There are
many books and articles on characterization for a reason: characterization makes
the story. I would even go so far as to say: characterization IS the story.
Sometimes, however, that statement appears ambiguous, as when an article is
about a place instead of a person. But, I argue that place is a person, or a
group of people who have made that place, and the place is a character unto
itself. If you have done much traveling, you can remember how different some
places feel from what you are accustomed. China, for example, if you were to
travel there, is quite different from your hometown. That is because it has a
lot of Chinese people living there--duh, you are saying, Of course. So, the
stereotypical Chinese person, multiplied by very many, makes the place.
Characterization. It is the place you people your story with, because the people
make the place. This is your stereotype. But to go beyond the ordinary, you have
to dig deeper.
Stories are made up of people and place, as discussed above, but they are
also made up of plot--or, in really good stories, multiple plots. When I plot my
novels, I have a main plot for the story itself, then I assign subplots directly
to specific characters. A handy reference book to use here is 20 MASTER PLOTS
(AND HOW TO BUILD THEM) by Ronald B. Tobias. While your main story line might be
THE RIDDLE (plot line for mysteries), your main character might also be
experiencing RIVALRY, or REVENGE, or PERSUIT, or RESCUE, or ESCAPE, or even
LOVE. You get the idea. But the point is: you now have something for your
character to do, something that will dramatically CHANGE your character as
he/she moves through the story.
Change is very important in characterization. Another good book for you to
read is THE WRITER'S JOURNEY (MYTHIC STRUCTURE FOR WRITERS) by Christopher
Vogler. In this volume you learn how your character grows, and why. Vogler uses
examples from TITANIC, THE LION KING, and WIZARD OF OZ, among others. I keep
this book by my laptop, right beside my dictionary--it's that good.
But place, people, plot, and change aren't everything you should remember for
characterization that goes beyond the ordinary. The most important book that I
believe all authors should read is WORD PAINTING (A GUIDE TO WRITING MORE
DESCRIPTIVELY) by Rebecca McClanahan. Ms McClanahan has a whole chapter devoted
to characterization. She has loads of yummy little tidbits, like: "When my
nephew smells like a wet puppy, I know the afternoon's turned hot and steamy,
and he's been running hard;" and "I can tell when it is Great Aunt Bessy coming
down the hall, by the swish of taffeta, the clonk of heavy heel, and the
mechanical clack of her loose dentures." Now THAT is characterization!
But if you really want to go beyond the ordinary, dare to make your
characters human. What I mean by this is, don't just people your story with
black and white characterization, that's boring. Black and white = evil VS good:
clear-cut characterization where there's this really evil character out there
wanting to get your absolutely perfect hero/heroine. I am so sick of reading
stories like that. Real people aren't absolute. We are all grey to a certain
extent. If you really want to put a nasty character in your story, please SHOW
the reader HOW and WHY this character became so despicable. Maybe his father
beat him when he was a child. Or worse. I read this really terrific story one
time about a man with forty-two personalities. Come to find out, when his father
was displeased with him when he was a teen, the father would stand over the
hired man and order the brute to rape his son while he watched. Good reason to
turn out strange. Makes for very interesting reading. And don't make your
hero/heroine so perfect he/she isn't believable. As a reader, I cannot identify
with perfection. I want to read a story where the main character has to fight as
hard as I do to achieve anything, and most of that fight is against the internal
demons of inadequacy.
The best way to achieve characterization beyond the ordinary is to include
oddities. If you really want to create characters that your reader will never
forget, then a must read is CREATING UNFORGETTABLE CHARACTERS by Linda Seger.
This author gets down to the nitty-gritty of culture, occupation, dialect,
paradox, etc. Good examples of paradox are: a warrior who keeps pet geese at his
home, or a little old lady who has a black belt in karate. But do keep these
oddities true to the story. The example of pet geese I took from an L.E.
Modesitt novel--the geese alerted those in the house when strangers were in the
yard, a sound that saved the lives of wife and child. The little old lady with
the black belt in karate probably has a very good reason in her personal history
for such a skill, and, she might not be quite as good now as then due to her
age. If you do not explain oddities, convincingly, your reader will put your
book down and never again pick up anything with your name on it.
In CREATING UNFORGETTABLE CHARACTERS, Linda Seger even dips into insanity and
shows you how you can expand your characterization that way. My mother-in-law is
paranoid--that is definitely a character trait that expands beyond what kind of
clothes she wears and whether her teeth are straight or not. One of the most
memorable series of novels I've read is the MILES VORKOSIGAN SAGA by Lois
McMaster Bujold. Miles Vorkosigan is manic-depressive. Ms Bujold's
characterization in this series is so incredible that when I go to writer's
conventions and attend a panel discussion on characterization, the name Miles
Vorkosigan always comes up as a prime example of good writing.
Want to compete with the best? Then don't forget to flesh out your characters
with emotions. I just got this handy little book called CREATING CHARACTER
EMOTIONS (WRITING COMPELLING, FRESH APPROACHES THAT EXPRESS YOUR CHARACTER'S
TRUE FEELINGS) by Ann Hood. And now I'm going back and rewriting some of my
character's emotions so they now feel more real to my audience. Cliché and
melodrama can debunk a good emotion, though it seems I was doing too much
telling and not enough showing.
That's the bottom line of good writing: SHOW your characters in their place
with good description that keeps them in motion. Motion is another important
item. If you haven't already, do read as much as you can about DIALOGUE.
WRITER'S DIGEST BOOKS has an excellent volume on the subject. It is so easy to
get caught in the "talking heads" trap where you've got all of this great
dialogue going but the reader "sees" nothing. Grins and nodding heads can only
go so far. Put your characters in motion! I'll never forget the first lesson I
learned on this subject: it was the conversation between a woman stranded on the
side of the road and the man who fixed her tire; it wasn't until the end of the
dialogue that she finds out he is a minister--it just seemed obvious by his
motions that he was an auto mechanic--but the scene was vivid because the reader
"saw" him change that flat tire. It's that descriptive motion that keeps your
readers glued to the page--descriptive motion of characterization.
Another thing I like to do is make character-interplay tables. Use the TABLE
feature of your WORD program and set it up with the major character names going
down both sides. Now you don't have to use every square, but the idea is that
you are now forcing yourself to consider how characters interact with each
other. This extra dimension in your story will aid in bringing out the quality
of reality.
Create a story where the characterization is so good that your reader will
not be able to put the book down. Rebecca McClanahan says: "Your quiche might
burn, your child escape his playpen, the morning glory vine strangle your roses,
and you'll never know--because the writer has done her job, the world of the
book I am reading has become, for the moment at least, more real than the world
at my elbow."
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