Writing Advice: Facelessness

One thing that scares me is faceless people, and I'm not talking slenderman. I'm talking about creatures that take no political stances and just preserve the status quo. They call themselves heroes, even if they're just doing what suits them best. They put on make-up but only in the same way everybody else is. They have no opinions. 

Faceless beings talk but have no mouth, they receive and act upon information but have no ears, they eat but have no mouth. 

I am talking about inoffensive characters. 

The inoffensive character is the character written as a near blank slate. You think you know what I'm talking about and you casually are saying "oh thank goodness he's not talking about me, I don't write any everyman character" when in actuality I am not just talking to you, I am talking through you. 

I am talking about the characters that don't do anything against people. They follow the plot for no reason other than they are assigned to. They're part of the Deputy Brigade, Freedom Squad, Paw Patrol or whatever lazily named organization has been created, and are taught to catch the criminal, so they do so, because they're "good" people. 

The plot will usually put them in situations, but nothing ever truly damning for a character, nothing that puts them between the doors of light and dark. Oh sure, the situation will supposedly be prevented but be fundamentally meaningless. I am talking about a character who must face the fact they are like the villain in that, they too, are . . . and the story trails off. 

Okay, so I'm gonna flash back to a few years ago. I submitted the first chapter of N:Era ever. N:Era: Call of the Wild. So my biggest fear was how people would perceive Lilu. 

For those of you who never read what I wrote, Lilu is a hyena who is the princess of Sandrun. She's privileged, has lots of money, and essentially wants to run away from all of that because her mom is kind of a jerk. 

She belittles her friend Ahmond, throws temper tantrums when she loses games. Even though I wanted her to be a good person at the end of the day, I knew from the get-go people were not going to like this character I had created. She was rude, bossy, selfish, and mean. 

Every single person who has read that first chapter that I've talked to has said how much they like Lilu and think she's an interesting character.

So you might be thinking to yourself, "Well JAC, you sure are one smart cookie. But why would you purposefully risk tanking a character? Don't you know that first impressions are everything and people will take a lot longer to forgive a character than to love them?" 

Yes, I walked in exactly knowing that. I knew Lilu, however, would more greatly benefit from and to the plot if her personality was just as spotty as her.

Now I'm not saying that sending out characters is always going to be positive. I got lucky. Well, as lucky as intuition gets you. But essentially, I created a character that I knew was going to be risky. 

Cyras, meanwhile, is an atheist and frequently refutes religious arguments even though she herself is actually a god. 

Ahmond spent an entire story trying to defraud the Empress. 

And Rosod is a smarter-than-you individual who gets frustrated at everyone and is snarky and cynical. 

Each one of these characters has done something honestly terrible. And I don't mean terrible things like stuff that had to be done for the greatest good like having to burn all their diseased allies to stop the spread of Covid 1900. But I risk that, and I risk hatred falling onto them because that is who they are, because they have faces. 

And those faces also have good features on them. Strong, good features. Cyras is highly loyal and will ride-or-die with Ahmond and Lilu. Rosod redeems herself and showcases the power of proficiency. She can back up her sass sometimes. Lilu can be rather chill and just needs a better environment, meanwhile Ahmond is sweet and protective. 

Okay, but what about the faceless. Who are faceless characters? 

Ironically, faceless characters can still garner distaste, so instead of having true proper faces, with real mouths and real eyes, the audience will take needles and chisels and instead carve their hatred onto the faceless. They will gouge out fake, beady eyes, and smack out fake teeth, like they are working with clay. The end result is like a poppet. Almost human, but still too uncanny to be trusted. 

The faceless character might be, oh, I dunno, let's say some type of ranger character, who goes around, taking out the bad guys. They're supposedly super cool and have good skills at fighting. She's motherly, supposedly, and takes care of her own flock. 

The faceless character may instead be someone who, she's very willing to speak up for herself, just that at the end of the day, she has nothing to say and instead lets her husband speak at lectures. 

The faceless character, for example, is autistic. He doesn't add to the group, he doesn't detract from the group, he has no niche. Because of his lack of form, he can't do anything but be perfectly smooth.

The faceless character lives in a close knit circle of his friends and knows all the polite and proper language to speak about them and about their traumas, and he is just like them, except maybe he wants to be a space magician or a German cowboy. He'll have superficial differences, just like how terracotta soldiers might have different pockmarks, but at the end of the day, he is just one stone warrior amongst many. 

These characters lack traits that truly capture or break the heart. 

Don't make inoffensive characters.

 

What also gets me is faceless creators. You'll see them. They write down the cute, quirky author's notes where they describe a situation in a biased manner. They know the audience is going to dislike a character, so when that villain of a character survives, they're like, "Aw, that sucks, seems like Darth Ripoff is still going strong." 

They write about the evil stepmother and put in their notes: "Wow, talk about gaslighting!" as if they're part of their own audience. As if the narrative they've woven is something they weren't expecting as though we can't see the strings of the puppet-master. 

I have seen some faceless creators--remember, they use make-up to cover their faces--do this: 

Character A: Oh wow another chapter up so quickly? 

Author: Yup. 

Character B: Oh probably gonna be another good one because I'm in this one! 

Author: Heh, well I don't like to toot my own horn. Unfortunately, Character E still isn't in love with B because of C's machinations. 

Character B: *Glares at author*. 

Author: I swear things will right themselves in a couple chapters.

(Btw I have seen this near exactly).

Faceless creators don't want to upset their fans so they don't make firm choices or talks or notes about anything political. They'll write works that are political. Works that take a firm stance. But they themselves will not talk about their own works in that way.

Faceless creators will root for their own heroes and against their own villains.

If you want to make slightly better, more well-formed characters:

What is their vice? What is their virtue?

Among their friends, what makes them the best person to hang out with and the worst? 

And choose traits that actually garner responses. Someone who might not take out the dishes or clean the garbage isn't that offensive, in fact, that's quite ordinary. And choose something that matters in the narrative as opposed to "oh my character strongly believes in her right to speak" . . . and that doesn't come up. "Oh my character doesn't trust authorities" but they're always distrustful of the Lawful Evil(tm) overmasters. 

Why might you dislike Squidward? He's cynical. He can't swallow his pride and just not get himself into a situation. Why might you dislike Kiki from Kiki's Delivery Service? She can be rude to Tombo and keeps to herself, making her profoundly lonely. Why might you dislike Blake from RWBY? She's emotionally volatile and lashes out at people who are trying to help her. Why might you dislike Eren from Attack on Titan? He's reckless and brash.

And as for being a "faceless" creator, I'm gonna be honest, knock that shit the fuck off. You're not the fan. Stop giving out opinions on your own works or your own characters. I know I talk sometimes about whether I liked a chapter or not, but even then, I am speaking in a professional capacity about what could've been done better, therefore other writers who are reading can understand and go "oh I don't wanna be like that dummy".

Choose a personality. Say something. 

No matter what, however, avoid this facelessness, because even in the void of no identity, you will still be hated. At least receive hate for something you did.