Sta.sh
The Subtle STATIC TRAIT
Secret Weapon of the Clever Writer
The Static Trait is the small personal HABIT an individual character displays which reveals their personal Neurosis, their driving NEED, especially in stressful situations. This habitual or even ritual behavior acts as both their greatest source of trouble and the linchpin to their success. It's the individual character's "Accident Waiting to Happen".
The most obvious place to find visible Static Traits is in both Comedies and Tragedies. These stories (and movies) RELY on their characters' Static Traits to linchpin the plot.
What made Laurel and Hardy so funny, were the little neurotic habits -- the static traits -- that would appear under stressful situations. Abbot and Costello built whole routines on Bud Abbot's little twitchy responses. The climactic scene in every one of their movies involved Abbot in a panic attack. You spent half the movie going "Oh no! Don't! Don't! Don't!...AH! He did."
I don't watch tragedies as a rule, but just about every Greek play I've read involves the Protagonist acting on their Neurosis, the emotional need they can't -- or won't -- control which brings them crashing down.
Pandora acting on her uncontrollable Curiosity – opened that box of ills.
Paris acting on his uncontrollable need for Love – judged Venus as the loveliest goddess in a contest with Hera and Athena, to gain the love of the most beautiful woman in the world. Unfortunately, she was already married to a powerful and vindictive warlord.
Oedipus acting on his uncontrollable need for Recognition – killed the king and married the queen, who just happened to be his biological parents.
Arachne acting on her uncontrollable Pride - bragged that her ability to weave was greater than a goddess's and was turned into a spider.
Prometheus acting on uncontrollable his need for Revenge - gave fire to mankind and was thus chained to a rock to be eaten alive by buzzards for the rest of eternity.
In stories that are Not tragedies, this neurosis-based habit DOES cause their downfall, but also comes to their rescue at the Climax then CHANGES by the end of the story, quite literally Showing that the character has conquered their neurosis.
The movie The Mummy is loaded with static traits. Just about every single character in the movie had a static trait based on their personal neurosis – and either lived or died because of it.
> Evelyn's (Evie) personal neurosis was her obsession with being an Egyptologist. Her static trait had to do with books. If it was a book, she had to touch it. Evie's opening scene defined her character; she was filing books and knocked over an entire set of bookcases (rather like dominoes) because she simply HAD to put that book where it needed to be. The entire catastrophic release of the Mummy happened because she simply HAD to have (as well as open and read) the Book of the Dead.
-- Her Trait came to her rescue because her Habit allowed her to be able to Read ancient Egyptian, allowing her to be able to not only find the correct book to dispel the Mummy, but know which spell was the right one to use. She conquered her neurosis when she allowed the book to be destroyed.
> Evie's brother Jonathan's personal neurosis was greed. His static trait was kleptomania. If it was small and shiny, he had to have it. His opening scene involved showing off to his sister his latest theft. Because of his habit for picking up shiny things, he never quite lost the object he stole – the key to the Book of the Dead.
-- His trait came to his rescue when he pick-pocketed the needed 'key' from the bad guys. However, he didn't conquer his neurosis. He walked out of that temple with a huge stash of gold.
> Rick' O'Connell's personal neurosis was that he was an outsider. He never quite fit in with whatever group he was with – even his fellow Americans. His solution to everything, his static trait was "fight it". He was constantly leaping into one fight after another. Evie met him while he was in jail for being in a brawl. In every scene involving an attack of some sort, he was the first one to dive into the fight.
-- His trait came to his rescue when he needed to go on a one-on-one battle with a supernatural creature without immediately dying. He conquered his neurosis when he allowed Evie to destroy the monster with a spell rather than trying to do it himself.
> Beni's personal neurosis was cowardice. His static trait was freezing in place and shivering. He ended up working for Imhotep, because he simply did not have the guts to run away.
-- His trait NEVER came to his rescue, and in fact destroyed him.
> Imhotep's (the Mummy) personal neurosis was love. He got into trouble – and became the Mummy - because he was in love with the pharaoh's concubine. Everything he did was to get his one true love back from the dead. His static trait was his single-minded focus on regaining his lost love – at any cost.
-- Because Evie resembled his beloved, his neurosis made him grab for Evie -- which was his biggest mistake. If he had grabbed any other female, he would have gotten away with the resurrection of his beloved.
The movie CONSTANTINE is very much a "character-driven" story where a character's personality (and personal neuroses,) ruled the results of any given crisis.
> Those that changed and adapted -- lived.
> Those that couldn't -- died.
AND ~ Every character had a Static Trait, a Habit that outlined their individual neuroses.
> Constantine's static trait was chain-smoking.
> Angelica used a gun to fix all her problems.
> Balthazar, a half-demon, flipped a coin between his fingers.
> Gabrial, an angel half-breed, liked to pontificate on how very noble human-kind could be if their natural selfishness didn't get in the way.
> Beeman, John's buddy that supplied interesting toys and hard to find artifacts, collected bugs.
> Chas, a young cabby and John's other buddy, wanted to be an exorcist like John, so he was forever trying to follow John into dangerous situations.
> Father Hennessy, another of John's buddies, was an actual exorcist with a talent for sensing evil, though he couldn't actually see them the way John could, was an alcoholic.
If they faced and conquered their neuroses, their Static Trait changed – a visible sign of the change that had happened within the character.
Of course, only a few people in the whole movie fixed their issues and changed their static trait. The rest died. However, being a Horror movie, this was pretty much expected.
How to use this in Fiction…
Start with your character's personal neurosis and pick a small habit that shows their personal neurosis in action. This Habit should get them Into as much trouble as it gets them Out of trouble, and it should be the linchpin that either sets off or defuses the climactic scene.
Having a hard time finding your character's Personal Neurosis?
-- Try looking at your character's core Motivation. What obsessive habit would define this?
In Walt Disney's Beauty & the Beast…
-- Gaston's motivation was his Selfishness in the form of Narcissism. "I deserve the best!" This was reflected in his static trait of always looking in the mirror. Even when hunting the Beast, he stopped to look at his own reflection.
-- Beast, in complete reverse of Gaston, utterly Refused to look into mirrors because his Original personal neurosis was exactly THE SAME as Gaston's: Narcissism.
They were BOTH obsessed with their APPEARANCE, but then, the movie's Premise was all about "Looking Beneath the Surface".
In Erotic Fiction...
-- The Static Trait should be Sexual in nature.
A woman who wears skimpy clothes.
A guy who wears tight jeans and/or leaves his shirt open to the navel.
Long Hair on either gender. This IS a sexual trait!
Fur, Leather, or shiny Plastic clothing on either gender.
An oral habit such as licking the lips, biting the bottom lip, chewing on pens, sucking on lollipops, or even smoking.
Physically Touching anyone they speak to.
Posing provocatively instead of merely sitting or standing.
For another example...
-- One of my Static Traits is redefining difficult concepts into simple terms. This comes from my obsession to write as clearly and concisely as I can, and is motivated by my personal neurosis of Avoiding Reality – by creating fantasy worlds real enough to hide in. (grin)
Enjoy!
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My character has an obsessive need for perfection — a meticulous desire to perfect every detail about everything she does. Stemming from this is her desire to be emotionally and physically strong and the hatred of her body shape. In her mind a slim, shapeless body is a good body because she was a late bloomer and tomboy, having no desire for curves that would just get in her way. She was used to this particular body and then suddenly began to have a more curvy body which brought on the feeling of being fat or ugly. This is all probably a factor of wanting to be in control because she couldn't control the death of her father, which was something that changed her drastically. Her desire for strength all comes from wanting to be able to control — to stop her feelings of weakness or keep something from happening. She could spend sleepless days working on perfecting a project or peeling her always dry lips in an attempt to make them smooth or always fingering with her weapon. The bad parts of this is that one detail could destroy her whole train of thought or make her beat herself up. The good parts of this is that she has an eye for detail and might be better at certain things because of that. She can also avert disaster by seeing something that could happen and fixing it. More often than not, though, this is a fatal flaw. As she matures and learns that there are worse things in life than a stain on her shirt, this resolves itself slightly and does not almost destroy her anymore, though she is, and always will be, quite obsessive compulsive — but will just know how to let things go. Sometmes.
I think that what I told you are good static traits and neurosises but I'm not exactly sure that I got everything.
The fanfic I'd mentioned in a different comment, I think the character I'm using for it has a static trait. In the series, he almost always loses to the hero because he has this need to be in control. So, he can come up with these great plans (and he's one of the smartest characters in the show), but once something unexpected happens, he can't seem to think on his feet (which is pretty much the exact opposite of the hero) and ends up doing the very first thing that comes to mind without thinking about it, which ends up with him losing. In my fanfic, I was wanting him to learn that he won't automatically lose if something unexpected happens so he shouldn't just give up, and then by the end, have him not freeze up in the middle of battle, and instead use his head.
The weird thing is, having an issue come to the rescue for someone seems wrong, but then I kind of realized that I was planning on him doing something without him thinking much about it, which would actually fix the main problem he had wanted fixed and at the same time be the turning point during this big fight scene. So I guess that would be having it come to his rescue if I word everything in that direction (I suppose his issue is a bit odd because it's a freezing up thing and also a spontaneous action thing, which is kind of opposite each other... That part of the fic might not be a static trait coming to the rescue thing because I don't think it was going to be stemming from him freezing up...).
I have a character named Tala. She is reverse shapeshifter -- In other words, she was born a wolf and when puberty hit, so did the ability to shift into a human. When she was young, her pack was slaughtered by hunters and she did nothing, even though she tried to call herself an Alpha. She is small and weak, but constantly trying to prove herself better by fighting anyone who is bigger or stronger than her. Her static trait would be the fighting, stemming from her obsession with physical strength, the need to be more powerful than the next person. Because of the world she lives in (Vampires, Half demons, Lycans) she always loses the fight, and comes close to death a lot of the time. If she were to get over her neurosis, she would stop fighting to solve problems, stop focusing on physical strength, and pay attention to the strength inside.
Do I have your explanation right?
This is her Motive; why she is always getting into fights.
Her static trait would be a small personal Habitual Action that gives this motive away, such as maybe using too many curse words, or glaring even when she's not mad.
Example:
Ichigo from 'Bleach' has a habit of glaring -- even when he's not actually angry, and his motive is very nearly the same: the urge to be stronger than anything that comes his way, but it's to protect those he cares about.
So the obsession with physical strength could stem from not feeling good enough? I noticed that she also has the habit of running he fingers through her hair when irritated or upset, and when she feels nervous or like she's being watched she does it more, as well as scratch the back of her neck, rub her skin (like, run her hands up and down her legs), readjust herself (she hates clothing), itch her skin etc.