As a writer, you’ve always been taught to avoid writing stereotypes. These oversimplified generalizations tend to make your work plain and sometimes even offensive.
However, there are ways to make stereotypes work for you but it will take a lot of care and caution. Let’s take a further look at these tips.
What is a Stereotype?
A stereotype is a commonly held but simplistic idea or belief about a particular type of person, place, or object. It is usually negatively viewed because it can promote a false understanding of a thing, come from a place of prejudice, or is a result of assumptions and limited experiences.
Stereotypes are everywhere. You’ll find them in every piece of media and everyday life. We will, however, focus on the ones you can see in literature in this article.
Common Stereotypes
Here are just a few common stereotypes you’ve probably already encountered.
- Damsel in distress
- Tough, muscle-bound bully
- Constantly bickering husband and wife
- The outcast
- Mean girls
- Only boys play sports
- The workaholic parent
- Enemies to lovers and vice versa
- Sidekicks sacrificing themselves for the protagonist
- One-sided love
- The rough neighborhood with graffiti and crime
- Highschool cliques
- Character with a heart of gold
The Pitfalls of Stereotyping
Using stereotypes in your writing can be risky. Do it badly and you create characters, settings, and plots that are one-dimensional and unoriginal. Worse, they might promote harmful ideas or reinforce already negative perceptions.
You’ll run into a lot of trouble if you fail to use them properly. Your readers will drop your story and may hesitate to read anything of yours in the future.
Tips for Using Stereotypes Effectively
Stereotypes can be an excellent addition to your writer’s toolbox. However, it’s one of those tools you need to use carefully. Here are just a few tips on how to use them well.
1. Quickly familiarize your readers.
Stereotypes are like shortcuts. They’re simple but convey plenty of information to your readers. Use them to quickly introduce your readers to an unfamiliar world, culture, or community.
This can, however, result in homogenization. With so little detail, your world-building can turn out bland or uncreative. Always take your time to develop every aspect of your story as you progress.
2. Use them as starting points for your characters.
Just as with tip #1, you can use stereotypes as a foundation for your characters. The important thing is they don’t stay as stereotypes. Create depth by adding backstories and motivations that turn them into nuanced, believable characters.
A muscle-brained protagonist might, throughout their journey, learn restraint and reason. Your character grows as they experience the world you’ve wrought for them.
You could even incorporate stereotypes into their worldview. Generalizations are a fact of life and there’s no reason your characters don’t have their own. Have them interact with a culture they have a preconceived image of, show them the truth, and let them learn from it.
3. Create contrast.
You can use stereotypical behaviors to create contrast between characters. These contrasts, in turn, create points of conflict you can use to explore the dynamic between them.
Think of how a character with a heart of gold will interact with a more pragmatic character. By letting them interact, you can highlight their differences and how they deal with one another.
What topics can they find a middle ground? What can they struggle to accept from each other? Whose morality and ethics prevail? How different do they act, think, and feel? These questions give you different angles into how you develop both characters.
Also, consider creating contrast within a stereotypical character. Inner turmoil occurs as they develop and shed their stereotypical actions and worldviews.
4. Surprise them with a twist.
People expect stereotypical characters to have stereotypical traits. Take advantage of those expectations to make a point or introduce an unexpected twist.
These assumptions lead your audience into a false sense of understanding. They think they know what’s happening or who’s who—they don’t.
For example, the Mentor initially comes off as wise and loving only to be revealed as ruthless and power-hungry. Palpatine did this well in Star Wars, where he managed to manipulate Anakin into joining the Dark Side.
Of course, you don’t do this on a whim. Twists need to be planned and well-executed so your readers don’t feel cheated. Leave a few clues here and there that will justify the twist. They might have an inkling of something afoot but they shouldn’t be able to guess what the result is.
5. Blend different stereotypes.
Blending stereotypes can lead to interesting and nuanced characters. The Intelligent Warrior is one such example—and there are plenty of them in human history.
Genghis Khan, Saladin, and Charlemagne were all gifted warriors and military leaders but were also famously proficient in matters of science, politics, philosophy, and economics. Further back in history, most Greek philosophers were not only great thinkers but also former soldiers.
Not only do you start with an interesting stereotype but you can develop the character in plenty of unique ways.
Examples of Stereotypes in Literature
Here are some specific stereotypes you can find in literature.
The Harry Potter Series
Each House in Hogwarts has certain characteristics attached to it. Gryffindors are brave and strong-willed. Slytherins are ambitious and cunning. Hufflepuffs are dedicated and loyal. Ravenclaws are intelligent and curious.
While these traits are generally true, they’re not absolute. Later on in the series, Rowling subverts them by introducing Peter Pettigrew (a Gryffindor) as a coward and revealing Severus Snape (a Slytherin) as a hero.
Mean Girls and High School Musical
Both movies explore the characteristics and dynamics of stereotypical high school cliques. In Mean Girls, you have the Plastics, Cool Asians, Desperate Wannabes, and Burnouts. High School Musical has the Jocks, Cheerleaders, Brainiacs, and the Drama Club.
As both movies progress, they show how the cliques rarely interact and stick to their own. In the end, social hierarchies loosen up and people begin to interact more outside of their groups.
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
In Atwood’s novel, the theocracy of Gilead forces the women into obedience while placing the men at the top of society. The entire book is a criticism of how sexist beliefs perpetuate harmful stereotypes about women.
Conclusion
Even the most overused stereotype has a basis. If you can find that nugget of truth, you’ll be able to create a solid foundation for your work.
You’ll notice that the tips above deal with turning stereotypes into more dynamic elements in your work. That’s not a coincidence. Stereotypes just don’t work well as they have too little to contribute to the overall piece.
You need details to create layers. These layers create nuance. These nuances transform your piece into an original, well-thought-out, and memorable story.
Stereotypes are best used as jumping points and foundations. This way, you can quickly introduce story elements to your readers and then build on them as you go.
What are your thoughts on stereotypes? Share them below!
If you enjoyed this post, then you might also like:
- 8 of the Worst Character Types in Fiction
- 45 Types of Stock Characters to Help Build Your Story
- What Are Literary Tropes? Examples and Tips for Putting a Fresh Spin on Your Story
Cole is a blog writer and aspiring novelist. He has a degree in Communications and is an advocate of media and information literacy and responsible media practices. Aside from his interest in technology, crafts, and food, he’s also your typical science fiction and fantasy junkie, spending most of his free time reading through an ever-growing to-be-read list. It’s either that or procrastinating over actually writing his book. Wish him luck!
