Character Traits: Stubborn

Cooking up a character is relatively easy, not entirely dissimilar from cooking up a meal. Doing it well is another matter entirely. Too little spice and the food dries out—too much and it smolders in your mouth. Some flavors and textures complement each other, and others do not. Some are niche and some are staples. 

Writing a good character is hard enough as it is. It becomes harder, though, when people mix up the components into a hodge-podge and expect it to work on its own. Some people have an iron gut for characters—anything will do—but a balanced and believable character is hard to come by, and, when you do, it’s even harder to go back. Character traits are essential for breathing life into your character, but it’s important to know what you’re using, before you mix it into the bowl. I'd love to talk about a lot of them, but one at a time will do for now.

The Idea:

Stubborn characters! These are common—in fiction and in life—but they’ve managed to warp into an interesting crutch when a lot of folks write them. People incorrectly equate stubbornness to being bull-headed, headstrong, ambitious, stalwart, high in resolve, unyielding in principle, and so on. All of those synonyms, though, are really singular to themselves already, and it’s important to respect that. Don’t use another title to sweeten the appearance; salt and sugar may look the same, but they’re not the same.

The Myth:

A myth exists that stubborn characters are likeable, because of their stubbornness. These characters always refuse to yield to other characters’ expectations or desires when that happens to butt up against them. They never concede, always walk their own path, take cares to be their own person, and refuse to disobey their principles. Writers employ this character trait regularly, hoping it will make the character stand out for their resolve and unshaken attitude. It helps, of course, that these so-called stubborn characters are almost always infallible characters too.

The Truth:

Because really—there’s no true fault in being stubborn if ultimately everyone’s going to see the light and agree with you, right? Of course, while “stubborn” may be found in numbers of character sheets, “infallible” rarely is. That doesn’t stop people from writing their characters that way pretty much all the time, though.

The truth is, people are wrong pretty often—at least when it comes to dealing with each other, anyway. I’m wrong a lot and so are you, and so should your character. A person who’s stubborn but right is patient. A person who’s stubborn but wrong is insufferable. And the best part about being a stubborn person? It doesn’t differentiate. Whether they’re right or wrong, they’re sticking to their guns.

True stubbornness is irrational. It’s willful close-mindedness, whether that will is conscious or involuntary, and it drives the people who actually are right completely crazy (especially if they're stubborn too). While lots of people will say they think stubbornness is a vice of their character, they rarely ever act like it. If you’re going to use it to describe your character, own up to the entire definition and know what you’re getting yourself into. Most people would like to believe they are reasonable, well-mannered, rational, and, of course, right more often than they’re wrong. But few people are and, to be perfectly honest, characters who are tend to be really boring.

The Advantages:

Stubbornness is a character flaw. For your common, every-day escapist, writing a true character flaw is painful because it deprives you of this perfect alternate reality you’re craving. Get over this, though, and you’ll find that they really improve the writing because it makes the character more believable and, consequently, more alive. This is good, and so stubbornness can be an awesome way to animate your character.

Stubborn characters create conflict almost wherever they go, depending on the degree of their obstinance. (Almost everyone is a little stubborn—no one is truly as open-hearted as you’d like them to be, but it’s not quite the same) A truly stubborn character can derail the plotline at any given moment, sending it careening in some brand-new direction for you to discover. They’re excellent at shaking up the story and providing a human element. Stubborn characters facilitate awesome interactions between other characters, when done correctly, and it really makes your character more singular when done well.

You get some really cool things, too, if you’re willing to be wrong a lot more than you’re right. Say you’ve got a stubborn character—he’s irascible, insufferable, rude, and opinionated all the time, and mostly it just gets him in trouble. Then, one day, after days of being a thorn in everyone’s side and generally joyless company, the characters encounter an obstacle that everyone quickly abandons. Overcoming the obstacle is either impossible, unfeasible, impractical, or just generally foolish to attempt. However, true to form, your stubborn character (much to everyone else’s annoyance) refuses to budge. To their surprise, though, this normally insufferable and irrational trait allows him to bully his way through the mess, and people actually benefit from it for once.

This example, of many possible ones, is really only interesting if the writer is consistent in showing the stubbornness as a flaw. It’s only fun to win if you’ve got a real chance at losing. Otherwise, you’re just using cheat-codes on a single-player game; it’s fun for a while, but there’s no ultimate satisfaction.

The Issues:

Being a flaw, though, stubbornness has some natural issues. If it didn’t have its baggage, then it wouldn’t be very interesting, would it? But sometimes the issues can outweigh the benefits, and that’s specific to each character in their own environments. Some characters are really interesting when they’re stubborn, because of some of the advantages I listed above, but other times they can just be downright annoying.

Stubborn characters are tough to deal with. They’re not at all agreeable, even if that means arguing semantics just to have a debate. They’ll never see it that way, though; it’s a matter of principle for them! Intellectual duty! Most of the time, stubborn characters tend to think of everyone else as of inferior intelligence, even if they won’t admit it. That can take many forms, though, such as “For as smart as you’re supposed to be, you can really be an idiot sometimes.” They might know their intelligence quotient is lower, but they can still think others routinely make poor judgments.

As you might guess, this limits the number of people you can get along with. Stubborn characters have people they’ll listen to, but that list needs to be short in order for it to be an effective trait. In this way, you can get through some story roadblocks, but not all of them. For the plot-conscious writer, this can be a problem. A stubborn character might be willing to watch someone die or let a city burn to the ground. They might side with the bad guys because they’re pissed off at the good ones. Are you willing to go there? It can mean torching bridges and starting over. Rather than deciding to break character in the moment and ruin a potentially good thing, you should consider it all up front and stick to what you choose.

Character Development:

If you choose to write a stubborn character, you’ve got a long road ahead of you. They can be really slow to learn, sometimes, and stubbornness doesn’t usually just “go away” in just about anyone. Your character will develop, but unless something seriously drastic occurs, this will always be a part of them in one way or another. It can be tiring to write at times, but… well, what character flaw isn’t?

You do get some forks in the road, though. Suppose your characters’ stubbornness, treated like the flaw it really is, actually harms someone important to them (Physically, mentally, relationally—doesn’t matter). As a writer, you’ve got a choice. Does your character feel contrite? Does their own flaw haunt them, break them from inside, and evoke a willingness to fight against their nature? Or perhaps it does the opposite. Maybe their stubbornness digs in deeper and harder than ever, and the result is someone even more difficult than before, except now they’re scarred with a vague understanding of their sin they refuse to acknowledge.

Again, though, these crossroads are only as significant as you make them. What I’ve written just above regarding character development is only the tip of the iceberg as to what you might do, but we could talk about that all day. Ultimately, stubbornness is an awesome character trait you can use effectively or waste entirely.