I’ve been thinking about identifying marks recently.
Like, birthmarks, abnormalities, tattoos, scars, odd hair or eye colors, and piercings.
I’ve had separate conversations about this with a couple different people. Mostly about planning and payoff and the theoretical importance of Chekov’s Gun.
For those uninitiated, “Chekov’s Gun” is ‘the concept that describes how every element of a story should contribute to the whole’. Thank you, Wikipedia. The idea basically boils down to: If you show a gun in act one, it needs to go off by act three.
Now, I have a couple of problems with this idea. Some are serious, some are petty. Let’s get the petty one’s out of the way first. What if your story involves a police officer or a unit in the army and the story isn’t about fighting? It would be kinda weird to not mention their weapons, even if they never use them, it’s part of their uniform. It’s be like going out of your way to never talk about your character wearing clothes. That’s my next petty point, actually.
Clothes. I like clothes and if I have an image of someone in my head, I’m more likely than not going to have them in an appropriate outfit. Do those clothes have anything to do with the plot? Sometimes. But sometimes they are described to give the reader an idea of the period or time of year. Sometimes those clothes are set dressing, sometimes their important to the plot and sometimes, well, sometimes they’re just clothes. Do I need a reason to dress up every once in a while? No. And as long as it makes sense with their personality, neither do my fictional characters.
Now, onto more serious gripes.
It’s not going to seem serious, but to me it is.
Tattoos and piercings.
A lot of tattoos hold a lot of meaning. Some are memorials to either times or people. Some are warnings. Some are badges of honor. Some have horrifying implications.
Those aren’t the ones I’m talking about. Well… kinda. I’m mostly talking about the ones that were gotten because they’re pretty or cool or because ‘I’ve always wanted one’ or ‘I was bored’. These types of tattoos are becoming more prevalent as time progresses. While some of these can tell you the type of person who stereotypically gets it (I.E. ‘Basic’ tattoos, like: infinity symbol, barbed wire, semi-colon, zodiac sign, ect.), some of these ‘basic tattoos’ also have a deeper meaning.
But, again, some don’t and that’s fine.
What I’m getting at is, if I describe a character’s tattoo in a story, does it have to have meaning? And if you are one of those people who immediately and without hesitation says, “Yes, Absolutely”, my next question is for you specifically.
What about piercings?
The couple of people I talked to about this, both said no, initially. When asked why, one stated “Well, you can take a piercing out.”
True. My response to that was, but it’ll leave a scar. And what about gauges?
If someone has stretched earlobes, for example, yes they can take them out, but you’ll be able to tell, and depending on how big those gauges were, they won’t heal or shrink without medial help.
So, why is the knee-jerk reaction that yes – we need a reason for tattoos, but not for piercings? And if a character has a massive tattoo that they love but has no other meaning than they like it aesthetically, do I, as an author, need to prescribe a meaning to it or erase it entirely?
I could take more time and ask if size or placement make a difference (aside from the obvious, like neck, hands or face), but I won’t. One thing to ponder at a time.
I want things to make sense in my novels and stories, so I don’t want to have a bunch of guff that is simply filler.
I’ll see you in the next post. In the meantime, have the day you deserve!
MonsterMinded 