My characters are all deeply flawed in theyre own way. They have plenty of things that make them unlikeable, and an equal amount of things that make them likeable. But I can't for the life of me, give them a prejudice against a race or sexuality. Which brings me to my question,
Do you think a character needs to have a prejudice to be good?
Not always. But considering the nature of intelligent and semi-intelligent beings, it is strange for them to not at least distrust another race, or even members of the same race that look or act different. One of my most morally steadfast characters has a lot of the best morals an MC could have but they have a deep seated hatred of elves and generally distrust gnomes - albeit for good reasons.
In the end it depends on your own morals and how far you're willing to go to make your characters seem alive, and on the type of story you're writing. Their position in the story doesn't even matter. Make the hero a racist, or a womanizer, or anything - or do it to the villain. Do it to both if you're feeling brave. It's whatever you want to do.
(I am also not a good person to listen to on this, so take what I say with a handful of salt and a crucifix. My morals are nonexistant, so I make my characters people you both despise but can't help but root for in the end :)
Prejudices can help fill your character out more, but I think it’s ultimately your choice. But, to clarify on something, prejudices can actually be about more than just race or sexuality. They’re just the most iconic types of prejudices.
The definition of Prejudice is~
A preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience.
• Dislike, hostility, or unjust behavior derived from unfounded opinions.
So, prejudices can be about almost anything as long as it’s based on an opinion that is misunderstood or unproven, even stereotyped. And, not all prejudices have to be as major as race and sexuality. Some can be just little hints here or there that spice the character up a bit more.
This Wikipedia Link gives a better list of examples than I can at the moment, lol. I’m half-asleep.
Hopefully this helps, grin.
Edit: Kind of think of it as a scenario in which a character is looking at someone nearby and they’re thinking something like ‘This person wears this, does that, likes this, etc… so they must be this way, even though I don’t know this person or their beliefs/motives.’
It’s the best sort of ‘thought process’ example I can come up with at the moment, lol. But, hopefully it’ll assist too.
That's a good way of putting it. No wonder you're a mod. That was a bit of what I was going for myself, so the addition helps even me out a bit.
Grin. I like to help however I can. And, the more people it helps, the better, lol.
You're a good person. Wish everyone thought like you, but, alligning partially with the topic of the thread, everyone has their own life and issues.
Thank you. Yeah… Everyone has an opinion (which is probably the core of why prejudices exist, lol).
Yeah. . . but we're humans. All designed with the idea that our choices should be our own. Designed with the purpose of any animal, we consider ourselves better than anything and anyone else. And that, along with the allowance of monopolization of life and labor that goes only to the highest bidder, is what makes humans nowadays so opinionated and prejudiced. (It also doesn't help that the media - more accurately, the ones in charge of it - shows us what they think we should [be allowed to] see.)
(I'll shut up before the thread gets too sidetracked-)
Ive changed the section from "Prejudice" to "Anathemas". This, to me, fits my style of writing better. Its not often I have a character that dislikes a certain person of no reason, obviously that does happen sometimes, but its much more common for them to have formed a distrust based on an event or opinion of someone else.
While prejudice is defined as "a formed negative opinion not based in fact or experience."
Anathema is defined as "something or someone that one strongly dislikes."
I think this give more wriggle room for both prejudices, but also opinions based on experience :))
That makes sense. It does indeed give wiggle room. And, it fits your style better, then go for it, grin.
(Sorry if the discussion got slightly off topic last night, lol)
(hope you don't mind if I jump in)
I think it's good for a character to have a prejudice if their prejudice helps to either add depth to a character or a to further the plot. I don't think having a character have a prejudice is the only thing that defines them as being a good character. It doesn't hurt to add a prejudice if you think a character is lacking in flaws. I think you just need to be mindful to not make their whole personality to revolve around it, y'know?
(I have no clue if that helps at all…ignore this please if this doesn't help)