Most people get offended when they ask me to read their fan fiction...and I say no.
I usually refuse to give my reason because I HATE offending people any further. But the reason is pretty concrete. SO concrete that I don't get angry when people refuse to read my fan fiction because my story goes against my own reasoning...I'm funny that way.
What brought this topic to mind was a situation I went through earlier. I was going through fan fiction for a specific category and I was having a hard time finding one that I could read. Specifically because the characterization was off. I don't mean a little, I mean A LOT. The characters reaction in specific situations wasn't realistic. And I mean REALLY unrealistic.. All in all, so far I've found two or three fan fictions from this category that I have managed to finish. Two of those three, while displaying little lack of understanding of characterization, still had some character flaws. The other one was flawless. But the obvious lack of understanding the characterization in the other stories was a huge turn off. But I like discovering that for myself. While I do refuse invitations to read fan fiction, its only because I like to discover fan fiction on my own. Look over the stories and find the good ones.
Complex characters are difficult to deal with, but they have a specific single personality pushing through all sides of the complexity. If you draw a line in the middle of a piece of paper that begins at one end of the paper and ends at the other THEN add a bunch of random lines and dots, in the end, that first line is still the base. The BASE of the design, Its the same with a character. While a character may have more than one characteristic, there is ONE that shines through the rest. Here's another way to look at this:
People are like octagons. They have many sides. The other personalities they come in contact with bring out different sides of a person. These sides, or personality complexities, work together to create one person. Yet they are all different. For example, one side may be mature. A person may make mature decisions in their life, and smart career choices. HOWEVER another side may be immature for completely different reasons. While they like to make mature life decisions, they still play pranks...and make fun of others. Its not that the opposites contradict, they make the character complex and 3D.
To avoid characterization that is not accurate, try this. When your analyzing the character(s) start by observing their situation. Use the What? Why? Where? How? thing. Then, observe their reaction. Try to figure out WHY they're reacting the way they are. Do that and after a while, you should get a better understand of their character.
That's what I do.
Hope this was helpful.
