Bag-O-Characters
Today I'm going to make a few notes on character. One of the things that writer's have is the bag-o-character-traits. It's a favorite character bit that you might see over and over again in the same writer's books. We talk about rehashing plots, but there are characters that are being rehashed, too. For the sake of this discussion, I'll start with characters I don't write simply because I think they're overdone: the kooky eccentric heroine who loves dog, the repressed flower with an overbearing daddy, who usually has sex issues (somebody REALLY needs to analyze THAT family), the hard-drinking, slow-talking alpha male (usually owns a bike) who's been wronged by his woman in the past.
Now, lest anyone think I'm throwing stones, here's my list of characters that I do over: Carol in A Christmas Carol is loosely related to Beth in Breakfast at Bethany's (only Beth has much more backbone than Carol ever had), Amanda in Just Kiss Me is loosely related to Jessica in Pillow Talk, Joe in Just Kiss Me is loosely related to Dominic in It Should Happen To You. How are these people related? The overarching character trait is the same. Carol & Beth, lack of direction, Beth in her career, Carol in her love life. Amanda and Jessica are both overly dedicated to their jobs, Joe and Dominic are both suffering from a lack of self-esteem.
So, okay, I've confessed some of my bigger, darker secrets. But how do you differentiate characters so that they become unique?
See, I was watching Hannah and Her Sisters this Weekend, and although I'm not a big Woody Allen fan (see above on limited bag-o-character-traits), I was impressed with the characterization within the movie. We have the blow-hard, depressive artist who knows all. We have the undermining sister who sees the world only through her eyes and runs over everyone who threatens her narcissism. The confused-middle-aged man who loves his wife, but is excited by the thing out of reach. What made the characters come to life was their tweaking. The undermining sister wasn't a rich-bitch, which is the stereotype, instead she was an underdog actress who yearned to be like her mother, but wasn't talented enough to make it (underdog makes her sympathetic).
The confused middle-aged man, (also played by Dudley Moore in 10) was brought to life by the guilt that he suffered over his affair and his loyalty to his wife. He was never going to leave Hannah and you knew it. The blow-hard depressive artist was giving a nice tweak to his character when you realized he was perceptive (noticed that Lee had been kissed), and also when he stood on his scruples and refused to sell his art to the rock singer.
Why do those stand out? Because they're contradictions to the stereotype, and not only are they contradictions to the stereotype, but they're also contradictions within the character. The artist is not so driven by his desire for fame that he ignores his own pride within his work, which actually not that I'm writing this, have realized could a take on the artist-eschwing-commercialism stereotype. The narcissist sister is a failure within her life, yet suffers rejection again and again. Once again, a contradiction.
Contradictions exist within each of us, and the way an author brings these to life is to show a character in different bits of the universe. Most of us have played several roles within our lives. For me, it's mother, wife, daughter, employee, writer, manager, friend, neighbor. Each of these roles brings a different aspect to my character, and by picking a few different roles for a character, these dichotomies can be highlighted.
Okay, that's all I'm going to say about work today. In things that make you think, the Sunday Times has an article about how we are customizing our life so completely that we're unable to come with anything that doesn't guarantee instant gratification. You know the old codgers who sit around in their rockers and remember the good-old-days? I think I'm turning into one of those. "In my day, we suffered through those commercials to get to the good stuff. And three channels! That was it. No Cartoon Network, or A&E that you could tune to whenever you were bored." I don't know if I'm more nervous about the direction we're moving in, or the fact that I'm turning into an old codger at the ripe old age of 42 (apparently Ms. Rosen, also has a bag-o-articles because this is a reprint? Rehash? of an article in The Atlantic Monthly).
While I was watching the Today Show, they were concerned because Scott Peterson is getting marriage proposals. Don't you want to shake these women? Don't you want to say, "He killed his first wife, and you want that job?" Very sad. Another stereotype you'll never see in my books. The needy female who aches so badly to have a man that she's willing to swim in the dregs of the testosterone jungle and propose to a prison inmate.
And in books news, there's a fascinating article in the Times on the success of Dan Brown and what it's done to his life. I enjoyed the Da Vinci Code, and thought it was an excellent example of what a page-turner should be.
Questions for today:
1. What characters are you tired of seeing?
2. Have you ever proposed to a man in prison?
3. What did you think of Da Vinci Code? Are you a fan or rotten-apple-thrower?
Now, lest anyone think I'm throwing stones, here's my list of characters that I do over: Carol in A Christmas Carol is loosely related to Beth in Breakfast at Bethany's (only Beth has much more backbone than Carol ever had), Amanda in Just Kiss Me is loosely related to Jessica in Pillow Talk, Joe in Just Kiss Me is loosely related to Dominic in It Should Happen To You. How are these people related? The overarching character trait is the same. Carol & Beth, lack of direction, Beth in her career, Carol in her love life. Amanda and Jessica are both overly dedicated to their jobs, Joe and Dominic are both suffering from a lack of self-esteem.
So, okay, I've confessed some of my bigger, darker secrets. But how do you differentiate characters so that they become unique?
See, I was watching Hannah and Her Sisters this Weekend, and although I'm not a big Woody Allen fan (see above on limited bag-o-character-traits), I was impressed with the characterization within the movie. We have the blow-hard, depressive artist who knows all. We have the undermining sister who sees the world only through her eyes and runs over everyone who threatens her narcissism. The confused-middle-aged man who loves his wife, but is excited by the thing out of reach. What made the characters come to life was their tweaking. The undermining sister wasn't a rich-bitch, which is the stereotype, instead she was an underdog actress who yearned to be like her mother, but wasn't talented enough to make it (underdog makes her sympathetic).
The confused middle-aged man, (also played by Dudley Moore in 10) was brought to life by the guilt that he suffered over his affair and his loyalty to his wife. He was never going to leave Hannah and you knew it. The blow-hard depressive artist was giving a nice tweak to his character when you realized he was perceptive (noticed that Lee had been kissed), and also when he stood on his scruples and refused to sell his art to the rock singer.
Why do those stand out? Because they're contradictions to the stereotype, and not only are they contradictions to the stereotype, but they're also contradictions within the character. The artist is not so driven by his desire for fame that he ignores his own pride within his work, which actually not that I'm writing this, have realized could a take on the artist-eschwing-commercialism stereotype. The narcissist sister is a failure within her life, yet suffers rejection again and again. Once again, a contradiction.
Contradictions exist within each of us, and the way an author brings these to life is to show a character in different bits of the universe. Most of us have played several roles within our lives. For me, it's mother, wife, daughter, employee, writer, manager, friend, neighbor. Each of these roles brings a different aspect to my character, and by picking a few different roles for a character, these dichotomies can be highlighted.
Okay, that's all I'm going to say about work today. In things that make you think, the Sunday Times has an article about how we are customizing our life so completely that we're unable to come with anything that doesn't guarantee instant gratification. You know the old codgers who sit around in their rockers and remember the good-old-days? I think I'm turning into one of those. "In my day, we suffered through those commercials to get to the good stuff. And three channels! That was it. No Cartoon Network, or A&E that you could tune to whenever you were bored." I don't know if I'm more nervous about the direction we're moving in, or the fact that I'm turning into an old codger at the ripe old age of 42 (apparently Ms. Rosen, also has a bag-o-articles because this is a reprint? Rehash? of an article in The Atlantic Monthly).
While I was watching the Today Show, they were concerned because Scott Peterson is getting marriage proposals. Don't you want to shake these women? Don't you want to say, "He killed his first wife, and you want that job?" Very sad. Another stereotype you'll never see in my books. The needy female who aches so badly to have a man that she's willing to swim in the dregs of the testosterone jungle and propose to a prison inmate.
And in books news, there's a fascinating article in the Times on the success of Dan Brown and what it's done to his life. I enjoyed the Da Vinci Code, and thought it was an excellent example of what a page-turner should be.
Questions for today:
1. What characters are you tired of seeing?
2. Have you ever proposed to a man in prison?
3. What did you think of Da Vinci Code? Are you a fan or rotten-apple-thrower?
posted by Kathleen at 10:01 AM
1 Comments:
You haven't gotten a prison letter??? Wow. Not that I have either, but I considered it like a right of passage for a romance author. Like a Bar Mitzvah, only not :) I'm with you on Da Vinci. I thought the pacing was textbook on how to write a thriller, and I was fascinted by the subject matter. I'm a sucker for conspiracy theories, the older the better.
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