Do you drive your characters--or do your characters drive YOU?
Lately I've been in the mood to ponder philosophical questions related to writing. It must be getting back to school and being in class again. I guess it reminds me of all the lit theory I took for my English major. (Not quite sure how that works... How would being in school necessarily remind me of lit theory? Never mind.)
Anyway, other people's blogs have brought one particular question to mind. I love reading posts by writers who are currently working on stories; they say such interesting things. My cousin often writes about needing to "spend more time" with her fictional characters and "getting to know them better." Some characters "surprise" her in the actions that they take. My cousin's language says that the characters have a mind of their own. They're not the products of her imagination; she (and other writers) seems to conceptualize them as living outside of it. They, and not the writer, control the story.
I think I know what she's getting at. To write "good" stories, authors need to develop characters that are complex and believable. Which means imagining some of the less obvious traits that might affect or add to the story. In my fiction writing class, we started doing that by answering a list of questions on our characters: What eye color does he or she have? When was she born? What social class does her family belong to? Thinking about all of that really helped me enrich the plotline I was coming up with. It wasn't so one-dimensional anymore. So I definitely see the value of "getting to know" your characters.
But I do have to confess that I'm amused by some of this talk about characters. In lit theory terms, I've always been a firm believer in "authorial intention" (basically, the power of the writer). I think writers create their characters, not the other way around. Yes, characters might "misbehave" or do unforseen things, but where does that originate? The author's brain. It's not like the characters are speaking to the author from a little world floating by her ear (straight out of Horton Hears a Who). The characters didn't exist before the author made them up. The author gives them power--literally writing it into the story. Then the writer controls what they get to do with that power. If you press the Delete key enough times, your character won't rob the gas station. No characters actually deciding to surprise us.
At its worst, I think the whole "getting to know my characters" thing can be kind of hokey. It's like the writer is trying too hard to make themselves sound creative when they're talking about their stories. I'm not naming specific people here, just making some general observations.
What do you think? Do you control your characters--or is it the other way around?
Anyway, other people's blogs have brought one particular question to mind. I love reading posts by writers who are currently working on stories; they say such interesting things. My cousin often writes about needing to "spend more time" with her fictional characters and "getting to know them better." Some characters "surprise" her in the actions that they take. My cousin's language says that the characters have a mind of their own. They're not the products of her imagination; she (and other writers) seems to conceptualize them as living outside of it. They, and not the writer, control the story.
I think I know what she's getting at. To write "good" stories, authors need to develop characters that are complex and believable. Which means imagining some of the less obvious traits that might affect or add to the story. In my fiction writing class, we started doing that by answering a list of questions on our characters: What eye color does he or she have? When was she born? What social class does her family belong to? Thinking about all of that really helped me enrich the plotline I was coming up with. It wasn't so one-dimensional anymore. So I definitely see the value of "getting to know" your characters.
But I do have to confess that I'm amused by some of this talk about characters. In lit theory terms, I've always been a firm believer in "authorial intention" (basically, the power of the writer). I think writers create their characters, not the other way around. Yes, characters might "misbehave" or do unforseen things, but where does that originate? The author's brain. It's not like the characters are speaking to the author from a little world floating by her ear (straight out of Horton Hears a Who). The characters didn't exist before the author made them up. The author gives them power--literally writing it into the story. Then the writer controls what they get to do with that power. If you press the Delete key enough times, your character won't rob the gas station. No characters actually deciding to surprise us.
At its worst, I think the whole "getting to know my characters" thing can be kind of hokey. It's like the writer is trying too hard to make themselves sound creative when they're talking about their stories. I'm not naming specific people here, just making some general observations.
What do you think? Do you control your characters--or is it the other way around?