January 19

The Eight Deadly Words

by: Charlotte

 

It is the bane of flat characters and bland stories everywhere. It is the statement that makes a creator seize in fear, afraid to have it applied to their beloved brainchildren. It is the phrase that all writers, intentionally or not, try to steer away from at all costs.

 

Eight deadly words. “I don’t care what happens to these people.”

 

A phrase originally coined by sci-fi author Dorothy J Heydt, what is referred to as the ‘eight deadly words’ is the framework for what basically amounts to the antithesis of what a writer should amount to when trying to create and write their characters. While it is a simple phrase, the meaning behind it is huge: it states that, despite everything that may be present in a given character, a person does not give a hoot in heck about what that character is doing and what will happen to them at all, regardless if they go onto the save the day, or magically have a bridge drop on them.

 

However, that’s not to say that a good character is always likeable. Not at all. Villains can make complex and interesting characters that have an impact on the audience, and they may have next to nothing in the way of ‘goodness.’ Characters can intentionally be made unsympathetic to create a desire in the reader for them to have their comeuppance. And that’s the issue present in the eight deadly words. It’s not that a person hates the character, it’s that they simply do not care enough about them to even desire to have them experience a comeuppance or misfortune. At that point, a character is no longer ‘good’ or ‘evil’ they are something too bland in between that is inconsequential to the reader regardless of what they say or do and is incapable of vesting interest in the observer.

 

The original usage of the phrase was to describe volume two of the book ‘The Wheel of Time’ by James Oliver Rigney, Jr., but it is not limited to print. Its usage is largely subject to interpretation, but has been used by various critics on various different qualities of media, from the 200+ million-dollar budget flick Battleship to your average everyday novice fanfiction. It is not so much the quality of the context or the money that went into a production; no amount of CGI or special effects can make terrible writing not terrible. The characters are a fundamental cornerstone of the story. They are generally what drives the plot, and are a part of the web of details that make up a story. All the aspects of a story depend on one another to form a cohesive and enjoyable whole.
By that logic, if you don’t care about the characters, then what is there to care about?


Posted January 19, 2017 by izzyctv17 in category Uncategorized

3 thoughts on “The Eight Deadly Words

  1. Mr O

    I love your final point – that no amount of CGI can make up for terrible writing. I wish the producers of many bug-budget blockbusters would get that memo!

    Reply
  2. Madoradus

    Terrific post about the importance of good characters. I love the phrases you used – “branchildren”, “hootin heck”, really adds to the voice of the post. And you make great points about the characters – if you don’t care about the characters one way or another, there’s nothing to care about.

    Reply
  3. ralphatv17

    i love your first line “I don’t care what happens to these people.” it makes you think and engages you in the post so much more.

    Reply

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