Character Occupations

[dr_mabeuse]

On the blog site Impy refers to withe the EC interview, they were taling about characters' occupations in romantic fiction, how often men are big-time business execs or alpha-male badboys and the women often artistic types or junior execs.

The occupations we choose for our characters say a lot about who we want them to be, and that says a lot about ourselves.

I use doctors a lot as my doms in my BDSM stories. I never really specifiy what kind of doctors they are, but I like the sense of authority being a doctor gives them, and the way it implies treatment and healing--that what he's going to do to her is going to heal her and make her whole. It also implies that he knows her better than she knows herself. I also like the tension that comes from the doctor-patient realtionhsip--treating you as no more than a body, but then having his sexual desires burn through that screen of anonymity.

My first heroines were ingenues, but they bore me. Now I like more powerful women, the kind who can generate some sparks with my men. I do tend to put them into masculine roles though, as executives and businesswomen.

I'm trying to get away from those cliches though. In a newer story, the dom is a fashionista who controls his sub through the way he makes her look, and in another story that's not really BDSM, he's a tattoo artist who alters people's lives with his designs.

So what about you? Outside of lead characters that have the same jobs you do, what do you tend to pick? Why are there no sexy CPA's or high chool guidance counselors?

 

[Guest]

Teachers show up a lot in Lit stories.

Hmm, in Cloudy story, I used a school teacher but not a teacher in that way

Mechanic, author, teacher, pilot, medical office assistant, tennis star, biological researcher, salesman, and farmer. And several students.

I am one of those things, and would like to be two of those things.

Breaking out by sex :

Men : mechanic, author, teacher, pilot, salesman, farmer
Women : author, medical office assistnant, tennis star, bilogical researcher

 

[SEVERUSMAX]

I try to run the gamut, but a lot of lawyers show up in my stories. I've had a President, Governor, corporate VP, 2 teachers, a retired sailor, and an oil baron. Quite a list. I've had a female character who was a bartender. Several were lawyers.
One girl was a former beekeeper, if I recall correctly. One male character was a chef.
Another was a minister.

 

[Colleen Thomas]

On the blog site Impy refers to withe the EC interview, they were taling about characters' occupations in romantic fiction, how often men are big-time business execs or alpha-male badboys and the women often artistic types or junior execs.

The occupations we choose for our characters say a lot about who we want them to be, and that says a lot about ourselves.

I use doctors a lot as my doms in my BDSM stories. I never really specifiy what kind of doctors they are, but I like the sense of authority being a doctor gives them, and the way it implies treatment and healing--that what he's going to do to her is going to heal her and make her whole. It also implies that he knows her better than she knows herself. I also like the tension that comes from the doctor-patient realtionhsip--treating you as no more than a body, but then having his sexual desires burn through that screen of anonymity.

My first heroines were ingenues, but they bore me. Now I like more powerful women, the kind who can generate some sparks with my men. I do tend to put them into masculine roles though, as executives and businesswomen.

I'm trying to get away from those cliches though. In a newer story, the dom is a fashionista who controls his sub through the way he makes her look, and in another story that's not really BDSM, he's a tattoo artist who alters people's lives with his designs.

So what about you? Outside of lead characters that have the same jobs you do, what do you tend to pick? Why are there no sexy CPA's or high chool guidance counselors?

In one of my newest the Prtoag is a Cpa

Occupations:

Major of Marines (sf)
Colonial Marine (sf)
FTL Pilot (SF)
Owner of a club
Student
Bull rider
Cpa
High powered bussiness woman
Housewife
DOT emloyee
Marine Archeologist
Pirate(period piece)
Sniper (period piece)
Member of the frech resistance (Period Piece)
Aristocratic spy (Period piece)
Doctor
Crime scene investigator
Telco foreman
Mossad agent
Long Haul Truck Driver
Member of a biker gang
Shaman
Historical preservationist
Glouster Fisherman
Sports Agent

I tend to fit the occupation to the character. My tops then, run the gamit, from blue collar girls to white collar, from traditionally male occupations to traditionally female.

My femmes do tend to be students, midlevel bussiness people, or housewifes.

In some stories the occupation is merely mentioned in passing, in others, it forms an important part of the storyline.

I think, my tendancy, is to choose something nebulous, like student or housewife, when the occupation plays litle role. I tend to be more specific and less predicatble, when the occupation has major implications to the story line.

 

[BlackShanglan]

Domestic servants and their employers. It's something of a fetish for me.

There's definitely an authority/eros connection hardwired into my brain. Nearly every erotic story I've written or contemplated involves people who are in direct superior/subordinate positions. It's not so much a fetishization of the power itself, though, as of the restraint and tensions that to me it implies. It's rarely the person in the "superior" position who initiates action in my stories; they are more about the surrender of control than the exercise of it. It's never an easy process.

Shanglan

 

[Guest]

Domestic servants and their employers. It's something of a fetish for me.

There's definitely an authority/eros connection hardwired into my brain. Nearly every erotic story I've written or contemplated involves people who are in direct superior/subordinate positions. It's not so much a fetishization of the power itself, though, as of the restraint and tensions that to me it implies. It's rarely the person in the "superior" position who initiates action in my stories; they are more about the surrender of control than the exercise of it. It's never an easy process.

Shanglan

For me a lot of times, it is the knowledgeable, confident girl, and the inexperienced guy.

I suspect there are psychology students lurking who shrink us based on the names and metaphors we choose (Horse, Bear, Duck) and the details of our stories.

 

[TxRad]

Interesting and thought provoking question......

Other than my own occupation which is the oil field worker, I very seldom make a big deal out of a characters job.... It normally passes quickly as more of a footnote than anything... and they are usually lowend blue collar/white collar jobs.... real everyday people

The one exception was a female character that had grown up in think tanks and worked at White Sands missile range. It's what sets the story, her need to escape for a while....

 

[TxRad]

For me a lot of times, it is the knowledgeable, confident girl, and the inexperienced guy.

I suspect there are psychology students lurking who shrink us based on the names and metaphors we choose (Horse, Bear, Duck) and the details of our stories.

Now there is an interesting thought.... I bet we drive them crazy...... especially with the number of switches we have here......

 

[BlackShanglan]

For me a lot of times, it is the knowledgeable, confident girl, and the inexperienced guy.

I suspect there are psychology students lurking who shrink us based on the names and metaphors we choose (Horse, Bear, Duck) and the details of our stories.

You know, there seems to be wide appreciation for that "experienced person of opposite gender / ingenue of one's own" trope across the boards. I think it caters to something common to many people - the desire for a ideal partner who really knows what we want - and possibly too to a remembrance that, for most people, the first time was probably rather awkward. It's like the eternal promise of getting it right.

 

[rgraham666]

In my short pieces of smut, profession is never mentioned at all.

Longer pieces, Hmm. Let's see, never really stopped to look before.

College professor/historian/vampire, male. Student/mage, female.

Blue collar worker, male. Dental hygienist, female.

Technology consultant, male. Advertising exec, female.

Blue collar worker, male. Middle management, female.

Unmentioned, male. Graphic designer, female.

Independently wealthy, male. Writer/waitress, female.

BDSM club owner, male. Unmentioned, female. Unmentioned, female.

Blue collar worker, male. Dental hygienist, female. (sequel)

Stripper, female. Middle management, female.

Independently wealthy, male. Lawyer, female.

Writer, male. Housewife, female.

Mage, male. Stripper, female.

Looks like I've been all over the map.

 

[Colleen Thomas]

After a little thought, it occurs to me that I often think of plot lines in terms of occupation. Most often, the germ of the story idea has very little int he way of personal traits of the protag. She is more a lawyer, or doctor or whatever, before I put pen to paper.

Those story ideas based on personal traits tend to be less popular than the ones where the original idea simply cast a doctor or nurse or sniper in the planning stages.

 

[Guest]

You know, there seems to be wide appreciation for that "experienced person of opposite gender / ingenue of one's own" trope across the boards. I think it caters to something common to many people - the desire for a ideal partner who really knows what we want - and possibly too to a remembrance that, for most people, the first time was probably rather awkward. It's like the eternal promise of getting it right.

You are a wise horse.

 

[SEVERUSMAX]

Some jobs are quite connected to the characters and the story. For instance, Robin Cawdor in "PTA" is a teacher who meets a parent at a PTA meeting. This story wouldn't work as well if neither party were a teacher. Or Howard Mathis, President of the United States in the series "Executive Incest". The whole idea is that the President does it with his sister. His role as Chief Executive is vital to the story. And, for a minor character, it was extremely useful, though not quite necessary, for Guy Gilbertson to be a pastor. It made him more vulnerable to blackmail in my series "Hank & His Neighbors".

 

[cloudy]

I think I only have one story where a character's occupation comes into play....I think it's the only occupation ever mentioned, even.

In my unfinished NaNo my main character is a physical therapist. Way more research than I wanted to do.

 

[McKenna]

I'm not being flippant when I ask this, but why alude to an occupation at all? Is there no other way to define his or her characteristics with out spelling out the details of their lives?

Sometimes when I read stories that go into too much detail about the careers of its main characters, it starts to read like the generic "8 inch cock" and "36-24-36" descriptions.

 

[cloudy]

I'm not being flippant when I ask this, but why alude to an occupation at all? Is there no other way to define his or her characteristics with out spelling out the details of their lives?

Sometimes when I read stories that go into too much detail about the careers of its main characters, it starts to read like the generic "8 inch cock" and "36-24-36" descriptions.

I think that's why I don't ever specify an occupation, with that one exception I mentioned, and that's because part of the story is her interaction with an elderly patient.

 

[Boota]

Shirley Jump, the romance novelist, did a workshop with a writers group I used to participate in. She showed us a way she fleshed out her characters. (It's a pretty good tool for the right person to use, but I don't use it.) The thing is she listed the three most important base elements of the character, to her anyway, inside a center circle. It's name, age and occupation. Everything else branches off of that circle.

I've always thought it was funny that in soap operas everyone has high powered, important jobs. I've often thought of writing one that takes place in a trailer park. No Coltons or Dakotas, but plenty of Bubbas and Floyds. No newspaper magnates or corporate CEO's or surgeons. All the cast would be factory workers, waitresses and lube rack technicians.

 

[McKenna]

I think that's why I don't ever specify an occupation, with that one exception I mentioned, and that's because part of the story is her interaction with an elderly patient.

I guess I like the hint of something, but not a full-blown list of details. I like it when the author allows me to fill in the gaps. I have a very active imagination. Plus, especially in fantasy and erotica, leaving out a few details allows the reader to fill in the gaps with his or her own "ideal". I find that kind of writing more engaging than about anything.

 

[Colleen Thomas]

I'm not being flippant when I ask this, but why alude to an occupation at all? Is there no other way to define his or her characteristics with out spelling out the details of their lives?

Sometimes when I read stories that go into too much detail about the careers of its main characters, it starts to read like the generic "8 inch cock" and "36-24-36" descriptions.

I think the occupation is a very good descriptive technique to avoid the laundry list approach. If I say she's a CPA, I am imparting certain traits that fit a general stereotype for CPA's. Then too many storylines, at least many of mine, don't work at all without the occupation.

In the wreck for example, the main charactr is a Marine Archeologist. Her actions, thoughts, desires and the way she fits with her love interest are all influenced by her occupation. It dosen't work if she is a salvor, sport diver or even a treasure hunter. Specific personal interplay int he story only work because I can atribute certain traits to her that are in line with her career choice.

It's not important in every story, but it is central or at least tangenital in many.

 

[McKenna]

.....and lube rack technicians.

*snicker*

 

[BlackShanglan]

I'm not being flippant when I ask this, but why alude to an occupation at all? Is there no other way to define his or her characteristics with out spelling out the details of their lives?

Sometimes when I read stories that go into too much detail about the careers of its main characters, it starts to read like the generic "8 inch cock" and "36-24-36" descriptions.

I think it's because for many people, their occupations are an extension of their personalities, desires, and interests. Even for those for whom they aren't, it's typically where they spend half or more of their waking hours, so it seems likely to play a substantial role in their lives. Readers also have different feelings about different occupations; if I tell them my character's occupation is "auto mechanic," they get a different feel than if I say "Secretary for the Foreign Office."

Certainly I think that you're right that we can hear too much about a character's occupation, in the same way that we can hear too much about his or her physical statistics. But I do think that occupation tells us considerably more about the character's personality and nature, especially if the occupation is described in terms of the character's perceptions of his/her role in it. If I can differentiate between the frustrated and bored front-lobby security employee who thinks of himself as a glorified desk monkey and the one who's on a bizarre little Napolean-style power trip from exercising his miniscule authority on anyone who gives him the slightest excuse, I can add some more depth to the characterization that that occupation can give.

Of course, given my own predilections, I pretty much have to mention occupation. It's usually how my protagonists meet.

Shanglan

 

[Equinoxe]

I haven't actually posted anything here, largely because I have a tendency to start but not finish stories, nevertheless, it seems to me that I tend to write stories where career and occupation aren't important, or in some cases non-existent.

In two stories that I've worked on, none of the leads had a career of any sort, although in both cases, the characters were young and there were social circumstances which dealt with that -- both were romances and not erotic stories though. Artists and art related careers are common (personal bias, I admit), one story had an artist and an intentionally unspecified low-to-mid level businesswoman as the two leads and the only story I remember working on that involved a character having some authority over the other was about a graphic artist and an art director. Another was a period piece (early Edo period specifically) that received little work (there are a lot of things that I'm not sure about with the whole idea) which involved a Kabuki actress (before the banning of women in that style of theatre) and an aristocratic woman -- though again, it was more of a romance. In another story, no occupation was specified for either lead (although neither was specifically unemployed), but that was a somewhat stylised story, intended to be focused on the feelings and emotions of the characters in the moment, and not on their backgrounds.

Other ideas and stories I've worked on, not necessarily strictly erotic but always involving a romantic and/or sexual element, have involved royalty and nobility (I toyed around with a story about Queen Anne and the Duchess of Marlborough, but moreso with several fantasy stories), deities (Greek, Celtic, and Phoenician), and various supernatural entities. A lot of them have never materialised beyond a basic treatment, either from lack of inspiration or later reconsideration and disappointment with the idea. There are more that escape my memory at the moment.



On an unrelated note, incidentally (and amusingly to me), your explanation of your reasons for often using doctors in stories highlights a lot of what I find wrong with the current medical paradigm.

 

[McKenna]

I think the occupation is a very good descriptive technique to avoid the laundry list approach. If I say she's a CPA, I am imparting certain traits that fit a general stereotype for CPA's. Then too many storylines, at least many of mine, don't work at all without the occupation.

In the wreck for example, the main charactr is a Marine Archeologist. Her actions, thoughts, desires and the way she fits with her love interest are all influenced by her occupation. It dosen't work if she is a salvor, sport diver or even a treasure hunter. Specific personal interplay int he story only work because I can atribute certain traits to her that are in line with her career choice.

It's not important in every story, but it is central or at least tangenital in many.

I can see your point, Colly, though I was a little leery when you mentioned stereotypes. I am afraid of using an occupation as a descriptor precisely because of the stereotypes attached to it. Then again... it might be a challenge to portray a character with a stereotypical career, but write his or her personality in direct contrast to the stereotype. Hmmm... that could be fun.

 

[BlackShanglan]

I can see your point, Colly, though I was a little leery when you mentioned stereotypes. I am afraid of using an occupation as a descriptor precisely because of the stereotypes attached to it. Then again... it might be a challenge to portray a character with a stereotypical career, but write his or her personality in direct contrast to the stereotype. Hmmm... that could be fun.

Amen. There are some really neat ones out there like that.

 

[McKenna]

If I can differentiate between the frustrated and bored front-lobby security employee who thinks of himself as a glorified desk monkey and the one who's on a bizarre little Napolean-style power trip from exercising his miniscule authority on anyone who gives him the slightet excuse, I can add some more depth to the characterization that that occupation can give.

Thanks Shanglan, that bit above gave me a chuckle. Especially the reference to "desk monkey".

I guess my question would be, how would their professions have anything to do with their sex lives?

Let me think....

I suppose the Napolean-like character could secretly be hiding his propensity to be tied up, gagged, and spanked. His professional persona could be over-compensation to hide his real, inner self. But maybe this ties more into motivation rather than occupation?

Either way, I'm starting to see how it could be used as a tool for more creative writing.