02 July 2012

Individual Twins

I don't like how a lot of authors write identical twins. Just because they are identical in appearance does not make them identical in personality. Fred and George from HARRY POTTER are a little too extreme for my taste. (That is not to say I didn't like them.) One did not appear without the other. It was as if they were one character with two bodies. Think of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern from HAMLET. Tom Stoppard wrote a play called ROSENCRANTZ AND GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD. The joke is that even the two characters can't tell themselves apart because they are always together. This is not a good thing. Your twins should not be like these two.

When writing identical twins keep in mind that personalities can and should vary. Ask anyone who has identical twins in their family and they will tell you there are a lot of differences between them. Even if your characters are identical your readers should be able to picture your twins between them. They should exist independent of one another. (And never, ever make one person fall in love with identical twins. That is the most pathetic romantic love-triangle ever. And you all know how I feel about love triangles.)

No comments:

Post a Comment