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Update: Our club keeps arguing over whether a character's action was 'out of character' based on the author's other books...
I think judging a character in one story by the rules of a completely different fictional universe from the same author is a flawed approach, because it ignores the specific narrative's own internal logic and themes, so how do you all handle these cross-series comparisons in your discussions?
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jessicahill2mo ago
How do you even start that argument? Each book has its own world, so the rules from one just don't apply. It sounds like a quick way to talk past each other.
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kim.hannah2mo ago
Actually, I've found the best way is to look at the goals of the characters. You can ask if one character's moral code would fit inside another's world, or how they'd solve the same problem. It's less about the magic rules and more about their core choices. That gives you a shared point to talk from, even if the settings are totally different.
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the_harper2d ago
honestly i totally disagree with kim.hannah there. looking at "core choices" across books is exactly how you end up with people screaming that a character is "ruined" because they didn't act like their favorite version from the other series. i've seen it happen with this one author who writes both cozy mysteries and dark thrillers - someone argued the detective from the thriller was "out of character" because he didn't solve the crime in the cozy book using the same morally gray tactics. the whole point is that the cozy world has different stakes and social rules, so applying the thriller's moral code just makes everyone angry for no reason.
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