Friday, July 6, 2012

The Toxic Character

Have you ever met someone who is just plain toxic. They huddle with one or more people in their environment and whisper and speculate about events that are what they are, the decisions made by the boss or some other authority. Ultimately, they succeed in working everyone up into being angry and dissatisfied, and pretty soon everyone in the group is feeding each others dissatisfaction.

Now here's the fun part - have you ever included such a person in one of your stories? I haven't. I never thought of it before, to be honest. Then again, I generally don't write using the right kind of environment for such a character. Such a person needs a group of people to work or socialize with. They also need an authority who dictates their basic day.

Such a character needs to be dissatisfied, but not so much so that he or she is willing to quit or move on. They don't want to quite. They don't want to move on, not really. They want to be unhappy and they want company. From there, they need something to complain about. Not enough pay. Too long hours. Not enough authority or responsibility. They could do the job better. Whatever the excuse.

Such a character might do some serious stirring in your story. Give it a thought and tell me what you think. I don't believe I've ever read a story where such a character was included, not even as a background character. Have you?



7 comments:

William Kendall said...

I've done a couple of instances like this. In the one, I know someone by the name of Jeremy, and he's a real jerk, absolute idiot. In a book I'm co-writing, we incorporate a character named Jeremy who's a real rat bastard.

In my solo work, I actually wrote a passage that I've removed- because it was distracting from the larger story- that had a therapeutic value. One of my main characters teaches a lesson in manners to a drunkard at a ski resort in Europe by decking him. The drunkard was based on my idiot ex-brother-in-law Mike, a bigoted, mouthy jerk I've always disliked. Toxic to say the least. The passage still entertains me, but it doesn't fit with the story.

As to toxic people, well, I have two sisters I'm no longer on speaking terms with. Their personalities are so toxic, and long story short, I don't believe there will ever be a relationship with either of them. Too much damage has been done, and I've been hurt too much. Sometimes with toxic people, all we can do is cut them out of our lives.

I don't think I could write a fictional variation on those two, at least directly...

Shell Flower said...

Toxic characters are really important to some stories. They often come out of the woodwork at a really stressful time to "stir the pot" as you said. I haven't written any of these, but I certainly can think of many in movies and TV, more than books, but there are some in books, too. Usually they are the instigators that get an MC riled up and set them on a course they will ultimately regret.

Anna L. Walls said...

Thanks for stopping by, guys. William, toxic people are even more toxic when they are your own family. Sorry you seem to be in the thick of it. Plenty of fodder for the darker side of your stories though. Hang onto that one piece, you'll find a home for it somewhere.
Shell, now that you mention it, I think I've see some in movies too.

Mari Collier said...

In Oliver Twist, Fagan would fit a great deal of those requirements. I've not included anyone like that in my stories--yet. Although, come to think of it, Kendall's wife in Before We Leave does fit. She's just not in the story that much.

Anna L. Walls said...

Thanks for stopping by, Mari. Sometimes the influences of a very minor character can be felt like a shock-wave throughout the story.

Louis Shalako said...

I had a friend like that. No matter what you said, he could contradict you. He had nothing good to say about anyone or anything. Ultimately, I realized he was afraid to try in life, because it involved effort and risk. So much better to disparage everyone else, right? People like that can rub off on you. Avoid them.

Anna L. Walls said...

So true, Louis, so true.