Worldbuilding and Secondary Characters
I was watching White Collar the other day...Was it yesterday, actually?
I don't know if you follow the show, I don't reguarly but I have seen enough scattered episodes to be able to follow the stories more or less. It's about an ex con working for the FBI and his FBI handler. Both are very smart and also balance each other pretty well. I
In this weeks' episode there comes a replacement for the unit's boss who was forced into retirement ater the MCs uncovered some dirt under a senators rug... Thing is, everybody at the office said they believed Peter (the handler) had to be the new boss, and he says he wouldn't want it, he prefers not to be stuck behind a desk.
Then the wife tells him the same, and he says the highe- ups know he wouldn't like it and she says "it would be nice to be asked anyway"
These scenes struck me in all the good ways for many reasons. First, because Peter Burke is the kind of efficient people you usually find on the second line. People who know their job to the seams, know and are known and respected -and feared- by everybody in their business, are loyal to a fault but also uncompromising, and also are self-assured enough not to need the trappings and ornaments of rank to exercise power, while loving being free of the bootlicking that comes with positions of political responsiblity. NOt many of those, but yet when you find them, they are jewels.
The retired boss -unlike the replacement- also was the kind of boss you would want. Someone who climbed the ladder on his time, knows all the tricks of the job and then some, who was close to retirement, and wanted to let his people do their job, confident enough to devote time to boring paperwork and politicking to the point of risking everything when his people got into a dirty fight, generous enough to take the fall himself to allow them to keep with the fight. That's also the kind of boss - or person in charge- you seldom find these days,
His replacement is a cliche, a 40 sth blond woman, snarky, power hungry and back stabbing, with an I-know-best attitude, which is terribly boring and commonplace but, unfortunately in this case, so common it's almost a given.
Last but not least, the wife's comment also touched anouther important driver in people's lives and careers: recognition.
So this situation made me think of wordbuilding in a double sense: real life and story telling.
IN real life, because it showed me parts of my own world theory I can recognize. In my case I get along famously with seconds,, rather with bosses even when I'm on top, because I've been on top as a way of getting things done or allowing other people to do things, or both, not for personal interest in the management side of the ladder, and so I usually find myself closer to people on the second or third step of the ladder. And you usually find brilliant and extremely competent and interesting people lurking behind the brightness of any star, be it a president, or a minster or a CEO. HAving good bosses is so rare that in my case, I've never shied of becoming one myself rather than having one I disliked!
Also in stories, secondary characters most of the time get my interest. That's somehting I like about George R R MArtin's worldbuilding, that he is capable of writing secondary characers into life with a couple strokes of his brush, a few details that make you instantly like that character. This kind of secondary characters is what makes many stories alive, at least for me.
And so I think I'm more for choral, team effort, multiple pov stories than for tales of individual woes, and that's why I have a lot of trouble with stories in first person or even with a single point of view.
Anyway,this is me babbling for I needed a break from report writing, it's snowing outside, and I just crossed the street from HQ to the hotel to continue typing after a long couple days of typing, so feel free to entertain me with the type of characters you like.. or not. It's good to have a job, even if temporary, said she thoughtfully! :-)
I don't know if you follow the show, I don't reguarly but I have seen enough scattered episodes to be able to follow the stories more or less. It's about an ex con working for the FBI and his FBI handler. Both are very smart and also balance each other pretty well. I
In this weeks' episode there comes a replacement for the unit's boss who was forced into retirement ater the MCs uncovered some dirt under a senators rug... Thing is, everybody at the office said they believed Peter (the handler) had to be the new boss, and he says he wouldn't want it, he prefers not to be stuck behind a desk.
Then the wife tells him the same, and he says the highe- ups know he wouldn't like it and she says "it would be nice to be asked anyway"
These scenes struck me in all the good ways for many reasons. First, because Peter Burke is the kind of efficient people you usually find on the second line. People who know their job to the seams, know and are known and respected -and feared- by everybody in their business, are loyal to a fault but also uncompromising, and also are self-assured enough not to need the trappings and ornaments of rank to exercise power, while loving being free of the bootlicking that comes with positions of political responsiblity. NOt many of those, but yet when you find them, they are jewels.
The retired boss -unlike the replacement- also was the kind of boss you would want. Someone who climbed the ladder on his time, knows all the tricks of the job and then some, who was close to retirement, and wanted to let his people do their job, confident enough to devote time to boring paperwork and politicking to the point of risking everything when his people got into a dirty fight, generous enough to take the fall himself to allow them to keep with the fight. That's also the kind of boss - or person in charge- you seldom find these days,
His replacement is a cliche, a 40 sth blond woman, snarky, power hungry and back stabbing, with an I-know-best attitude, which is terribly boring and commonplace but, unfortunately in this case, so common it's almost a given.
Last but not least, the wife's comment also touched anouther important driver in people's lives and careers: recognition.
So this situation made me think of wordbuilding in a double sense: real life and story telling.
IN real life, because it showed me parts of my own world theory I can recognize. In my case I get along famously with seconds,, rather with bosses even when I'm on top, because I've been on top as a way of getting things done or allowing other people to do things, or both, not for personal interest in the management side of the ladder, and so I usually find myself closer to people on the second or third step of the ladder. And you usually find brilliant and extremely competent and interesting people lurking behind the brightness of any star, be it a president, or a minster or a CEO. HAving good bosses is so rare that in my case, I've never shied of becoming one myself rather than having one I disliked!
Also in stories, secondary characters most of the time get my interest. That's somehting I like about George R R MArtin's worldbuilding, that he is capable of writing secondary characers into life with a couple strokes of his brush, a few details that make you instantly like that character. This kind of secondary characters is what makes many stories alive, at least for me.
And so I think I'm more for choral, team effort, multiple pov stories than for tales of individual woes, and that's why I have a lot of trouble with stories in first person or even with a single point of view.
Anyway,this is me babbling for I needed a break from report writing, it's snowing outside, and I just crossed the street from HQ to the hotel to continue typing after a long couple days of typing, so feel free to entertain me with the type of characters you like.. or not. It's good to have a job, even if temporary, said she thoughtfully! :-)