Bill Conrad's Blog - Posts Tagged "pride"
Pride in a Bad Design
Ten years ago, my former boss designed the Battery Charger Contactor Unit (BCCU). And boy-howdy was he proud of it. Did I mention how small it was? Because he mentioned that fact to everybody until their ears went bloody.
And one day, the magic happened. The BCCU went proudly into production. Spoiler alert! There were endless problems. My boss cut so many corners to reduce the size that the technicians had difficulties assembling and testing it. However, he was the boss and convinced everybody that the design was exemplary. Side note: The BCCU could have been twice the size, and nobody would have cared. Size reduction somehow became a personal challenge.
Yet, my boss persevered. “You are not using it correctly.” “Look how small it is!” “The assemblers did not follow my instructions.” Eventually, he had no choice and needed to “make minor tweaks to pacify the naysayers.” Thus, the BCCU quietly underwent three major revisions. Unfortunately, it never worked right, and production/customers hated it. Further testing revealed additional flaws that were never addressed.
I coined the term for this kind of behavior, “Pride in a Bad Design.” This means that engineers cannot get out of their own way to see the design flaws. Since those early days, I have encountered this flaw several times.
What does this term have to do with writing? It’s all the same. Authors get wrapped up in their books and cannot see colossal mistakes. “Pride in a bad plot.” “Pride in an awful character.” The list goes on.
Have I ever been guilty of this behavior? Readers told me that my romantic interaction was wrong in my second book, but I refused to face the issue and published it. That was a big mistake, and I have not completely fixed the problem. Side note. I got a proof copy today, and hopefully, in two weeks, I will be over this mess.
I see evidence of “pride in a poor book” when writers react to spot-on negative comments. “You did not understand the character.” “Editors introduced the poor grammar. Not me.” “The plot makes sense when you look at it differently.” “There are many books with this same premise.”
What can authors do to break this cycle? It starts at the beginning by thinking about the big picture. Is this story something readers might like? Who is the audience? What are the potential plot pitfalls?
The problem with writing is that the result is “an open book.” Once somebody clicks “buy it now,” they get full access to the good, bad and ugly. Fortunately, my flaws have not been too bad. Or at least that is what I tell myself. Perhaps this explains why I only have four blog readers. Nah, that’s not it. My good looks are too intimidating.
And one day, the magic happened. The BCCU went proudly into production. Spoiler alert! There were endless problems. My boss cut so many corners to reduce the size that the technicians had difficulties assembling and testing it. However, he was the boss and convinced everybody that the design was exemplary. Side note: The BCCU could have been twice the size, and nobody would have cared. Size reduction somehow became a personal challenge.
Yet, my boss persevered. “You are not using it correctly.” “Look how small it is!” “The assemblers did not follow my instructions.” Eventually, he had no choice and needed to “make minor tweaks to pacify the naysayers.” Thus, the BCCU quietly underwent three major revisions. Unfortunately, it never worked right, and production/customers hated it. Further testing revealed additional flaws that were never addressed.
I coined the term for this kind of behavior, “Pride in a Bad Design.” This means that engineers cannot get out of their own way to see the design flaws. Since those early days, I have encountered this flaw several times.
What does this term have to do with writing? It’s all the same. Authors get wrapped up in their books and cannot see colossal mistakes. “Pride in a bad plot.” “Pride in an awful character.” The list goes on.
Have I ever been guilty of this behavior? Readers told me that my romantic interaction was wrong in my second book, but I refused to face the issue and published it. That was a big mistake, and I have not completely fixed the problem. Side note. I got a proof copy today, and hopefully, in two weeks, I will be over this mess.
I see evidence of “pride in a poor book” when writers react to spot-on negative comments. “You did not understand the character.” “Editors introduced the poor grammar. Not me.” “The plot makes sense when you look at it differently.” “There are many books with this same premise.”
What can authors do to break this cycle? It starts at the beginning by thinking about the big picture. Is this story something readers might like? Who is the audience? What are the potential plot pitfalls?
The problem with writing is that the result is “an open book.” Once somebody clicks “buy it now,” they get full access to the good, bad and ugly. Fortunately, my flaws have not been too bad. Or at least that is what I tell myself. Perhaps this explains why I only have four blog readers. Nah, that’s not it. My good looks are too intimidating.
Pride Is Bad
What is the light side of pride? That's when we work hard on something or are proud of our accomplishments. However, I wanted to focus on the darker side of pride. What is this? Let's start by defining what pride is not. A person does not do something because they have pride. Instead, they do not do something. A good example is not apologizing because we would have to face a person and admit fault. Taking this a step further, one would never say, "I hit you because I have pride."
We fill our lives with pride-motivated decisions, and these are not our proudest moments, but a person cannot be perfect. Dark pride is illogical, immoral, and often insulting. It holds us back, gets us into trouble, and makes others think less about us. But we have pride and still make those decisions.
There is another problem with dark pride that I wanted to write about. It makes a terrible story motivation. This is true of fiction and nonfiction. Let's make an easy example. While driving home, Tom is sleepy and accidentally dents his neighbor's car. The dent is small and will not cost much to repair. Tom can easily afford to fix the damage, but he remains silent about the incident. Why? He would have to face his neighbor and admit fault.
We all understand what is going on, and want to yell, HEY TOM, MAN UP! Just walk over, take responsibility, pay for the small dent, and all will be forgiven. But does Tom have a defect? Is he secretly a gambler and has no money? There must be a reason for his actions.
And there is the problem. A character must have an explained reason for actions. It is wrong to hope that readers will make the leap to pride. "Everybody understands what's going on. Why I did the same thing last week." Readers might think, "Oh, I get it. In the next chapter, Tom is going to go crazy." And when Tom does not go crazy, the readers will get angry. And remember that Tom is not crazy, yet pride is illogical.
There is some good news. I have come up with a trick to explain this common occurrence. I use the word "pride" to explain a character's motivation. "Tom crashed his car into his neighbor's car. The next day, he had too much pride to admit his mistake." That small addition is all that is necessary.
Yet, I have read many books where I did not understand the motivation behind a character's actions. I recall one book set in a fictitious world where two factions went to war. Why? One day, the leader simply declared war. Completely confusing. And I know people do all kinds of crazy things. Like going to war and then not retreating when victory is hopeless…
I have pride in my blogs. It is fun to write something, see the result and get reactions. But I never want my four blog readers to be stuck guessing because that would miss the point.
We fill our lives with pride-motivated decisions, and these are not our proudest moments, but a person cannot be perfect. Dark pride is illogical, immoral, and often insulting. It holds us back, gets us into trouble, and makes others think less about us. But we have pride and still make those decisions.
There is another problem with dark pride that I wanted to write about. It makes a terrible story motivation. This is true of fiction and nonfiction. Let's make an easy example. While driving home, Tom is sleepy and accidentally dents his neighbor's car. The dent is small and will not cost much to repair. Tom can easily afford to fix the damage, but he remains silent about the incident. Why? He would have to face his neighbor and admit fault.
We all understand what is going on, and want to yell, HEY TOM, MAN UP! Just walk over, take responsibility, pay for the small dent, and all will be forgiven. But does Tom have a defect? Is he secretly a gambler and has no money? There must be a reason for his actions.
And there is the problem. A character must have an explained reason for actions. It is wrong to hope that readers will make the leap to pride. "Everybody understands what's going on. Why I did the same thing last week." Readers might think, "Oh, I get it. In the next chapter, Tom is going to go crazy." And when Tom does not go crazy, the readers will get angry. And remember that Tom is not crazy, yet pride is illogical.
There is some good news. I have come up with a trick to explain this common occurrence. I use the word "pride" to explain a character's motivation. "Tom crashed his car into his neighbor's car. The next day, he had too much pride to admit his mistake." That small addition is all that is necessary.
Yet, I have read many books where I did not understand the motivation behind a character's actions. I recall one book set in a fictitious world where two factions went to war. Why? One day, the leader simply declared war. Completely confusing. And I know people do all kinds of crazy things. Like going to war and then not retreating when victory is hopeless…
I have pride in my blogs. It is fun to write something, see the result and get reactions. But I never want my four blog readers to be stuck guessing because that would miss the point.
