How to Be a Nuanced Male Character*

[dagas_isa]

There are so many guides and resources out there for writing complex and dynamic female characters, and I was thinking that maybe the male characters and their writers are feeling a bit left out. In a sea of white male characters, there needs to be something about each particular one that makes them complex and unique individuals worthy of an entire narrative. After all, if there's one thing we've learned from studying female characters, it's that the merest whiff of a stereotype or archetype on them can condemn a character to the pile of uninteresting paper dolls.

So if you are, in fact, a male character who is perhaps a little doubtful of your status as a well-developed and three-dimensional fictional being, the following list will help you and your creator develop you into a nice, round character that everyone can relate to.

• Be a nice guy. You should be bumbling and good-natured but not too bright. If you’re below the age of majority in your canon, you could even be naive too. People relate to you, and watching you be nice makes them feel good.
  
  
• Conversely, you could also be a Nice Guy, which gives you almost all the sympathy of a nice guy without actually having to think about the well-being of anyone else. If anyone calls you out on what an asshole you really are, don’t worry, they’re just psycho male-character haters.
  
  
• If you can’t pull off any kind of “nice,” there’s always the jerk option which ranges from mildly snarky to out-and-out psychopath. You may, if there are children/defenseless women/helpless minorities involved, conceal a heart of gold. Men hate mush and women love bad boys, though so be careful about going overboard.
  
  
• If ‘jerk’ still requires you to have too much voluntary interaction with people, there’s always the Dark Brooding Loner. This is especially useful if you’ve been hardened to the ways of this world. Be careful though, your supporting crew will do their best to draw you out of your shell.
  
  
• If you’re too smart for any of the above categories, you could always choose from one of the “genius” selections. There’s the fairly benign geeks (S.T.E.M. subjects are best but others will do in a pinch), the maladjusted eccentrics, and the brilliant psychopaths.
  
  
• Don’t worry about things like social conventions, common decency, and moral codes. Those (like the law) are for lesser folks. You are interesting and compelling enough that people will like you anyway.
  
  
• Also: It’s okay to be socially maladjusted. Someone will always step forward to be your handler; and it’s not like they have anything better to do than poke and prod you into being a productive human being. After all, five minutes of work from you is worth two weeks of their work.
  
  
• Even if you’re a) not “technically” a genius and b) an amateur, you’re still better than most widely-regarded expert in whatever field of expertise the plot requires you to have. Or at least, you’ll be right about the major point, which is essentially the same thing.
  
  
• It’s cool to have interests outside the plot, as long as they’re traditionally manly and fit into your canon's genre. However, any activity you participate in should work to show how awesome you are. Even if you’re mediocre though, you’ve got one talent no one can take from you, no matter what type of character you are...
  
  
• ...you are a Natural Leader. If you’re worried that this means you'll have to do some hard work, don’t be. Mostly the other characters are either too lazy or too busy infighting to work together. At most, you'll just need to give a rousing speech, maybe orchestrate some obvious (to you) compromise between rival factions and you’re set.
  
  
• If, by some rare circumstance, you don't actually have any kind of leadership ability, and you can't work in a team at all, don't worry. Your inability to relate to people as equals is just a sign of how complex and misunderstood you are.
  
  
• You do need a buddy/sidekick/partner though, for subtext’s sake. Just make sure you’re not all openly gay about it. Those heterosexual males lack role models and need someone to relate to.
  
  
• You could also have a rival. He’s just like you, only evil. You know he’s the evil one because every assholish thing you do is justified by the greater good. On the other hand, he's just an asshole.
  
  
• Mentors are nice because they can teach you things, which will make you more awesome and powerful. However, if they get all uppity and suggest that your way of thinking might be wrong, it’s okay to ignore what they say. You’ll be vindicated in the end.
  
  
• Girlfriends are good. If your canon rating is high enough, they provide sex and give you plausible deniability against those rumors about you and your best friend/partner/rival that are going around. Just make sure that everyone knows that she is really not that important to you. You can't be a strong male character if you're also pussy-whipped. Bros before hos, man.
  
  
• Better yet, skip the girlfriend. Just make a bunch of passes to random good-looking women (and yes, you must stay within society’s definition of good-looking, because no self-respecting nuanced male character would ever find something outside that standard attractive). If you win, you get sex without commitment. If you lose, at least you’re funny and the audience will sympathize with you.
  
  
• Sex is everything. If you’d prefer to get to know your female companion before (or even instead of) boinking her, you’re doing it wrong. Also: nothing you say or do to a woman in order to get sex is indefensible.
  
  
• Unless she is a) related to you, or b) having/has had/will (hopefully) have sex with you, no female character should actually mean anything to you.
  
  
• If you MUST get married, make sure that everyone knows how much having a wife sucks, never mind that without her, you’d probably be unable to tie your shoelaces. People will sympathize. Being happily married is a sign of an uninteresting protagonist.
  
  
• Children? Your wife/baby-mama/some other female takes care of them, so they shouldn’t influence your life in any meaningful way. Just be sure to put in some father-offspring bonding time whenever someone accuses you of not being spending enough time with your kids.
  
  
• If you're somehow stuck taking care of a kid and you don’t have a wife, female friend, or love interest around, you’ll have to do some parenting. But don’t worry, no one actually expects you to be good at childcare.
  
  
• You could also walk out of your kid’s life. It’ll screw him up, but you can always come back or he can find you and angst and/or shenanigans will ensue and provide some good character development. Plus, one day, he can be a protagonist, just like you.
  
  
• It’s okay to want a son for yourself; that’s just you leaving a legacy for the next generation. Otherwise, don’t express any desire to have kids.
  
  
• Whatever your personal situation is, don’t get too attached to your wife/girlfriend/children/girl-of-the-week. Your enemies (of course you have enemies) will always find a way to hurt them. There is only one way to deal with this turn of events: unlawful revenge. The justice system cannot fully comprehend your manpain.
  
  
• If your story is one with even the most minimal amount of violence and death, people around you will die. Unless it will cause you to develop manpain, ignore them. It’s not really your fault, and even if it was, the people who died just want you to grow and be the best male character you can be.
  
  
• If your past has some tragedy, don’t worry, people won’t notice if it only selectively affects you when you need to look angsty, sympathetic, and mysterious.
  
  
• Don't think about it too much if your tragic past happens to be similar to that other male characters. Also, while everyone has daddy issues, yours are special and unique to you.
  
  
• Also: Not having an angsty past doesn't mean you're not special. You're probably some kind of Chosen One. In lieu of any eventful backstory, this mark fate has left upon you will make sure that at least one person will find you interesting.
  
  
• If you're not actually angsty, and you're not the chosen one, then you're still okay. Because you're probably the normal guy in a group of weirdos, and people will cling to you as the last bastion of sanity.
  
  
• If your plot happens to put you in contact with people who from a different culture than your own then it’s okay to learn and change because of them because that’s what they’re there for. The same also applies to groups of ragtag schoolchildren. Even better, they all will see you as the hero and inspiration of their lives.
  
  
• No matter how obvious an insight you have might seem, don’t be afraid to share it. No one you’ve encountered has ever thought of it before, and even if they have, only you have the guts to say it.
  
  
• The most two important aspects of your characterization: How well would you do in a Battle of the [your archetype]? This is Serious Business. Of slightly less serious business: How much Slashy Subtext did you have with your best-friend/brother/rival/mentor? If you can pass both of these trials, you will be popular with large segments of male and female-centered fandoms.
  
  
• As you, with your complexity cannot be expected to react organically to any development to your plot line, you have five modes of emotional reaction to choose from for any given event: Snarky, Cocky, Stoic, Enraged, and Befuddled. The fifth one is optional.
  
  
• In no way are you an author avatar or an Everyman whom the audience uses as a way to live out their fantasies vicariously. That’s “Mary Sue” territory, and we know you’d never think of going there at all.

*This of course, is a trick guide because if you’re a white, cis, and not explicitly queer male character, someone will probably write a story that’s all about you and if you’re not at least a bit well-rounded after having the entire narrative focus centered on you and a full cast of supporting characters devoted to your development, then this is a problem you should consult your writer about. Well, if anyone notices. Remember, you have the burden of carrying an entire story, so people will give you a lot of slack.

And if you are in fact, the proper sort of nuanced male character, you will have figured out it was a trick guide, skipped down to the footnotes and smiled smugly to yourself. So now you know you don’t have to work at all, just as long as you publicly deny the validity of this list.


Oh, and just to let people know, I'm really not up for debating whether or not male characters are inherently more nuanced than female characters in this space. Nor do I care that the male characters you like the most are an exception to the points on this list; I know the male characters I'm actually interested in tend to be. If you really want to let the world know how awesome he is, you can make a "Fuck You He's Awesome" post in your own journal. Nor do I care that my list doesn't completely encompass every possible male/masculine narrative.

Anyway, I'm probably not going to answer every comment that comes my way. Between some RL issues, and some fannish stuff, I'm not hugely into wasting my time and energy on male characters.