natural that Shelly Winters admittedly small ego is inflated by the presence of young, dashing hero and co, it is less likely that her confidence would be so quick to materialize.

Of course, it would be all very well if Shelly Winters' relationships with the other members of the young, dashing heroes'' party were developed over the course of four or five months but it always seems to happen so incredibly quickly. There is no time for trust to be built. There is barely even time for those pesky secrets to be told, although there does always seem to be a spare second for the terrible dark past of someone to be revealed at precisely the most awkward moment.

Having said that, that does not really bother me a great deal as the idea of timing is an awfully tricky one to hone, even for professional writers. And for the greatest dramatic effect to be achieved, it does help if things happen at the 'most awkward moment', even if they lack realism. It is also down to opinion (see Footnote 2).

My real issue, and the thing that sparked off this stream of thought and nonsense, was my original example which I will now briefly go into.

And it is this - I find it perplexing to see characters, who are originally portrayed as being the stock 'good' character, who are so willing and who find it so natural and simple and essential to blackmail other characters or bargain with them, particularly ones about whom they know very little.

My opinion on the matter is this: it is a weak tool of the amateur writer who subconsciously believes that by allowing, say, Shelly Winters, to blackmail one of the other characters (preferably another central figure) that they will achieve two things.

One, they immediately have a plot that guarantees not only a conflict of some degree but more conversations and therefore more dialogue, upon which a lot of people on Mibba rely very heavily. And two, it is a simple way of allowing Shelly Winters to demonstrate, after a very short amount of time, that she is not only shy but 'sassy' when she wants to be. That, for some unfathomable reason, she does not let everybody walk all over her - she just ensures that the people who probably wouldn't anyway i.e. young, dashing hero, that she won't let them.

In doing so, Shelly Winters is actually demonstrating that she is in control of who controls her. Think of Mia in The Princess Diaries and the Eleanor Roosevelt quote - 'No one can make you feel inferior without your permission'.

Whether through fear or a need to remain seen as a 'damsel in distress', Shelly Winters allows herself to remain being beaten down, be it verbally, physically, emotionally, mentally. This last point has more to do with internal character turmoil than external development but it is still worth considering.

Anyway, there you have it. Let me say just once more that I wasn't aiming this at anyone and I wish everyone the best in their writing.

Footnote 1 - On the subject of 'cheer leaders' in stories, I find it exceptionally lazy stereotyping that the 'cheer leader' in question is A) usually blonde, B) viciously nasty for no apparent reason C) intolerably self centered and D) that she is quite often dating someone who takes an interest in the main female protagonist i.e. dear Shelly Winters.
Is it not more likely that if Shelly Winters was as shy and 'invisible' as she is said to be that the 'cheer leader' would not have noticed her in the first place, given her 'intolerable self centeredness'? Would this surely not be more in keeping with the 'cheer leader's primary qualities?

For once, I would like to see a bully who is not a perfectly formed, blonde girl who is hated on sight for easily fitting into size zero skirts. If bullies are generally rather unhappy people, why don't we dehumanize another clique of the 'high school' diegesis? Why is this one group of people the only ones that in stories we see repeatedly mocked in some way? Is everyone doing a 'Geoffrey Chaucer', turning their real life enemies into fictional counter parts they can tear to pieces and, in Chaucer's words, make 'naked for eternity'?

Maybe it is time that autobiographical stories were put on hold and we wrote from our imaginations rather than merely relying on repressed anger and resentment.

Footnote 2 - E.g; Virginia Woolf is considered to be a leading writer on the theme of time, etc, but I didn't find the use of time in Mrs Dalloway all that enlightening. If anything, it was rather pretentious.