👷 #212 - Don't Quit Your Day Job
What does your character's job say about them? Does it matter?
Jess (aka justpeers on TikTok) has a clear take on what makes a “real job”
When some people refer to real jobs, they refer to jobs that make people miserable, but a lot of money. When I refer to real jobs, I refer to jobs that you can explain to an elementary school student and they will understand what it means.
Knowing what a fictional character does for work can be a tool for understanding their character, shorthand for a personality characteristic, or a way to center the world of the story. April Henry offers a list of career options to consider if you need help brainstorming, including a list of professions that could be entitled to legal compensation for asbestos exposure. Are you thinking about representation when casting your story? Consider Stephen Follows look at the data on what types of jobs women are seen portraying in films, and what trends are developing.
It’s worth thinking about how people feel about their jobs when assigning one to a character. Ryan Bradshaw proposes that a combination of novelty and stability are crucial to someone enjoying their work. Juliana Menasce Horowitz and Kim Parker share the results of a Pew Research Center job satisfaction survey, suggesting people are happier with their work when it contributes to their sense of identity.
How closely does your character identify with their job? Is it something they do just to pay the bills, or is it a reflection of how they see themselves?
The supermarket employees in Go don’t identify with their jobs, and they don’t seem to make much money either. Ronna will never pick up enough shifts to make her rent on time, so it forces her to think outside her 9-to-5 and get involved with a drug dealer to make some quick cash.
We get an ironic juxtaposition with Phil Conners in Groundhog Day, since he shares both a name and a profession with the weather predicting groundhog Punxatawny Phil.
Or consider a character whose work life fully defines their personality, such as the one we see summed up by The Repo Code in Repo Man:
A character’s job doesn’t need to be a static character element. They can question it or change it over the course of their story. Liam Gaughan points to Grosse Pointe Blank. Martin Blank lives a solitary life as a hit man, but reconsiders his need for personal connections when an assignment overlaps with his high school reunion. Is he just a killer, or is there something more to him?
👋 Are you new here?
Inneresting is a weekly newsletter about writing and things that are interesting to writers. Subscribe now to get more Inneresting things sent to your inbox.
Previously on Inneresting…
In case you missed it, last issue’s most clicked link Chris Heath sums up the core wound for a group of writers that put elements of their lives onto the page as “Four friends, two marriages, one affair”
What else is inneresting?
The Ohio Supreme Court determines that boneless chicken wings are allowed to contain bones. Inigo Montoya unavailable for comment.
Cal Newport creates an analogy between food and media consumption, relating heavily processed foods with heavily processed information.
Are you a tattooed golden retriever who has at least one typewriter hanging around? The Typewriter Database can help you learn more about your machine, or you can gaze longingly at typewriter photosets shared by the community.
And that’s what’s inneresting this week!
Inneresting is edited by Chris Csont, with contributions from readers like you and the entire Quote-Unquote team.
Are you enjoying this newsletter?
📧 Forward it to a friend and suggest they check it out.
🔗 Share a link to this post on social media.
🗣 Have ideas for future topics (or just want to say hello)? Reach out to Chris via email at inneresting@johnaugust.com, Mastodon @ccsont@mastodon.art, or Bluesky @ccsont.bsky.social