notes on character
1. Real people have flaws. "No one wants to read about perfect characters" (5). Apparently, some people do. But I suspect this is mostly for the purpose of self-insertion? This might explain why fangirls and fanboys like Eragon so much. The Inheritance books are fanfiction and as such are designed for self-insertion. You can read Eragon and "be" Eragon and hook up with Arya and be perfect and overly powerful in every way. "As individuals we're all riddled with issues of self-doubt in one area or another. This is the great commonality of mankind. So in literature, we want to see characters who make mistakes, who have lapses of judgment, who experience weakness from time to time..." (6). Does Eragon ever make mistakes? He doesn't always win (he loses most fights against someone of equal or greater power than himself), and he "regrets" hiding Saphira from his family and getting his uncle killed... I hardly think that counts.
2. "...if the novel is well written, they have grown and changed during the course of the story... Characters learn something from the unfolding events, and the reader learns something too, as a character is revealed slowly by the writer, who peels away a layer at a time" (6).
3. Know who your characters are, and how they'll react. (15)
4. You characters are what they wear, whhat they collect, what they read, etc. They are the environment in which they live and work. Their individual settings thus can be used to tell readers volumes, without the writer having to say a single thing directly. "Through a chacter's environment, you show who he or she is. Everything else is interpreted by the reader"(19).
5. Character analyses: physical description, family background, personal background character promt sheet, what the character wants in the duration of the novel
6. Motivation comes from several sources. Can be direct or cause of 'core needs' (we mold our behavior to meet our core need) = "something essential to a person, an automatic striving that, when denied, results in whatever constitutes [that person's] psychopathology" (50). Needs may include: to be competent, to do ones duty, the need for excitement or "the impulse life", the need to be authentic or to be right at all costs. Thwarted efforts at fulfilling needs leads to stress and acting out psychopathology (pathological maneuvers such as delusions, obsessions, compulsions, addictions, denial, hysterical ailments, hypochondria, illness, self harming, harming others, manias, phobias) (51).
7. give the reader the emotional 'status quo' for the character
8. at the climax, the character stands before the reader fully revealed (oh my!)
on setting:
1. "...your setting should be a place that you want to know about, a place you are interested in exploring, a place you want to describe, a place that resonates with you, or a place that evokes a personal and intensely visual response in you" (24). Render setting, don't report it. (Show don't tell.)
2. 'Landscape' should be worked in throughout the narrative, not reported in a blob of detail.
3. Characters have 'landscape' too: their house, office, car, bike, boat, apartment, cubicle, bumper sticker, political button, etc. "Specific and telling details" (33).
'THADs':
1. "Talking Head Avoidance Device" = actions or occupations to avoid a scene being a bunch of talking heads; can also be a metaphor or clue or reveal a character's personality (such as talking while gardening or talking while rescuing a small animal or talking while completely absorbed in the newspaper).
conflict:
1. character's will against some resistance; internal or external conflict; rising conflict works best (builds over time, not thrust character into the middle of a raging battle)
opening a novel:
1. must either possess or promise excitement
2. name a character, tell the reading something significant about the plot, show the reader a personality quirk of one of the characters, illustrate a character's attitude, show the way the narrator's mind works, give a clue or trick in the plot or a foreshadowing of either, lead the reader into excitement, render a mysterious or suspenseful occurrence
dialogue:
1. never make dialogue blatantly expository: "You're 10 years older than your wife, Steve." It should instead reveal something about the speaker as well as whatever he's talking about: "You ough to see your goddamn face. Boy, you as white as new undershorts and your lips look like liver." (118).
Quotes from "Write Away" by Elizabeth George.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0312010443/102-4977955-0622543?v=glance&n=283155
2. "...if the novel is well written, they have grown and changed during the course of the story... Characters learn something from the unfolding events, and the reader learns something too, as a character is revealed slowly by the writer, who peels away a layer at a time" (6).
3. Know who your characters are, and how they'll react. (15)
4. You characters are what they wear, whhat they collect, what they read, etc. They are the environment in which they live and work. Their individual settings thus can be used to tell readers volumes, without the writer having to say a single thing directly. "Through a chacter's environment, you show who he or she is. Everything else is interpreted by the reader"(19).
5. Character analyses: physical description, family background, personal background character promt sheet, what the character wants in the duration of the novel
6. Motivation comes from several sources. Can be direct or cause of 'core needs' (we mold our behavior to meet our core need) = "something essential to a person, an automatic striving that, when denied, results in whatever constitutes [that person's] psychopathology" (50). Needs may include: to be competent, to do ones duty, the need for excitement or "the impulse life", the need to be authentic or to be right at all costs. Thwarted efforts at fulfilling needs leads to stress and acting out psychopathology (pathological maneuvers such as delusions, obsessions, compulsions, addictions, denial, hysterical ailments, hypochondria, illness, self harming, harming others, manias, phobias) (51).
7. give the reader the emotional 'status quo' for the character
8. at the climax, the character stands before the reader fully revealed (oh my!)
on setting:
1. "...your setting should be a place that you want to know about, a place you are interested in exploring, a place you want to describe, a place that resonates with you, or a place that evokes a personal and intensely visual response in you" (24). Render setting, don't report it. (Show don't tell.)
2. 'Landscape' should be worked in throughout the narrative, not reported in a blob of detail.
3. Characters have 'landscape' too: their house, office, car, bike, boat, apartment, cubicle, bumper sticker, political button, etc. "Specific and telling details" (33).
'THADs':
1. "Talking Head Avoidance Device" = actions or occupations to avoid a scene being a bunch of talking heads; can also be a metaphor or clue or reveal a character's personality (such as talking while gardening or talking while rescuing a small animal or talking while completely absorbed in the newspaper).
conflict:
1. character's will against some resistance; internal or external conflict; rising conflict works best (builds over time, not thrust character into the middle of a raging battle)
opening a novel:
1. must either possess or promise excitement
2. name a character, tell the reading something significant about the plot, show the reader a personality quirk of one of the characters, illustrate a character's attitude, show the way the narrator's mind works, give a clue or trick in the plot or a foreshadowing of either, lead the reader into excitement, render a mysterious or suspenseful occurrence
dialogue:
1. never make dialogue blatantly expository: "You're 10 years older than your wife, Steve." It should instead reveal something about the speaker as well as whatever he's talking about: "You ough to see your goddamn face. Boy, you as white as new undershorts and your lips look like liver." (118).
Quotes from "Write Away" by Elizabeth George.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0312010443/102-4977955-0622543?v=glance&n=283155