Study the past and write about it.
The Romans had a problem with employment, and they came up with a solution.
We call it bread and circuses, I don’t know what the Romans called it. (today we call it the Internet and welfare). One of the reason they implemented this was another law that dictated that the son had to go into the business of the father. That was good if your father was a senator, but not so good if your father was a garbage collector.
I have not read if the Roman people rioted against the son must follow the father law. The law would provide stability. You knew your place. But you could not get out of your role in life. Born a shoemaker, always a shoemaker.
This would lock the society in the past, prevent change. People like that. Who could become the gun maker if everyone could only be what their father was and there had never been guns before?
If someone comes along with guns, the whole society would be in trouble.
That law would make entrepreneurs and innovators rebels and outlaws. The kind of characters I like to write about.
I don’t know if anyone saw anything wrong with it, at the time. But we know what happened to the Roman Empire.
The average person would think they were very smart and except the free bread. Why not, everyone else was doing it. Then she would go watch the Circus. It would take a driven person to start something new. A person that would not except sitting around doing nothing. A true rebel. Stubborn is the word that comes to mind.
This person or character would not look different than anyone else. Can you spot a innovator walking down the street? A used car salesman, maybe. Besides the innovator would be in her workshop innovating not wandering around the streets.
There is no stereotype look for an innovator. You don’t have to be a wild eyed genius, or a nut case to be an innovator. It’s the slow steady, hard-workers, that get things done.
We have become obsessed with the image of Albert Einstein. He maintained his look for a purpose.
Your book’s character may have an unusual look and a reason for that look, but the look would have to make the person money, or do something for the character. Otherwise the character would not keep the look. The reason for the look may be as silly as; that’s the way she’s always dressed (think Mortisa from the TV show Addams Family), but it has to cost the character something and may be a point of change for the character.
Your character may also be trying to save his civilization or it is her drive to make a better world is what makes her overcome the plot obstacles. But to do this, do they have to look or be flamboyant?
Stay strong, write on, and make your hero a rebel out to save civilization.
Professor Hyram Voltage