*puts on glasses*

Once again this week, we’re back to the clichéd characters that I think it’s time to stop using. Well, okay, you can use them, but you should really make minor characters of them, or work it out that they're not as clichéd. If you’re using these guys as primary characters, in the way most everyone uses them… you may wish to reconsider.

Today, our first male character!

The Smart and Sexy Guy

I see this guy all the time, in more movies and novels than I really care to think about. Seriously. If ever there’s a scientist man, he’s nearly always attractive. Even Leonard from Big Bang Theory, once you get him to stop acting awkward, yeah, that guy’s nice looking.

First off, as always, who is he?

Well, he’s just what you think he is. He’s the guy who’s incredibly smart, and yet somehow unbelievably attractive as well. He’s the character that every woman is going to fall for, once they get to know him, because he's both beautiful and smart, which is what most female characters are looking for. He’s also the one that a lot of female readers honestly really like, because these days we really want our men to be smart—but we also want them to be sexy.

The trouble is, because he’s both smart and sexy, he tends to lose something in the realm of realism. He’s too much of too many good things, if you know what I mean. He has everything. Beauty and brains, and usually brawn. So his flaws tend to be contrived and boring, when it comes right down to it. 

I can nearly guarantee by now that you know at least a few characters who fit this bill.

But there’s still some more questions we should ask ourselves, to find out whether or not our character is actually okay, or cliché:

Why should we read him?

What’s his purpose in life?

What is his draw, for the reader?

If your character has a real purpose, if he has a draw to him, then you might be okay. Indiana Jones, for instance, is the traditional smart and sexy character, but he’s also really funny and semi-aloof, which makes it almost work. But he’s still a cliché. Yes, I just said that.

Your character has to have something that makes him real, like Indiana’s humor. He needs to be someone who’s smart in perhaps one or two topics, but not in everything. Because, remember, he’s a real person—and most real people do not know everything about everything.

So, yeah, sometimes he’s usable. But I think he’s overdone, and I think there’s somebody better, who you can put to better use. I’ll tell you about him next Monday.

[love]

{Rani D.}