Smoking as a character trait

[KennethLopezJr921]

Funny enough, I had one or two of my characters be a smoker but at some point, I forgot to include that in the final drafts of my story. I think its because smoking is so uncommon now (in my experience at least), that outside of movies and tv shows, I rarely see people smoking a cigarette XD

[ThunderChicken]

In Wild Nights, Hot and Crazy Days most of the characters smoked, even as young teenagers. It’s a true story and characters are presented as they really were. It was the 1980’s, and people smoked. Grocery carts and video games had ashtrays on them. The non-smoking sections of restaurants were two or three seats. McDonald’s and other fast food places even had their own disposable aluminum ashtrays on the tables. You could smoke in hospitals, on airplanes, in grocery stores and department stores… even my high school had a designated student smoking area in 1987.

Glad to say I quit 23 years ago…

[NickRowler]

I have a character who smokes but he's also supposed to be "rough around the edges". There is also a generation aspect, he's suppose to be in his late 40s. Older people tend to smoke cigarettes while younger people tend to smoke weed or vape.

I don't smoke. However I am strongly against connecting morality with smoking. Yes smoking is not good for your health, however people who have the habit are not evil or criminals or bad people. Someone can be a smoker and the nicest person. Someone could never smoke and be the biggest asshole. These personality traits have nothing to do with the habit.