Writing "Square-Peg" Characters, Part 1

Being a foreigner, especially in a country where you don’t speak the language, makes you think a lot about the role of outsiders. In Italy, the fact that I’m a professor, a writer, an animal rights advocate, and a wife are pretty much irrelevant. Those roles are all overshadowed by the one I play here: strange, foreign woman who doesn’t know how to talk.

In literature, as in life, outsiders stand out. Whether they are unhappy misfits or colorful eccentrics, they make unforgettable characters around whom rich plots can spin. Think of Jo March in Little Women, Quoil in The Shipping News, Carrie White in Carrie, and a good many of Charles Dickens’s most memorable characters. They are all square pegs–characters who just don’t fit the round holes the world tries to wedge them into.

Square-peg characters can be the source of a wealth of material. Because their place in the world is always problematic, they create their own plots. They are custom made for surprising turns and unusual encounters.  But to be effective in either fiction or creative nonfiction, square pegs must be developed thoughtfully and with care. In the next two posts, I’ll be offering some tips for writing about misfits, eccentrics, and outsiders that can help you bring them to life on the page. I’ll start today with two basic things to keep in mind.

1. Be clear in your own mind about why your character is an outsider. Jo March is a tomboy and a girl with ambition–two things not highly thought of in her time. Carrie White is psychic with a crazy, cruel mother. Your character can’t be an outsider for no reason. She has to have some clearly defined quality or desire that runs against the norms of her family, community, or culture.

If you’re writing nonfiction, you don’t have to create the reason your character doesn’t fit the mold, but you still have to be clear about it. Think deeply about what makes him a square peg. What history, habits, beliefs, or personality traits keep him from being one of the crowd?

2. Don’t make your character strange for the sake of strangeness. The character’s square-peg nature has to be believable, not just something you tacked on to make them stand out. Annie Proulx’s Quoil is socially awkward and vulnerable because he grew up in an abusive household. Jo March is a square peg because her desires and goals go against the grain for girls of her era. Each peg is square for a reason, and that reason has to make sense in the context of the story.

As you can see, writing about outsiders presents some challenges, but they are also exciting to develop. Tomorrow, I’ll suggest a couple more things to keep in mind when writing these interesting, unique characters.