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Creating the Passive-Aggressive Character in Fiction

Prompt: How would you create a passive-aggressive character in your stories? What, in your opinion, makes people passive-aggressive?

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To create such a character, I would show something in his or her background or backstory that made him extremely angry. I would make it an anger that he or she couldn’t properly express because he or she lacked power and control. This may be a dominant, aggressive person in her background and history who hurt him or her. Especially in formative years, social weaknesses and disadvantages or low self-esteem and societal restrictions might have played a part in his/her way of treating others later. Or it may be a learned behavior possibly from a parent who used passive-aggressiveness on the character, thus teaching him this way of living in the world.

In his or her present behavior, contrary to popular belief, he or she is not really a shy person but an aggressive one in his or her own way. A passive-aggressive character would create negative gossip. The methods of such a person can include veiled hostile joking, unnecessary and repetitive teasing, and always being critical of others’ conditions, ways, ideas, solutions, or expectations.

Some of those people can give their victims the silent treatment, backstab, send mixed messages, or push their buttons deliberately. Sometimes they act as if their victim is not in the room and they try to socially exclude him or her by giving them the invisible treatment. Then if they can’t see their desired result in the victims, they try to get at the victims by badmouthing or hurting someone or something of importance to them. These types are very good in engineering negative or awkward surprises for their intended victims also. They are also very good in punishing others, deserved or not, by hurting themselves in some way. On top of it all, to elicit sympathy, they may show themselves as the victim, dependent and weak.

In work situations, they stall, forget, procrastinate, or obstruct and suppress resources and information. They also break agreements, show rigidity, and mess up the tasks at hand. They are very good at professionally excluding their victims.

Although in the short term, passive aggressiveness may bring so-called benefits to such a character, it can cause serious personal and professional harm eventually. For curing this behavior in the character, the writer can create a reason for him or her to exercise serious self-awareness.