Words, Wacky Stuff, and other W's

I was having a chat with a friend about a pet peeve of mine in writing the other day. I loathe it when an author, in their voice (not a character’s voice), calls a character an “it”. It might seem small, but I find it kind of callous.

I think I finally understand why I hate that so much.

Tonight, I was watching an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation with my son, Episode 9 of Season 2, The Measure of a Man (an AMAZING episode, btw). It’s the episode where Data is threatened with disassembly, so some pretty unethical science can take place. In this episode, Data is routinely referred to as It, essentially referred to without purpose other than to serve the interests of humans.

I distinctly remember this episode from the first time I saw it. I think it shaped a lot of my views as I grew up, most importantly, I remember being mad watching the episode. I was mad that one of the characters wouldn’t call Data his name more often, and especially everyone’s yellow-eyed android It.

It is profound the way some things, especially in fiction, can really shape thoughts. Before I was even a writer or could form a proper paragraph (I was young), how I went about my writing and how I use my voice was being shaped. I have a very strong opinion that we should respect the characters we make, hero or villain (or anything in between).

“It” has its purposes, good and bad. But it is because of “It” that I consider how my voice may be perceived before I minimize a character. Just remember, if you’re calling your characters It, your word choices will tell me whether you were on team disassemble or team Data.