I am having a problem with characterization. (Well, lots of problems, but I am concentrating on characterization. *g*) Part of the problem is that my subconscious has been working on the inconsistencies in the plot, and some of the nuances of characterization are waiting for those plot problems to get cleared up.
When I started, I had the idea that Godred would be a tough guy with a soft center. But even a tough guy would be likely to crack (or at least learn to control himself) under the kind of pressure I had in mind.
On the second try, he came out mushy, with no edge.
On the third attempt, he wasn’t mushy, but he was still bland. It’s kind of making me crazy, trying to find just the right words to convey the way I see him in my head. Fortunately, even though I was pleased in general with my third attempt, I was able to see that he wasn’t quite where I wanted him to be, so I can still work on it. A few things have occurred to me, and the plot is starting to sort itself out nicely, so it is going to eventually fall into place, but the meanwhile is what is bugging me.
As part of my ruminations on characterization, I reread Monstrous Regiment, by Terry Pratchett. It is a brilliant novel on different levels, and hilarious to boot (like snorting-aloud-on-the-bus funny). I was able to pick up on some of the macro-level things he did with his characters, but they are still complex enough that I will probably have to give it another go, but this time in a more systematic way. Or maybe I’ll let my famously slow subconscious take a whack at it while I work on something else, say, my Cinderella story.
I have bee out of pocket for a while but am back to the grindstone.
ReplyDeleteFunny you shoud mention characterization. I just read a bit on it in this FABULOUS editing book some fairy princess gave to me. It talked about characterization in terms of pigenholing characters.
Like don't "tell" the reader about the character because then you take away room for them to grow within the story. When you label them, with lame ass adverb dialogue tags--like Joe said sadly.(this book really hates that), one you're being a lazy writer because if the dialogue was good the reader would KNOW Joe was sad and two because the reader will tend to confine our sense of Joe to said label.
That was a mouthful-but you get my drift.
It gave a good hint to look at things scene by scene. Convey what you want about your character in relation to that scene. Save the rest as the story progresses and your character does too.
Does that help?
Or is it total crap?
I love it when y'all write stuff like this... I feel like I am eaves dropping on some really high level thinking.
ReplyDeleteThis discussion reminds me of something I learned in a poetry class I took. The prof always stressed avoiding the use of adverbs or adjectives that had qualifiers (like "very" sad... it shows the adjective is a weak choice). Because poetry is all about saying as much as possible in as few words as possible, tightening and making every word count was paramount to what we were trying to accomplish.
He always said that the best poems were not ones that described an emotion, rather they would describe something that would evoke the emotion in the reader. This is how we *experience* reading. One of my favorite songs has a line in it that always brings goosebumps to my arms and tears to my eyes because it employs this principle. The song is about a soldier away at war and he finally gets a chance to talk to his girl on the phone, and the part of the song that gets me is written:
They talked about Savannah, and sweet home Alabama and how he missed the way she always smiled.
She said,"Are you coming back soon?"
"By the Harvest moon, if I have to walk every mile *on my knees*."
***
Of course, songs require an effective delivery and the live version of this song is always so much better than the studio recording in my opinion. However, it is the description of that conversation that gets me. The writer could have written 42 verses about how much the soldier wants to come home and not have conveyed as much emotion as the phrase, "if I have to walk every mile on my knees".
It tells you so much about the character in the song.
Anyway... I don't know that any of that has any bearing an y'all or your work, but it reminded me of something I thought I'd share. Carry on. :)