Writing 'the stupid'

'The Stupid' is something that probably has some fancy literary name, which I either don't know, or heard but forgot. But I like calling it 'The Stupid' because it really sums it all up rather nicely. Of course that doesn't tell you what it is, so I'll elaborate: 'The Stupid' is that thing in a book or story that you are reading that is blatantly, obviously, sometimes frustratingly, STUPID.

Sometimes it's done for 'all the right reasons' or even reasons that 'sounded good at the time', but you the reader know its stupid. Sometimes some of the characters know it's stupid and will point it out (and usually one of the stupider or more self-righteous - I know, there isn't much of a diff there - characters will do it anyways), and occasionally sometimes everyone knows it's stupid, but they do it anyway for moral reasons.

I hate writing 'the stupid' because I'm not stupid and I don't like writing characters that are stupid. But you have to admit that writing the stupid is necessary, because so much of human nature and politics embrace the stupid (especially these days). So I'm always impressed when I'm reading an author and he writes the stupid in a way that makes me want to scream, but you can't too much because you kind of understand why some people won't do certain things. I'm impressed more when the stupid, while bad, isn't as bad as it could have been (and the author leaves little teases to make you think he just might go 'The Stupid squared'). I'm even more impressed when 'The Stupid' is brought in rather boldly, and obviously, and they're all kind of stuck with dealing with the consequences.

Then when you think they're going to bring 'The Stupid' back at the end of the book and do it again, they learn their lesson and make 'the hard choice', which of course is always the easy choice because it means you get to live, and keep on living. Freehold, of the Freehold series by Michael Z. Williamson was definitely one of those books. I enjoyed a lot, and right now it's free on the kindle. I'd say pick it up if you haven't already.