Chuck Palahniuk on A Character's Knowledge

From Chuck Palahniuk, Consider This: Moments in my writing life after which everything was different (Hachette 2020):

Some egghead pointed out how people decide the nature of their world at a very young age. And they craft a way of behaving that will lead to success. You’re praised for being a strong little kid so you invest in your strength. Or you become the smart girl. Or the funny boy. Or the pretty girl. And this works until you’re about thirty years old.

After your schooling is over, you recognize your chosen way of winning has become a trap. And a trap with diminishing rewards. You’re a clown no one will take seriously. Or you’re a beauty queen who sees her looks fading. You’re forced to realize your identity was a choice, and then to choose another. But you know this next strategy will never have the same passion as the one you’d chosen as a child. Now you’re especially aware that it’s a choice. And you know it, too, will likely fade. So many successful books are about a character leveraging youth and beauty for a good marriage, then leveraging that union for education, and leveraging that for wealth. A book like Vanity Fair or Gone with the Wind or The Great Gatsby depicts a social climber who navigates upward in the world by trading each asset for a greater asset.

The other choice the funny boy or the pretty girl can make is to deny the choice. To continue living according to the pattern for success he or she has established. But now that the trap is recognized, the funny boy becomes the bitter, snarky guy. He’s the clever, hard-drinking put-down artist who lives to inflict pain. The pretty girl becomes the evil queen in Snow White, ready to destroy anyone who might be prettier.

Most of my own books are about characters who’ve reached the limits of one, early form of power. They’ve been the good, obedient boy (Fight Club) or the stunningly attractive girl (Invisible Monsters) and they’ve reached the point where they must find a new form of power. Or to continue, in bad faith, to live according to the old, failing pattern.

Think of Jay Gatsby, rejected by Daisy but already plotting to chase after her, to launch a fresh campaign to win her hand. Even once he knows in his heart that she’s not such a great prize, he’s too threatened by the idea of choosing a new dream.

Holly Golightly [in Truman Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's] can’t give up her strategy of always evading commitment, so she’s doomed to roaming the world without emotional attachment.

Sally Bowles [in Christopher Isherwood's Cabaret] wants the love of the whole world so she rejects her suitor and is consumed by the chaos of Nazi Germany.

For perhaps the best example of this bad-faith choice, read Dorothy Parker’s story “The Standard of Living.”

So choosing a character’s body of knowledge isn’t merely about how their past and their priorities color their view of everything. It’s also about the pattern for success that they’ve chosen as children. The funny boy walks into a room looking for details to poke fun at, and listening for good setup lines he can riff off for laughs. The pretty girl walks in looking for potential competitors with clearer skin, better figures, brighter teeth.

I've never used this tip consciously, but that is what Moving On is about, or what I wanted it to be about. Maybe also Burning Man Brony.

I've written variations on the theme of stuck characters besides Chuck's "move on to a new approach" or "stay stuck". The final story in Bad Horse's Bedtime Stories is about someone stuck in a pattern that still works to get him what he'd thought he wanted, but that wasn't what he really wanted after all. In Mortality Report, Celestia has been approaching her duties as ruler in a way that works for her, but doesn't ultimately work out for Equestria, and chooses to pass that responsibility on rather than work against her on nature.

Have you ever written a story about someone stuck in old ways that used to work for them? Can you name a good story on fimfiction like that? I suppose the ultimate story of this type is Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart, or Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman.

Comments

[MrNumbers]

Shoutout to Dorothy Parker representation, who quite probably could represent this idea in her stories so well because she lived it so completely. I was just quoting her poem Resume to myself earlier today;

Razors pain you;

Rivers are damp;

Acids stain you;

And drugs cause cramp.

Guns aren’t lawful;

Nooses give;

Gas smells awful;

You might as well live.

Such observations pair with her bon mots; "Never drink at a party, only have two at the most, three and you're under the table, four and you're under the host" and, of course, when asked why she had missed a deadline; "Too fucking busy, and vice versa"

Of course Palahnuiuk would love her too.

[Mstar]

This is really good writing advice that I'm seeing for the first time. I'll try to keep this in mind for future projects. Thanks for sharing it!

[Georg]

Holly Golightly [in Truman Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's] can’t give up her strategy of always evading commitment, so she’s doomed to roaming the world without emotional attachment.

Honest, I didn't read this story before writing The Traveling Tutor and the Librarian, but it fits Green Grass' main characteristic, only he has placed romantic attachment beyond reach. He fights change (for various reasons), but eventually gives in. After a quick review, I don't think I've got any stories where the main character remains stuck in place and doesn't change. Some things about them don't change, but their primary goals and primary personality values always suffer/benefit by circumstances, and nearly always in a better way. (Yes, I'm a horrible softie) Even Beet Salad in Buggy and the Beast keeps his primary abrasive personality intact through the whole story, but changes on the inside to something a little less broken.

I think the best example is Drifting Down the Lazy River. Turpentine has a goal in mind, solid as a rock and inviolate. He has a personality locked so hard into painting that he hasn't really made any interpersonal (interequine?) relationships other than with his orphanage mother. He meets Ripple and starts with only wanting to paint her, but turns into learning about her. He reaches his goal of Baltimore, only to find it is not what he thought it was, and flails about goal-wise until he can get straightened out at the end of the story.

[Mockingbirb]

Have you ever written a story about someone stuck in old ways that used to work for them?

Very much so! It might be hard to count how many.

I would also say that's at least a big part of what "Equestria Girls" movie #1, "Friendship Games," and "Forgotten Friendship," are about.¹
(Details added in an edit to the end of this comment...)

In the world of fiction, there are stories about someone trying to escape old ways that used to work for them, AND stories about someone trying NOT to leave old ways that used to work for them.

But even if you try to stay in the same place and the same old ways, you will find that someday, somehow, change happens around you and under you whether you wanted it or not. Even attempts to keep things 'the same' can cause enormous changes.

I suppose of my own horsewords,

TWhat Worked Last Universe

• Equestria Girls
• Romance
• Dark
• Sci-Fi

After a nasty breakup with Sunset Shimmer, a Twilight Sparkle discovers a way to travel to parallel universes. Millions of Sunset Shimmers who've never met her. It was a perfect plan...until it wasn't.

• Sex
• Non-con
• Profanity
• Alt. Universe
• Twilight
• OC
• Other
• Sunset Shimmer
• Sci-Twi

Mockingbirb · 7k words  ·  64  3 · 2.5k views

is (was?) imho one of my more conspicuous examples. But as I said, I seem to have a lot of stories that ring changes on this idea. I suspect it's one of the oft-seen themes of humanity's literature in general.

Edited to add:

¹Substantiating details about Equestria Girls movies, I guess...

"Equestria Girls" movie #1 - 'My name is Sunset Shimmer and striving to become an alicorn princess is all I've ever wanted to do, no matter what it takes or how little I have to care about other people.'

"Friendship Games" - 'My name is Twilight Sparkle and my way to succeed is to stidy very hard and learn things and be a very, very smart high achiever who pleases authority figures. I didn't know it would involve violating safety protocols while experimenting with live subjects, but, hey, authority figure talked me into it.'

"Forgotten Friendship" - 'I'm Wallflower Blush. I will never have to grow or change as a person, if no one remembers any of my failures to do so.'

[Herald of Opera]

5721732

when asked why she had missed a deadline; "Too fucking busy, and vice versa"

While that may be a terrible reason for failing to do one's job, it's also a hilarious one.

[Bad Horse]

5721745 You horrible, horrible softie.