I'm working on a relationship that focuses on a couple where appearances are proven to be false with the love interest, who the MC assumes is a dumb thug, but proves himself to be a clever man with a love for books, music, fine art, and more. How might he be able to first see this other side of the love interest and realize he was wrong to make assumptions about the guy? I could easily have him see a classic book on his desk, I was wondering if there were more creative ideas you could suggest?
Per my Rules andConsiderations, Iâm not here to give âcreative ideasâ because that would be aform of writing for you, but I can tell you more about your setup and how toget ideas from it.
Working with the Appearancesvs Personality trope set always has a lot to consider because people chooseappearances for a reason. If this character loves books, art, etc. then youneed to ask yourself why heâs choosing to show himself to the world the way hedoes. If he has a naturally âmeanâ face or something he canât really fix thenthat doesnât countâ Iâm referring to dress style, the way he holds himself, theway he speaks, etc. All of those things have partial root in personality, so ifhe looks nothing like he really is then you need to be able to justify why itâssuch a severe difference. Even if he just thinks a thuggish look is âcoolâ (orany other adjective), thereâs a reason that heâs chosen it.
Reasons can be varied and crossoverwith each other, but they typically fall under one (or a few) of these categories:
Practicality: Clothing is more than just self-expression; itâs useful. Forexample, leatherâitâs a part of biker look because of function of windblocking, tough extra layer if you fall, a sturdy material, etc. Even a moredemure person who rides may choose to wear leather, a typically âtoughâ look, just because it fits their needs.
Upbringing/Environment: Someone may be wearing something not really their style, or have a closet full of stuff like that, because theyâre hand-me-downs or just generally not truly chosen by the wearer. A parent or partner can be influencing the look. Amount of care about showing off personal style can vary per how someone was raised.Â
Defiance: Someone doesnât like a look so the character is being a little immature and doing it just to bother that other person. (Degree of immaturity varies, at the very least itâs petty, but generally this kind of thing comes from an teenage-like mindset.)Â
Insecurity: Can be morepressing than it seems, and remember that reactions to insecurities aredifferent for every person. Some may opt for an âuncaringâ look because theyâreafraid of being looked at if they âdress upâ. Some may dress differently than apersonality to use the clothes as a mask. Certain style clothes hide a bodywell. Others use a âroughâ visual deterrent so the wearer avoids being approached.Â
Aesthetics: Itâs easy to just say âhe chose this because he likes itâ, but thatâs a very shallow reason when a theme of the story is about appearances being wrong. Even aesthetic choices have a reason. Theyâre influenced by family, friends, (social) media, role models, current fast fashion styles, etc. If this character is looking thuggish for aesthetics, the, you want to pinpoint two things: the source(s) of style inspiration and why itâs so influential to them personally.
Thereâs a differencebetween someone having depth beyond looks vs being the complete opposite of theirphysical appearance. Because a good part of physical appearance is chosen by the individual, the Appearances vs Personality trope set can easily turn cheap if it plays too hard to stereotypical looks (without reasonable backup). To come up with good ways to show the true side of this character, you want to find the degree to which the outer appearance holds true. If itâs truly just appearances that are thuggish, then the moment the characters spoke it could be pretty clear that the guy isnât a thug. You wouldnât need to drop hints because outside of physical description it would be pretty damn obvious that something was up. The only time a true âcomplete oppositeâ works is when the person being judged is never really interacted with, because behavior during interaction should show personalityâ or else that interaction is extremely shallow.Â
If this character is interacted with and is still seen as thuggish, then this is more likely a âmaskâ situation (where the thuggishness is being used as protection) or a âwell rounded individualâ situation (where there are some genuinely thuggish things about them, but also some not). This is about more than just having a few books sitting around to drop hints because if this character were comfortable with who they were then the true personality would come out in social interaction. Yes, you can use physical items to show personality, but itâs going to come off as weirdly hidden and the guy as insecure (unless thatâs the point) if his behavior isnât showing his true interest.
Why have none of those things been brought up in conversation before? Conversation is a two-way street, not just the MC asking questions to this guy. Did the love interest never start a conversation about anything he personally had interest in? Did he never respond genuinely if asked? Did all conversation perfectly circumvent any form of personal information? Hobbies and interests can even be seen in small jokes, though humor varies with type and frequency. Why does the MC see this person as dumb if theyâve had any sort of meaningful interactionâ unless theyâre not so smart themselves?Â
All that said, judgement of looks falls heavily on the person doing the judging. Itâs very possible for one person to consider something thuggish that another does not, so your narrator (assumed MC here) will naturally be seeing minor things to be thug-like once they make that initial assumption. Is that a classical book? Must have been left by someone else. Looking about a window? Thatâs some bad RBF, I bet heâs sizing up the guy across the street. Did he just laugh at something that girl said about (intellectual subject)? Was there toilet paper on her shoe or something? Look at how little things about character behavior can be skewed to be assumed one way when in reality itâs another. Then, be very careful about taking that so far that the narrator looks like theyâre way too biased. Readers should be able to understand why something was taken the wrong way, but they should also be able to look back and have the truth be clear in hindsight.
Objects are one way to show character hints, but if the narrator already has a set idea of someone then it can seem forced if this sudden one thing breaks the illusion. They can suggest, but they need good reasons to be conveniently placed, especially if this character is making any effort to hide that part of themselves. Remember that people naturally justify the world to fit into what they think they see, so one little thing isnât necessarily going to be seen for what it is. (Is that a classical book? Must have been left by someone else.) If you want to use objects as personality suggestion, then either have them create conversation (âHey, did someone leave that there?â âNo, itâs mineâ) or make sure that it fits into the scene/story context for it to realistically suspend the previous character judgement.
Behavior and/ conversation is always useful and available for judgement, but find that balance of bias vs fact. If these guys are on their way to becoming any sort of friends before the romance then theyâre naturally going to learn about each other. Hell, any sort of interaction should have them learning about each otherâ you donât have to be doing calculus equations to not look dumb. Be careful here not to work too hard into the âpoor communication in romanceâcliche and just let your characters talk about things that actually matter to each other. This seems tricky because youâre trying to break a looks-like-a-stereotype, but itâs really no different than learning small surprises about any other kind of person.
Good luck!Â
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