People Care About What They Are

In my last post, I mentioned that people view themselves in terms of what they care about.  People who have made dancing the entirety of their lives consider themselves dancers (and much more intensely than people who like to flail around at parties and clubs).  Part of this identity is a passion; if somebody insults your love, it feels like they are insulting you.

If we look at our lifelong dancer, imagine a stranger talking about how dancing is a stupid waste of energy and only freaks and losers care about it, and that the most pathetic of those losers actually pursue it in life.  I bet our dancer is going to be pretty offended, maybe even furious.

This is the kind of thing we have probably all seen in real life.  You may have been the one who said something offensive or you may have been the one who was offended.  In either case, we can easily see how a difference in priorities can lead to great tension.

But what about the opposite kind of person?  What about the kind of person who likes several things, but is passionate about none of them?  In that case, none of them become a defining interest.  This person is a whole lot harder to offend because there is nothing to insult that the person would care about.  If this person likes to dance, but would be just as happy spending his afternoon playing baseball or reading a book, making fun of dance is no big deal.

Look at the characters in your story.  Who are they?  What are they?  What are they passionate about?  What would they get in your face about if you insulted it?  These are questions that will help you understand them.  With it, you can see what their buttons are and how to press them.  You can ignore them completely or you can use it as a point of contention, which is always good for drama.

And, as usual, whatever you apply to characters, apply those same lessons to yourself.  What are your passions?  What is your identity?  How would you handle it if somebody spoke ill of your passions or interests?