Nerds Are Awesome. Get It Right.

I went to a party on Saturday. It was a friend of a friend’s party. Many people there knew each other from a combination of OKCupid and playing Dungeons and Dragons, a game I’ve never played. I’ve played OKCupid before, though. I think I lost.

And they were having a blast, I mean really having a ball. And I was thinking about how media gets nerds wrong all the time. The whole nasaly, unfun thing. That’s not right at all. Nerds are fun. Nerds are some of the best, most accepting people around.

It’s a hallmark of lazy writing or acting to not flesh out characters in a 3-D fashion. Or to not examine what you’re writing and think, “OK, is this a real human with wants and needs, or is this a cartoon character based on a person I really dislike or a person I saw on television that doesn’t exist.”

I think it helps if you can find some love for every single character and realize that some part of you is that person, even the people that you hate.

And once you realize they are you, it becomes much more difficult to hate them, and much easier to write them.

It just feels better too. Hating people or things sucks.