Why is everyone smoking?

Mostly, I think it gives characters something to do with their hands. When the scene needs a little action, but the characters aren't the type to fiddle with the snow-globe on the desk, maybe they light up instead.

I don't usually write smoking characters, myself. Or, at least, I don't set out to write them. I've written one who smoked because he liked things that could kill him faster than his own decay. And I wrote another character who had smoked in the past, but had recently quit.

For me, I guess smoking turns up as a character trait. It's not something I seek out.

Maybe people who are smokers are more likely to write smoking characters?

I don't usually write characters who smoke. Most likely because I don't smoke, so it's something I'd add in as a trait. It's not something I'd use as a default trait. I do know some smokers who do the reverse - all their characters smoke unless they think to remove it.

I don't see it matters much either way. Both smoking and not smoking are common enough that they don't stand out as unusual.

gettingby said:

I have noticed a lot of short stories where the characters are smokers. This tends to happen a lot in literary fiction that is published by some of the top journals. But why? Do you guys think smoking adds anything to a story? Is this something you think will go on? Do your characters ever smoke?

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Some people smoke. Some characters smoke. Some people drink. Some characters drink.

My characters do what people in real life do. Otherwise they wouldn't seem real.

I wonder what the major genre of those kind of stories are. I could see it be stereotypically common in mystery/crime or mainstream/literary.

It doesn't really add or subtract much. Willie said it best: some do, some don't. My characters for example are a toss-up. Random characters, main or otherwise, will suddenly want to light up and proceed to pull out their smokes without any provocation and I just let 'em.

I have a character who smokes constantly. He also drinks, eats, and does drugs constantly. It's part of his schtick.

Gadzooks! Don't tell me the smoking police are trying to take over this hallowed field also.

Skippy

"Everyone" isn't. You must be reading, or noticing, very selectively.

caw

Why is everyone smoking?

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Because it makes them look cool. Duh.

I read a lot of short fiction and haven't noticed any more or less smoking than in novels of comparable genre.

I write characters who smoke because that's what they do, they smoke. If I turned them into a non-smoking character, they'd get cranky.

I could go through my stories, though, and count the nonsmokers vs. the smokers. I'm sure I have more nonsmokers, and a few former smokers, but what would be the point? My Dad smoked and many of my good friends.

Some people irl do smoke, you know? So why not in fiction?

Millions of real people smoke. These are also very often the kind of everyday, often lower economic scale, troubled people I write about.

It always strikes me as odd when I come across a story that has a wide cast of characters, none of whom smoke.

I smoke - to legendary status, but my characters only smoke if I really think they have that character trait.

However, it can be useful in signifying certain things or simply rounding out a character.

Examples... In one of my stories a model is being photgraphed and throwing a strop. She storms off for a cigarette. A hell of a lot of models smoke and it also gave her the excuse she needed to storm out.

A grandfather gets up from a table and says he is going outside to smoke his pipe and asks his grandson, recently back from war, if he would like to join him. Pipe smoking appears to be (appears) a leisurely, gentle pursuit, which the man embodies. Secondly, this is his opportunity to talk to his grandson alone.

After witnessing a suicide, a man, in conversation mentions that he has given up smoking. A scene or two later, he is lighting up. To me, it showed a common reaction to stress. I didn't make a big deal of it, just stated it.

In another, a character has the habit of flicking away a finished cigarette between his thumb and second finger. In the novel he does it three times. It's like a little character quirk.

I would say that about a quarter of my characters, maybe less, smoke, which is pretty much in line with most statistics in most countries. I do know which ones would not, though, and would not make them smokers.

I think cigarettes are one of those useful little props that we can use, much like glasses, a drink, fiddling with clothing or hair, beards etc. Nothing more.

gettingby said:

But why?

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Why not?

gettingby said:

Do you guys think smoking adds anything to a story? Is this something you think will go on? Do your characters ever smoke?

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It can add something to the story, and I just wrote a story where one of the characters smoked. The story was set in 1973, where smoking was pretty common. In the case of the story, it showed that a character was under significant stress and was smoking more, and that had a lot to do with the theme of the story.

I have never used smoking in a story because I don't know much about it and I write short, so it has never seemed a necessary plot point yet.

But I have a friend who writes "smoking porn" as in smoking cigarettes (I suppose his erotica is smokin' hot, too - just not my type) and is reasonably successful at it. I imagine there are smokers who read out there. I just never really noticed it, I guess.

As Chandler Bing says: "Bottom line, smoking is cool, and you know it."