You don’t have to judge, you have to understand
We’ve all been there, you see someone doing something and just think that’s crazy.
Watching someone spend thousands on a dress, when you can get the same thing for a fraction of the price, can certainly seem crazy.
However, you need to remember that you don’t know the situation that person is in.
When you assume they’re crazy you’re judging them when you need to understand them. In effect, you need to walk a mile in their shoes before you can attempt to understand if their actions were crazy or not.
Applying This To Novel Writing
bibisco is a novel writing software designed to helps you to see your character.
The software focuses you on developing the character and on staying true to the characteristics you’ve already defined.
That’s the real secret to successful writing.
You need to know your characters inside out. As a writer, you have to be able to see their strengths, weaknesses, and their flaws.
You don’t need to judge them, you simply need to understand them in great detail.
It’s up to the reader to judge the characters and feel for them as they go through their personal struggles.
Don’t forget, every good novel has a flawed central character, it’s their demons and how they deal with them that creates the fundamental storyline.
Some people will inevitably side with the character and others will side against them.
That’s your reader judging your character, not you. It shows they are emotionally invested in your story and you’ve written a good novel.
Building Character
It’s true that we all live our lives from our own perspective. That’s the view we have of life, and it can be hard to see things through someone else’s eyes.
That’s why bibisco has created the interview.
In effect, you can interview your characters. It allows you to build their characteristics and understand their responses, without having to judge them.
Of course, if you want to be a successful writer, you need to be able to emphasize with a variety of characters. Every character in your novel will have their own perspective on life. For you to write convincingly it’s essential that you appreciate the different perspectives.
That’s why the interview approach is so good, you don’t just understand your characters, you can write as though you’ve experienced their life. You’ll give your characters, and the novel, depth.
Why Understanding Is Good
Instead of seeing this as a difficult or even unnecessary process, you should consider the benefits of understanding why you don’t have to judge, you have to understand.
Building Relationships
For anyone to grow as a person they need to move outside of their comfort zone. As a novelist, you’re not looking to judge their actions but you do need to understand what defines their comfort zone.
This won’t just help you to push the character out of the comfort zone, it will illustrate why this is necessary. Resolution of personal conflict is essential for the success of your novel.
Conclusive
Judging people feels good in the short term but leads to conflict as you are incapable of changing your opinion of their actions. This will prevent you from writing the natural direction of a character. By judging them you’ll automatically change them into something that you find more acceptable. That’s not necessarily in keeping with the character or the book.
Final Thoughts
Whether you’re looking for life lessons or the best novel writing software, you need to learn how to understand instead of judging.
It will ensure your novel is heading in the right direction and your character appears human, making them relatable and the novel worth reading.
If you need additional inspiration for your novel then take a look around you and look for something that seems crazy. Then, try to understand why they are acting that way. You’ll be surprised at how many doors are opened for you.
