I Don’t Give Into The Urge To Die, WEIRD RIGHT?

It’s clear that my blog is like that one person at a party who just goes and is having a great time, but by their fourth social gathering, they plan to leave noticed. Youknowwhaimsayin? Like, they end up back against the wall like every single time they go to a party, dancing and waving their hands in the air while screaming “SQUEEEEAAAA!” and yet nope, no one gives notice, but oh no, they’re not stopping there—TO HECK with all those weird stares and whispered opinions! Mm-mm, they’re not caring or having any of that negativity *thrusts fists into air while jutting hips both ways like the party animal they wish to be*. And the next party you host, expect their arrival because this time (and the next and the next and the next) they’re leaving your house noticed and a household name, dang it…they hope…

Now. What I want to talk about today is “the urge” in characters. Or, as I like to call it, “the urge to die”. So basically what this is, and when this comes up most, is right when something bad is going to happen and the foreshadowing the writer puts in as a tell is either a creaking door or a missing weapon or most famously, a noise in the basement of the house that our focus character sits home alone in. Yep. You already know “the urge” that’s coming for this character.

“What was that?” they ask the air.

“Someone—CLEARLY—get the heck out! NOW!!” You scream at them.

“Huh…I should go see what that was.” they say, prompting you to call them out as stupid (which is reasonable) and continue invested only to find out how the character gets killed.

Now, yes, for the most part, there is an urge to do stupid things. I’ll lean against a railing from the second floor of a mall and feel like jumping—BUT I DON’T. I’ll stare for a while after opening a car door contemplating what it would be like to smash my leg in it when I’m seated—BUT I DON’T GIVE THIS THOUGHT ACTION. Clearly, we all have these many times of “what if” in us and yes it does come out in possibly the utmost dangerous of circumstances that could be an alternative to our decided actions. But that’s called the “call of the void” and it’s just our brains chickening out because it lacks faith in us to survive a potentially dangerous or harmful situation, and quite possibly, with all the fangirling we do over a new Ryan Higa video it’s probably onto something. (That was more for me than you...and you probably noticed that—YEP, NEVERMIND NEVERMIND). But hey, we hear it, that feeling’s there, but it’s our choice whether we listen or take action: preferably walking away before we need to seek a weapon or help.

But that brings me onto my next point: weapons, they give us bravery when we probably shouldn’t be so bold.

Yes, the “call of the void” will have us seeking the danger to end it all over quickly, but what happens when we place a knife in our hands and then hear the mysterious noise in our house while we’re supposedly home alone?

Imagine this;

A character (the same one from the first example) is in the kitchen now, making a sandwich that requires he use a butter knife for easy spreading of a choice condiment atop his chosen loaf. Now he hears the same sound, but this time, we see him grip the butter knife as soon as the sound makes it to his ears. He turns on one foot while his other is still aimed at the island that his plate and open-face sandwich sit atop of. When we hear him say again, “Huh…I should go see what that was.” We believe his actions and we can even figure out his thought process, by now, we WANT him to go check it out just to see if we're wrong and this character won't end up dying (FAT CHANCE!) but we at least believe he can handle himself should something actually be in the basement. Is this smarter? No, probably not, if it were me, I’d be facetiming someone on my way out of the house as I dial up 911, but hey, it is a much more logically acceptable situation to get yourself in though, right?

I don’t think we hate characters who move toward danger, after all, that just makes them human. Which is why these scenes are always so conflicting for the audience: we admire your bravery, but…couldn’t you be smarter? So while I don’t think that we shouldn’t have our characters move toward that strange noise in their basement, I do think it would sit better with us should they be doing something that requires a simple mundane tool which they can release their frustration and fear on at the sound of that noise and it becomes clear they can’t not go check it out. It’s only human to be curious, but it’s a choice of being smart and proactive to actually have something to protect yourself with should your brave choice turn out to be a bloody disaster.

Closing statement: make your characters bold and brave but smart and proactive—NEVER make them bold and brave but impulsive and reactive.

Let me know what you think of these types of characters and how you would want them to investigate differently in the comments, and hey, THANKS FOR READING!