On Writing Pulp - Writing Characters

This is the second part of a three-part series about writing pulp.

Even though the plot drives the story, the characters more often than not drive the plot. Therefore, this post is all about writing characters for a pulp story.

Pulp stories more often than others are crowded with stereotypes, but that is neither the best way to do it nor the only one. Don’t use stereotypes, but give all important characters (hero, damsel, villain, essentially) a full-fledged character. Give them needs and wants and, most of all, an agenda. With the hero and the villain, that may seem obvious - they usually are at odds because their agendas make their paths cross. They may want the same thing or they may want something they can’t have if the other one gets what they want. The villain may want world domination and the hero may want a free world and that won’t go together at all, so one of them has to lose. They might also both be after the same MacGuffin - you know, that object which everyone wants and the readers couldn’t care less about. In the worst case, they’re both after the damsel - who then often won’t pass the sexy lamp test, but more about that a little later.

You can build a whole story on stereotypes, but stereotypical characters are very limited in their uses. Fleshing a character out opens up much more different paths and that can lead to many more different stories. You can use a lot more different plots with a fleshed-out character, so especially if you’re toying with the thought of starting your own series, it pays to put more work into recurring characters. Those also include henches who survive by the villain’s side, the hero’s friends, mentors, old flames, and other characters who might come back at one point or other.

Damsels are a topic on their own in pulp stories. Pulp stories are infamous for having damsels in them, since it’s an easy way to make life even harder for the hero and it’s a second character who gets a lot of time in the story whom the readers can worry about. Yet, the classic damsel who sits around and waits for the hero to rescue her is an old and tired trope which does need to be reworked these days.

It helps, though, that a lot of damsels in classic pulp were in journalism - quirky girl reporters who stuck their noses into the wrong affairs and got caught because of that. This gave them agency, which is what the aforementioned ‘sexy lamp’ is missing. Essentially, the sexy lamp test is just asking yourself if this (usually female, but male damsels exist) character could be replaced by a sexy lamp without any major changes in the story. If the answer is yes, your character needs more work.

Agency is the easiest way to avoid the sexy lamp - a character with agency not related to the hero has their own way through the story and their own actions to take. While those can lead them into the villain’s lair and there into a cell to be threatened, they are no longer passive and no longer merely there to motivate the hero. They’re their own person, even if said person is locked away for a good portion of the story.

Another way to upgrade the damsel is to make them either try to escape on their own (even if they fail - characters are allowed to fail) or make them gather information from henches who talk too much or from the gloating villain (bonus points for a moustache to twirl - well, no, not really). They are doing something, they are active on their own, and that means they’re not just a sexy lamp.

Apart from the hero, the damsel, and the villain, there’s usually a host of characters you want the reader to keep in mind, either because they’re needed again later in the story or because you’re planning a series and they’ll make a comeback. Those minor characters usually don’t get fleshed out as much as the big three, but there’s a relatively easy way to make them more memorable: make them quirky.

Give those minor characters something easy to recognize them by. That can be a specific way of talking (remember Yoda? I bet you do). It can be a signature outfit or overall look (how often has Rowling pointed out Snape’s hair is in a constant state of greasiness?). It can be a mannerism as well. Just make sure not to give two characters the same quirk and don’t overdo it. Quirks are, when all’s said and done, flavours. They help making your story better and they keep the reader interested. If every character speaks in a different dialect, it will tire the reader out and do nothing to make them memorable (also, I will personally hunt you down and punish you, because writing dialects is a horrid thing to do). If two thirds of your words are all about the signature outfits of your hero’s colleagues at work, it won’t help the story at all. Pick a few minor characters and a few different quirks and help the reader to understand who is more important than the other minor characters and should be kept in mind.

As far as the hero is concerned, pulp is rather flexible. It’s true that a lot of the old pulp heroes are completely good heroes (although lawful, neutral, and chaotic good are all possible). They save the day, save the damsel, and usually refuse recognition. They do their good work in hiding and are just glad to know they did good.

Pulp also has space for anti-heroes, though. Perhaps not the classic pulp with its clear black-and-white morals, but the more modern versions. Those anti-heroes often have a high kill-count and few recurring villains. They do not believe in the good of mankind and they may work for money rather than their own ideals, but they’re still good. They don’t kill indiscriminately, they don’t commit crimes themselves (or if they do, they have a good reason for it), and they save the day. They do it with more grumbling and more grit, but the same end result.

You may not believe it, but the villain is actually as important (if not more so) as the hero. Heroes are easy enough to figure out, but the villain needs real work, because his intimidation and threat level decide just how much tension the reader will feel, how sure the reader will be that the hero can win. The more efficient, competent, and powerful the villain, the better the hero can look after their inevitable success.

Especially power plays a big role with a villain. There has to be a power imbalance between hero and villain (with the villain having more power) for any kind of story to work. A hero can’t look good when they’re more powerful than the villain. Bringing down someone with two helpers when you have an army is not a heroic deed. Bringing down a full army of henchmen with two friends, on the other hand, is very heroic. That’s why your villain needs power and influence. People must fear or adore them. They must seem untouchable at first glance, as if they can get away with everything.

Yet, villains are often no recurring characters in a series. While there are pulp heroes with a nemesis who comes back every other week, this is more common in comic books. In pulp stories, the hero goes up against a new threat every week, so it’s also entirely possible to kill off the villain at the end.

Another trope used often is ‘Two Sides of a Coin’, which means that the hero and the villain have something in common, that they are equals in some way. The easiest and best-know example for this might be Holmes/Moriarty. Both have a vast intellect, but work on different sides of the law. It’s easy enough to imagine that, under other circumstances, their positions in the story might be switched. While this can be interesting, it’s not something to use too often.

Characters are important in any kind of story, but especially in pulp stories. Don’t rely too much on stereotypes, flesh your characters out, give them agency, make them quirky, if they’re going to be important in some way. The hero can be good to neutral, but the villain is always evil. Give the villain more power, even if you want to kill them off at the end.

Next up: Writing Plot.