Timeline for What makes a character irredeemable?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
8 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Sep 27, 2019 at 7:05 | comment | added | SRMM | @Liquid there is a huge difference between real life redeemable and fiction redeemable. The main one probably being that real life has billions of people with billions of viewpoints while fiction has only one. The author decides which one (Direct victim? Bystander? Anything in between?) | |
| Sep 26, 2019 at 14:18 | comment | added | sesquipedalias | I think the way to expand our consideration is to ask: how can we signal to the reader that a character is/isn't redeemable. Sure, loving puppies vs. kicking them is an in-your-face example. But we can definitely go into more detail about how to "lay the groundwork" for a redemption arc--or how we signal to the reader to not expect one. For sure, we can be sophisticated and do our foreshadowing in a way that the reader is not consciously aware of it... | |
| Sep 26, 2019 at 13:51 | comment | added | user16226 | @Liquid The same things, I would think. Redeemable qualities or sympathetic history. | |
| Sep 26, 2019 at 13:46 | comment | added | Liquid | I see where you are coming from and you're certainly right; I'd rather take the approach of "what would make this character reedemable in real life, to real people". | |
| Sep 26, 2019 at 13:10 | comment | added | user16226 | @Liquid I think it says a lot. It says that readers like redemption stories and that no sin is unredeemable in the eyes of readers generally. (Individual readers may be unwilling to see particular sins redeemed, often because they have been a victim of them.) As to causes, it says that a writer causes a character to be redeemable or non redeemable, not by their sin, but by whether they leave open a path to redemption. When Jessica Rabbit says "I'm not bad, I'm just drawn that way", this is ironic. In fiction everyone is good or bad because they are drawn that way. | |
| Sep 26, 2019 at 12:59 | comment | added | Liquid | Aren't we mixing the causes with the consequences? Sure, an (good) author can lay the groundwork for any character for a redemption arc, but that doesn't say much. | |
| Sep 26, 2019 at 5:01 | history | edited | user16226 | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
added 2 characters in body
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| Sep 25, 2019 at 23:52 | history | answered | user16226 | CC BY-SA 4.0 |