Have you ever heard someone say about another person, “She’s the same every day.” They are usually referring to an even tempered, always pleasant person. They meant it as a compliment. I never thought it like that. To have the same emotion without showing frustration, anger, joy, despair, etc., something isn’t right. But that’s only one face the person is showing.
No, they weren’t saying it about me. HA!
We all know that people have more than one face. You’re probably thinking split personality, No. Think of it this way.
When you’re at work, you act like an professional (I hope). You watch how you talk and act.
When you’re at home, and if you have children, you show another side of yourself. You sure can’t treat them like co-workers. You have a spouse, you talk differently with them. Don’t want to treat her/him like a child. You have a mom or/and dad, once again another face to each one. You meet a stranger you’re interested in knowing, or a stranger you want to go away, you’ll find yourself talking and acting differently.
Of course, there are outside factors that can change how a person responds. Maybe a death of a love one or being involved in a horrific accident. Then from that day on, more faces are presented to different people.
That’s why one person can remark how even tempered a person is at work, while another will remember that same person went bonkers at a ball game.
We each have faces to fit the situation, time and place, but each face or tone is a small piece of the same person inside.That’s why you can know a person for years and they can act in an unexpected manner.
Okay. That’s all the lite-psychology for today. LOL!
So if you’re told your hero or heroine acted out of character, it is most likely you didn’t make clear the motives or circumstances behind the tone, attitude or feeling. No need to go into details about the physical abuse a character went through as a child. Usually, it can be done with one sentence when we want to present another aspect of the character’s personality. Later in the story, you can sprinkle more of the backstory. No need to info dump.
End of lesson for the day. 🙂
Carla Swafford, Author 