On this extended “Writing Tips Thursday,” here are a couple more suggestions for writing square pegs:
1. Make use of the character’s insights. One of the things that makes square pegs good characters is that they see the world differently from others. Make use of that unique perspective. In Anne Tyler’s Dinner at the Homesick Cafe, the square-peg character Ezra Tull remarks with astonishment at things most people would consider ordinary, such as the holes in a woman’s earlobes. His brother, Cody, is flabbergasted that Ezra doesn’t know about such things as pierced ears, but it makes sense for Ezra because he is depicted throughout the novel as a childlike man who doesn’t experience the world the same way most people do.
In a different vein, the protagonist of Stephen King’s Dark Tower series, Roland Deschain, hails from a bleak dystopian future, but he is on a quest with three people from the author’s era. Because of his status an an outsider among the three 20th-century New Yorkers, he sees the ironies, contradictions, and quirks of his companions in a way that wouldn’t make sense for most characters. This allows him (and his creator) to reflect and comment on 20th-century life.
The same holds true for real square pegs in nonfiction. Anyone who truly fits the outsider mold is going to express unusual opinions, make unique observations, and have their own distinct take on the world. If you don’t make use of that distinct viewpoint, you’re missing a wonderful opportunity to present your reader with something truly memorable.
2. Be aware of how your character responds to his square-peg status. Is your character blissfully ignorant that he is different from other people, as Tyler’s Ezra Tull is? Or is he painfully aware of it, like Annie Proulx’s Quoil in The Shipping News? Your square peg might be someone who fights desperately to fit in, like Carrie White in Stephen King’s Carrie. Or she might be someone who is resigned to her outsider status, like Jo March in Little Women. Basically, there are three ways people experience being a square peg: They fight it, they accept it, or they embrace it. Figure out which reaction makes sense for your character.
All of this is equally true of real people. In nonfiction as well, we need to be aware of how the square pegs we write about experience their status as outsiders–whether with shame, pride, or acceptance.
3. Think about whether your character’s square-peg status changes over time, and if it does, how. Over the course of The Shipping News, Quoil gradually loses his square-peg quality. He finds love, a community, a career, and a sense of self, and by the end of the novel is no longer the vulnerable, socially awkward man he started out as. In contrast, Carrie White seems to have a brief reprieve from her status as a square peg–but in the end her outsider status crescendoes to a devastating climax.
A square peg may learn how to fit in, decide to love being unique, or end up in tragedy. Fiction writers have the choice. If you’re writing creative nonfiction, the ending is decided for you, but it’s your responsibility to explore it fully and with insight.
Writing about outsiders present some challenges–square pegs can easily end up annoying readers, and extra care has to be taken to balance their quirks with “normal” qualities. But, when done right, square-peg characters can add a unique tang that makes your fiction or creative nonfiction pop.