CHARACTERS DRIVEN BY FRUSTRATION- CON’T BY RITA KARNOPP #writingtips

A more direct, and common response, is a propensity toward aggression.

Causes – External factors usually contributes to an individual experiencing anger. This emotion is beyond his or her control.

A character might experience mild frustration due to internal emotions.  It’s more often than not perceived as an uncontrollable problem, but then prods more severe and perhaps pathological anger.

An individual suffering from pathological anger will often feel powerless to change the situation they’re in, leading to and, if left uncontrolled, further anger.

This can result in blocking motivated behavior. An individual may react in several different ways. He may react with sensible problem-solving means to overcome the difficulty.  Failing, he’ll become aggravated, disturbed, annoyed, discouraged, and behave illogically and even deceptively.  

An example of blockage of motivational energy would be the case of a worker who wants to go skiing but is denied time off by his boss. How about the construction worker who’s denied a job promotion?  She’s a woman in a man’s world and doesn’t see her qualifications are absent required trainings.

If the injustice isn’t resolved reasonably, the frustrated individual may resort to unsavory methods to reach his/her goal. He might call in sick and go skiing anyway.  She might falsify her qualifications to show them!

Symptoms - Frustration can be deemed a problem–response behavior, and can have a number of outcomes or consequences, depending on the mental health of the individual.

In optimistic cases, frustration will build until it’s too great for the individual to deal with, and will consequently strive to resolve the inherent conundrum.  In pessimistic cases, however, his perception of the source of frustration is out of his control.  Therefore, his frustration will continue to build, evolving eventually to further difficult, challenging, and even violent behavior.

Persistent and adamant refusal to comply to new expectations affecting their goals or responsibilities, such as time sheets or training certifications, sometimes occur. Severe punishment may trigger individuals to be confrontational and result in non-accommodating behavior, giving you entirely the opposite results you desire.

Now, understanding all the above, you need to keep in mind that frustration becomes an important tool for plotting.  Frustrations means there’s conflict, rising emotions, and someone is not happy because they aren’t getting what they want.

Let’s tie this up tomorrow when we discuss how all this frustration will mean believable characters that drive your plot.