LogFAQs > #963608334

Gobstoppers12 posted...

The point is that characters should feel like they're acting the way they would act. There are terms like "Plot Induced Stupidity" which describe those weird moments in a story where a character who is normally very smart, careful, and level-headed will do something absolutely ridiculous for the sake of making certain events happen the way the author wants them to happen.

It's a cheat device for writing--if you realize your characters are too smart or too pragmatic to make the story happen in a particular way, you just...make them act unlike themselves, like taking direct control of an NPC in a video game to force things to happen in a certain way.

When writing a fully-realized character, there is, on some level, a sense that the character is making their own decisions and the author is merely describing those decisions to the reader. When you write a story as if you're playing with action figures as an eight-year-old, where anything goes and there's no sense of consistency, then discerning audiences can tell that you're forcing the characters' hand a bit too much in order to serve your desired outcomes.

what was established of Ellie, her pulling Abby down from the pillar and forcing the fight did make sense in relation to what was established of her character throughout the game; especially with her traveling all the way to California so that she might have a chance to kill Abby.

there were multiple times where she felt she should just let her go, and others telling her the same, but due to her PTSD, dealing with her revenge became an obsession.

whether it's because she saw Abby in the state that she was in, or because she saw how her actions would affect another (Lev) was she able to finally let things go.

a case of plot-induced stupidity, IMO, was when Abby and her friends let Ellie and Tommy live in the beginning, like they should feel gracious for not being killed.