All types of characters are necessary to make a story interesting. The more diverse, the better. Today the light is on the Unfiltered Character.
The Unfiltered Character
Unfiltered characters are often direct and surprise us by their honesty.
When most people spend their lives pleasing others in order to avoid any form of confrontation, unfiltered characters do the complete opposite.
And that’s refreshing. Cathartic even.
In other words, they don’t care about what other people think and we love them for that. Furthermore, we would love to be like them.
What would it take to write one?
1- Make them ANGRY and REBELLIOUS.
One of the traits that an unfiltered character may have is anger.
They might be angry at society, at themselves or both.
Usually well educated, they observed the world through special lenses. They see what other people don’t see or choose to ignore.
Concretely, if you want to make your angry unfiltered characters react, create a box for them. Soon enough you’ll get a reaction, as they won’t fit in.
Sometimes, they’re not angry but they know themselves enough to know what they like and don’t like. For example, they know that hypocrisy is not their thing.
In addition to that, they hate time wasters. Small talks, meaningless conversations aren’t for them so if you want to annoy an unfiltered character in your story, create a chatty character that has nothing else to do than listen to his/her own voice. You’ll then create a nice conflict between them.
The downside of being an unfiltered character is they often feel lonely. However, they much prefer to be a loner than being with bad company.
For this type of character, Jess in Gilmore Girls played by the talented Milo Ventimiglia is a good example. Jess is a young man, full of anger, coming from a dysfunctional family.
He’s also the bad boy that good girls normally like. Bad boys are attractive because a sense of excitement comes with them. However what is interesting about Jess is the fact that he loves books, philosophy and is extremely intelligent. The unfiltered bad boy turns out to challenge everyone around him. And we love him for that of course.
I found this extract on YouTube that you could check; an interaction with Jess and his uncle Luke (also an unfiltered character by the way).
2- Make them TALENTED and BLUNT
Sometimes unfiltered characters aren’t angry. They don’t have time for it.
Instead, they need to focus on their mission and can’t afford any distraction.
They know what they are good at, and dealing with people is not one of them. And oh! Don’t we like them too!
These kinds of characters can be funny to watch because they appear blunt or even mean.
‘I don’t do people’ is often their motto.
There is a reason for it. Often badly hurt, this type of unfiltered character prefers to concentrate on their mission in life rather than face their own emotions. In fact, they do everything to avoid interactions for that single purpose: self protection.
Can anyone relate?
For this type of character, I have in mind the character of Mina, the beautiful surgeon in The Resident, played by Shaunette Renée Wilson.
Watch this extract to understand what I mean:
3- Make them AUTHENTIC and CYNICAL.
The cynic can be either way funny or scary depending on the genre.
The cynic has often a dark vision of life. He/She asks questions that nobody wants to answer. He talks about a subject that nobody wants to think about, he tells a truth that no one wants to hear.
Truth is unsettling, isn’t it?
Characters like these make you feel uneasy because they make you think hard on the meaning of life . As they question life and relationships, they mirror our own insecurities.
Jamie in The Sinner, played brilliantly by Matt Bomer, came to my mind for this type of unfiltered character.
Please do not watch this extract if you are under age and if you are sensitive, this extract has strong language and violence.
4. Make them FUNNY and RUDE
On a lighter note, an unfiltered character can be incredibly funny, simply by contrasting with the other ‘normal characters’.
While saying out loud what everybody thinks is a great ingredient for your story, being rude to other characters is great for comedies. If you need to add a bit of humor in your story, this is the kind of character that you definitely need.
Let’s take the example of Michel, the (amazing) grumpy concierge in Gilmore Girls played by Yanic Truesdale.
Thank you for reading x