That Character Did What???

Photo by Blueprint, Morguefile.comI am well into reading this novel and enjoying it--really enjoying it. The main character happened to be this guy obsessed with being neat and fastidious. Very detail oriented with a hearty dislike of littering and sloppiness of any kind. Then, midway through the novel, the guy tosses aside half of a sandwich, paper wrapper, napkin and all, without any pang of guilt. Not even a passing thought. What? This threw me until a few paragraphs later, when I realized that the tossed sandwich served a distinct purpose—a plot purpose. Mr. Fastidious acted out of character in order to allow something else to happen in the plot. Hmm, kind of a Bozo no-no, wouldn’t you say?

Confession time: The writer in me does, at times, become tempted to have a character do something he or she would never do. Why? To set up an event I need in the plot. But as a reader, this device leaves me cold and disappointed. I want, at the very least, the character to recognize what he’s doing and have a reason for doing it. Otherwise, I stop believing in that character. The magic is gone; the fictional balloon is popped. Bozo puts on a disappointed face and wags his finger (which is never good).

Have you ever stumbled over a character that did something unbelievable in order to serve the plot? Did you throw the book away or shrug this off and read on?

Writers, have you ever been tempted to have a character do something that doesn’t work for his or her personality (and hope no one notices—especially Bozo)?