Should a Romantic Interest be quirky or 'normal'?

[CtrlAltLee]

Do you enjoy 'normal' romantic interests that are kind of vanilla and have thin personalities (This person is smart and rule abiding, this person is a class clown, this person is the nice guy next door), or do you want interests that have a LOT of personality, flaws and all?

I'm writing a character with an unusual upbringing and I'm not sure how far to take her personality. Regardless of responses I'm going to go with my gut, but I want to hear what people think.

[LateWhiteRabbit]

Wrong question. Characters should not be "quirky" or "normal" or "insert personality trait here". They should be (as hinted at in your topic phrasing) interesting, regardless of what their personality is.

You could make a boring quirky character or a boring normal character. You could also make both types of personality into an interesting character. Archetypes are a nice enough place to start, but you really need to do more to flesh them out.

[planktheory]

I agree with LWR. Characters shouldn't be adjectives. They should be real life people.

And for a character with an unusual upbringing, I'd say that it's a practice of empathy. What would you do if you were that character? As that writing tip says 'Honesty lends Credibility to unbelievable situations.' Or if you're not comfortable doing that, scale it back a little and write within the realm of things that you know well. There's nothing wrong with that. I'd rather have a 'dull' character who I perceive as a real person than a character who I just can't quite suspend enough disbelief in.

[ThisIsNoName]

I think it really depends on the story you want to tell. If it's a comedy, go ahead and make them quirky. But for each "quirk" you add to the character, try to think of a reason why they would have that quirk. You don't have to tell the audience why they have every single quirk that they do (in fact, you should only explain one or maybe two of them), but it'll help you keep the character consistent, and it will let the audience sympathize with them beyond their quirks.

However, I'm much more a fan of quirky moments than quirky characters. Even if you have very "normal" characters, you can still put them in a situation that brings out what little quirks they do have. For example, the smart and rule abiding love interest being challenged to take the Black Intelligence Test of Cultural Homogeneity to prove his/her intelligence.

But otherwise, I agree with LWR: Make sure that the character has more than just a quirk to define them, both in your mind and the player's. Otherwise, they will just put them aside as "That smart and rule abiding love interest".

[CtrlAltLee]

@ThisIsNoName Oh man, that test is awesome. That would be a good way to make a character out of their element.


@planktheory That's true. I do research a lot from primary sources, since my life isn't very interesting. I don't base my characterizations off of other fiction (as much as I can help, of course. No one is a perfectly curated island of thought.)