It’s hard to tell without reading your work…I think it’s important to remember that people have many different personality traits. If this is his only personality trait, then I could see how he would be stereotypical. But if he’s also secretly insecure (bad example, but it’s the first one that came to my head), then he’s immediately more interesting than Wisecracking Fantasy Theif #10033.

This probably wasn’t very helpful, was it? Sorry about that…but maybe if you gave us a sample of what he’s like from your writing?

^^ Agreed.

One thing I’ve learned from watching people is that they are an incredible mix of conflicting and harmonious personality traits. If all your thief does is crack jokes and steal things, then yeah, he’d probably be stereotypical. But all you need to do is look at him—his background, his hopes and dreams, his likes and dislikes—to find something atypical. People are shaped by their backgrounds. What in his past made him decide to be a thief?
How does he feel about his chosen occupation?
Does he secretly want to be a chef instead?
What would he do if a legitimate, high-paying job offer came his way?
Does he use his sense of humor as a coping mechanism, or is it a cry for attention?
While we’re on the topic of humor, what kind of humor is it? Bad puns? Snide remarks? Morbidity that makes you laugh behind your hand?
Are his jokes actually funny?
What about his soft side?
What religion does he lean toward/ practice, if any?

Now, you don’t need to answer all of these questions; I might have gotten a bit carried away. But they’ll help you learn more about your thief and hopefully make him less stereotypical.

He’s a major character, love interest of the protagonist, and leader of a band of outlaws. They are forced into stealing to survive, and he isn’t always happy about it, but there isn’t really another option.I don’t plan to treat all of his jokes as being funny, since I’m not good enough at humor for that. Its kind of a way of coping with the situation, (and to hide his true feelings on the matter at hand, which is something he hardly talks about) Some of his jokes are funny, but a lot of them are kind of lame, and other characters roll their eyes.

When it comes to the word ‘sardonic’, don’t listen to sansafro.

No, listen to sansafro. For starters, it’s an immediate cue that the author wants you to know how edgy and irreverent and cutting and what have you the character is, but nine times out of ten I’d say the character just ends up acting smug. It’s just a word that shows up when the author really wants you to know the character is so cool. It’s the ultimate ‘trying too hard’ tag.

The second thing, and the less pet peevish reason, is that it’s a really lazy adjective most of the time. Rather than showing a character behaving sardonically and trusting the reader to pick up on it, instead they have this word attached to them(or some other hideous construction like doing something with ‘sardonic glee,’ barf) and it tries to remove any of the guesswork.

Granted, I don’t think there should ever be any objective description of character personalities for any reason.

He’s a major character, love interest of the protagonist, and leader of a band of outlaws. They are forced into stealing to survive, and he isn’t always happy about it, but there isn’t really another option.I don’t plan to treat all of his jokes as being funny, since I’m not good enough at humor for that. Its kind of a way of coping with the situation, (and to hide his true feelings on the matter at hand, which is something he hardly talks about) Some of his jokes are funny, but a lot of them are kind of lame, and other characters roll their eyes.

What else can you say about him? You need more than this if he’s a major character.

Referring to ‘sardonic’ (because all the advice for the thief I agree with) but I think you might get away with it maybe once or twice in a novel. And like Steph, I mostly just like the word. :)

Okay, here’s my two cents on the “sardonic” debate:

It’s a bit like the word “chagrin.” Use it in moderation, and only if you’re sure you know what it means. I remember one series where a character named Marcus “gave a sardonic smile” a few times, and it was quite clear he was being sarcastic, cynical and a little smug. That’s what the author wanted the reader to think, and that’s what her use of the word “sardonic” did.

The best way I’ve heard it defined: “Sarcasm with an edge.” Keep that in mind if you ever want to use it.

He also doesn’t really think before he speaks. He’ll say something because its a great comeback, without really thinking about the consequences. This turns out to be a disaster when he winds up accidentally revealing information that nearly gets his brother killed.

@ Steph, the only book I can remember reading where “chagrin” didn’t make me giggle or roll my eyes was before Twilight was published. It was used correctly and didn’t bother me at all. But, like I said, that was before SMeyer published her 8,000 pages of fancy toilet paper and ruined the word forever.

^^ Look, I think at the very most basic level, she got that triangle mostly right. She had two enemies, she outlined the differences clearly, she created an atmosphere of passion and all that goo very successfully, if at the same time very badly. Where she went wrong was that Edward was just too perfect for his flaws to come through, whilst Jacob’s flaws were coming through loud and clear.

Uhhh, this is kind of off topic. . .

Yes. Thank you.