AS BAD AS ADAM One of my sons attended pre-school with a child named Adam. Each day Adam would find a new way to torment his teachers and other students. This happened years ago, so I don’t exactly remember how. I have vague memories of him pouring sand on a little girl’s head, of him using an abacus as a deadly weapon—you get the idea. At four, Adam was already infamous. In fact, Adam’s “badness” became the standard by which my son judged his own behavior. Some days he’d describe himself as bad as Adam, and other days, not so bad as Adam. You might be expecting that I will now attempt to draw some grand parallel between infamous pre-school Adam and the first Adam of original sin fame. However, making that argument in a persuasive and articulate way would require lots of deep thinking. When I think too hard, I fall asleep. So I’ll make one simple point rather than many weighty, sophisticated points. My son tended to think in terms of black and white when he considered Adam. Adam was bad. And to be fair, Adam energetically did his part to contribute to that view. However, as we all know, no person is entirely good or entirely bad. We are complex creatures. While it may have been difficult to see the good in Adam, it was there, nuanced perhaps, but there nonetheless. All right. I can hear you thinking out there, so what is her point, the simple point that she said she was about to make. Here it is: as writers we need to make sure that the characters we depict are complex, not all bad, not all good. Why should we do this? Characters should seem real. You want to write truth. The truth is that no one is perfect and no one is perfectly bad. We also want to create interesting characters. Very good characters and very bad characters are dull and predictable. Why bother reading on? You know who they are and what they are going to do. You want to create characters for which your readers feel empathy. Honest readers will admit that they have admirable traits and also ones they will avoid listing on a resume. Those folks will be able to identify with and be more invested in complex characters. When you create a character with strengths and weaknesses, you give yourself a lot more to work with. You can show how a flaw ultimately brings down your mostly good character. You can show how the glimmer of a good trait can lead your mostly bad character to do a good deed. When you portray a complex character, one who has the potential to behave honorably as well as to sin, you’ve given yourself an opportunity to talk about grace and redemption. What do I mean by that? You can show good coming out of bad. You gently can point your reader in the direction of hope. So, go ahead and make your good characters a little bit bad and your bad characters a little bit good. Why not? You are reflecting reality, you’re adding interest to your story and you’re allowing us readers to identify with the characters you create. So, whatever happened to Bad Adam? I’ve heard that he is an honor student and plays in the high school band. Go figure. Deborah M. Prum www.deborahprum.com
April 22, 2009...12:51 am
As Bad As Adam
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