Writerly Ways
Feb. 14th, 2010 06:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cornerofmadnessOf course one of the goals of any writer is (or perhaps should be, in my opinion) to create characters that are memorable, the people cheer for; heck characters that people want to take and write fan fiction about. (Because people tend to really love the characters they fanfic about).
The author ought to love the characters they’re creating (or maybe love to hate them as the case may be). If the author doesn’t care about them, why should the reader? All too often lately I’ve seen reviews saying ‘the story would have been good if there had been a character I liked.’ That seems wrong, doesn’t it? To have a collection of characters that no one likes? Going over several reviews on Goodreads I see the same complaint about this or that particular book. It got me thinking about what a character can do for a story.
Most often it is the characters themselves that draw us in, be it a mystery, an action plot or a romance. If the characters aren’t that exciting, chances are the reader will set it aside.
I just finished a SF mystery that as a mystery had a lot of promise but the characters just killed it. They were so generic as to the point of utter blandness. I couldn’t tell you one personal thing about either main character other than their jobs. They were that flat. They could have been anyone. I’m quite surprised characters of this caliber even saw print let alone have nearly a half dozen books about them. I would never give this series a second try.
Compare that to another SF story, Fringe (yes yes I know actors bring another dimension to a character or take it away based on skill but I’m not really comparing apples and oranges here. More like granny smiths and honeycrisps) Really, the plots of this series aren’t that original or even that WOW this is great. X-Files did a lot of the same plot lines and better so why are people watching Fringe? Walter, for one. Here is a character that is so well developed, so full and rich that people will accept not quite stellar plots just to follow the character. Walter’s fragile innocence even makes us look past his rampant desire to get high and the fact that he experimented on children. People just seem to like the guy.
Of course having a good plot and great characters is the ideal (Buffy, X-Files, Star Trek) and I believe that having the latter really helps the former come together. Occasionally, we all misfire and end up with a character who just doesn’t want to develop a personality. How do you handle that? I try to go back and find the scenes the character is in and try to think of ways to bring that character to life more. Don’t want him/her too be overly quirky but the character will need something to help them leap off the page and grab the reader.
In my experience, each character is as unique as real people are. Some just come to you, gushing out their story and your fingers ache to keep up with them. Others require coaxing abd bribing to give you crumbs of a story. Some get borrowed from real life (always a risky proposition if they remain too close to the source). Others pop up in your head from absolutely no where.
Treat them well, these characters and hopefully, they in turn will treat you well when it comes time for submission and the later wooing of readers.
I should be all the way done with big bang today or the threesome story but I’ve felt like I swallowed acid all day so…not concentrating much. I did get over 3,000 words written this week so :
17572 / 175000 words. 10% done!
The author ought to love the characters they’re creating (or maybe love to hate them as the case may be). If the author doesn’t care about them, why should the reader? All too often lately I’ve seen reviews saying ‘the story would have been good if there had been a character I liked.’ That seems wrong, doesn’t it? To have a collection of characters that no one likes? Going over several reviews on Goodreads I see the same complaint about this or that particular book. It got me thinking about what a character can do for a story.
Most often it is the characters themselves that draw us in, be it a mystery, an action plot or a romance. If the characters aren’t that exciting, chances are the reader will set it aside.
I just finished a SF mystery that as a mystery had a lot of promise but the characters just killed it. They were so generic as to the point of utter blandness. I couldn’t tell you one personal thing about either main character other than their jobs. They were that flat. They could have been anyone. I’m quite surprised characters of this caliber even saw print let alone have nearly a half dozen books about them. I would never give this series a second try.
Compare that to another SF story, Fringe (yes yes I know actors bring another dimension to a character or take it away based on skill but I’m not really comparing apples and oranges here. More like granny smiths and honeycrisps) Really, the plots of this series aren’t that original or even that WOW this is great. X-Files did a lot of the same plot lines and better so why are people watching Fringe? Walter, for one. Here is a character that is so well developed, so full and rich that people will accept not quite stellar plots just to follow the character. Walter’s fragile innocence even makes us look past his rampant desire to get high and the fact that he experimented on children. People just seem to like the guy.
Of course having a good plot and great characters is the ideal (Buffy, X-Files, Star Trek) and I believe that having the latter really helps the former come together. Occasionally, we all misfire and end up with a character who just doesn’t want to develop a personality. How do you handle that? I try to go back and find the scenes the character is in and try to think of ways to bring that character to life more. Don’t want him/her too be overly quirky but the character will need something to help them leap off the page and grab the reader.
In my experience, each character is as unique as real people are. Some just come to you, gushing out their story and your fingers ache to keep up with them. Others require coaxing abd bribing to give you crumbs of a story. Some get borrowed from real life (always a risky proposition if they remain too close to the source). Others pop up in your head from absolutely no where.
Treat them well, these characters and hopefully, they in turn will treat you well when it comes time for submission and the later wooing of readers.
I should be all the way done with big bang today or the threesome story but I’ve felt like I swallowed acid all day so…not concentrating much. I did get over 3,000 words written this week so :
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Date: 2010-02-14 11:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-15 12:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-15 12:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-18 03:54 pm (UTC)Certain Brits, on the other hand, tend to conceive their characters as a collection of quirks. The British adore eccentricity, but their bad writing habits are no more effective or less annoying in the end than the American tendency of creating lackluster plot puppets.
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Date: 2010-02-18 10:57 pm (UTC)Oh dear, i'll be looking forward * cough * to that. Seriously, it's amazing how quickly a good idea goes south wehn you have crap characters.
Sometimes a collection of quirks is a good thing so long as its believable. often times not though