Last time I discussed characters who possessed the notorious
trait of being “Stubborn” and what that might look like. Stubbornness is an
interesting trait because it’s very accessible and common among people, and
many quickly apply it to their new characters, at least in name. But there are
lots of character traits that are both accessible and common, and yet you tend
to see characters who are ‘Stubborn’ far more often than you see a character
whose author will willingly ascribe them to have ‘Poor Judgment’. I think there
is a convincing reason why that is, though.
As I mentioned previously, stubbornness is very easily a
flaw that is not a flaw. It gives the character, at face value, an appearance
of humanity, but it is often not written convincingly at all. Most stubborn
characters are chronically correct, and their stubbornness usually helps the
plot or character more than it hinders it. I don’t bring this up simply for the
sake of being repetitive, however; rather, I want to contrast it with a
different trait, one that is much harder to escape from humiliation with.
Characters who possess notably poor judgment are hard to come by, and yet
people with notably poor judgment seem a dime a dozen. Feel like we’re missing
something here?
