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One dimensional
Eight months or so after having the initial idea for my story, I have got the plot more or less nailed down (ninety thousand words).
As some of you know I have a small group of test readers. One of them is a very good editor and her advice is excellent. She has pointed out that my characters are one-dimensional, superficial, weak (ouch!), manipulative (ouch! ouch!)) and so on. She's absolutely right. I am aware that I have been developing plot at the expense of characterisation.
Up till now I have been rather passive in developing the characters, allowing them to evolve and not always stepping back to really think how they would take the intitiative, or react, or behave in a situation. I have done biographies on the main characters but these probably need filling out too.
Has anyone got any suggestions to help with character development?
As some of you know I have a small group of test readers. One of them is a very good editor and her advice is excellent. She has pointed out that my characters are one-dimensional, superficial, weak (ouch!), manipulative (ouch! ouch!)) and so on. She's absolutely right. I am aware that I have been developing plot at the expense of characterisation.
Up till now I have been rather passive in developing the characters, allowing them to evolve and not always stepping back to really think how they would take the intitiative, or react, or behave in a situation. I have done biographies on the main characters but these probably need filling out too.
Has anyone got any suggestions to help with character development?
Comments
Toss the plot to one side for now, think about your people. There is, somewhere buried in the depths of these threads, an excellent check list you ask yourself about your character to find out about them. Meantime check the thread which asks what your MC is like. It's marked game, I think. Read through that from beginning to end, see how the questions bring out the people.
Character profiles are helpful, but its merely a list of statistics. You need to give them a full history from the moment theyre born.. Its the stuff that makes the character behave and react in the way he or she does to people and the world around them which brings them to life. And they react a certain way because they have certain positive and negative personality traits which have developed throughout their life.
They talk in a certain way. They dress in a certain way. This like and dislike things, they can be annoying, lovable, horrid, they make fools of themselves, they fart and burp and so on theyre never perfect because you wont find a perfect real person either. The characters you create need to resonate with your reader, they need to feel affinity with your protagonists main goal within your novel, and therefore understand how and why your character behaves the way he or she does.
I looked in-depth at characterisation on my blog back in July, which you might find useful:
http://allwritefictionadvice.blogspot.com/2010_07_01_archive.html
It's an ideal excuse for, surreptitiously, studying mannerisms of fellow passengers on public transport, shops, restaurants, parks etc.
It also provides reason for ogling that shapely female composure or some masculine hunks fluidity.
People are what stories are about. Readers read to live vicariously through the characters in the book. If they can't recognise themselves in those characters, the story falls flat.
I personally believe you have to go back to the premise and decide whose story you are telling. Figure out their arc or journey through the series of events which make up the story. Your character must be interesting rather than likeable, and flawed in some way that he/she is not aware of. That way the plot grows out of the character as they sort out their issues.
To flesh out your characters you could try an online journal or blog. Write in the voice of that character. It's a good way to explore their attitudes and background, but don't fall into the trap of trying to put all that information into your book or you'll end up with the dreaded info dump!
Good luck.
Haha dorothy ! Now your neighbour has given me an idea for a story - do you think he will object ? ;)
A character is not important in a story unless they do something (plot) and a plot is not important in a story without it affecting people (characters).
Character charts, people watching (always recommended for adding a truth to characters), Character interviews, write separate short tales that put the characters in situations not involved in the novel. These and a lot of other techniques are always useful.
You need to ask yourself how you feel about the people involved. Do you fear for the girl who can't escape, angry at the abuser, rooting for the hero etc? Constantly appraise your characters need to be where they are and how they affect other characters in your story. Because an abusive person can't anger any reader if they have nobody to abuse, a trapped girl wouldn't bring fear if she can simply walk out the door and why would anybody root for the hero who could not change anybody's life?
Good luck and really well done for getting the story finished and an impressive 90,000 words down.
I quote (often) Howard Spring who never knew where his novels were going but was always satisfied with where they went at the end of every writing session.
His first book, Shabby Tiger, came from a single sentence, he had to find out who the woman was walking down the road.
The French Lieutenant's Woman came from a vision of a woman standing on the Cobb at Lyme Regis, People first. Without them the most cleverly plotted storyline in the world won't work. Let them do the walking and talking. I did that with Children Of The Moon, let the children do the talking. It worked. Forever went the same way (see synopsis thread) every story told itself. Nothing plotted. Not once. Each person told their story in their own way.
Current book, autobiography, has no outline, it diverts here there and everywhere. It remains fascinating because it is about a PERSON. That I hold to be the most important thing of all.
I recently bought the DVD of Fame Is The Spur and immediately sensed a disappointment, before the thing hits the computer. They called the hero Radshaw. He's Shawcross. No matter what he went, what he did or said, he remained Shawcross throughout the book, a bold charismatic character I have not ever forgotten. Not the story, the person.
The trick is to write memorable people, not memorable storylines. They are very much secondary. Martina Cole's latest books fall down because the characters are no longer memorable. IMO
I guess the metaphor I'd use is a bridge. If a bridge is built across a river and nobody ever uses it it is simply just a piece of metal and concrete that goes nowhere and back again. If people start using it then it has a purpose and leads somewhere. You then want to know where those people are going and what has changed in their lives when they cross back. But the same people standing still waiting for a crossing to be built are just as boring and would make you walk down the river bank looking fro something more exciting.
A story is the journey that people take and how they are taken there.
Well put!
Yes I know it sounds strange and do make sure you're alone when you try it, but it does work. :)
Good luck and really well done for getting the story finished and an impressive 90,000 words down[/quote]
Thank you. Encouragement is really great. You know that feeling when you look at the next mountain to climb and even contemplating it makes you feel exhausted. I'm going to stand back from the work a little and have a rethink. I think I know what has happened. For instance in some scenes where the main protagonist, Tess, is facing a moral dilemma, what I am trying to do as a writer is express the dilemma not make her seem like a weak person. Some of the problem may be down to bad writing. Anyway I'm going to do some more research and some more analysis and as you mostly all say, look at it from the protagonists' point of view.
[quote=dorothyd]The trick is to write memorable people[/quote] Yes I'm sure this is absolutely at the heart of it.
My characters will come right, they just need more analysis and work. The fact is that they have some extremely difficult existential and moral decisions to make: not one of us would find those decisions easy.
Now I'm going to have a look at Red's blog post and then I'm going to watch telly.
I love writing dialogue. It's one thing I don't have a problem with. I can run conversations in my head for hours. Interestingly enough as I search through the edited copy she has given me, looking under the red pen marks to find my narrative, it's the author's voice passages which she likes the least. I think you've given me an idea Lou, that I need to work on those narrative passages more as well as rethinking the characters.
Yes I do agree - she has put in hours and hours of work and I do appreciate it.
This morning, at breakfast, I finished reading Howard Spring's novel The Winds Of The Day
Plot, nil. Storyline: girl who throws herself onto the world to see where it leads her.
The point is, there is NO PLOT! Nothing you can pin down. nothing you could write in a blurb. And yet it is a wonderful book. Enchanting is the only word I can find for his books.
On a train one time, when it stopped at a station, he saw a water tank. He wrote a shorthand note for himself, 'a good place for a murderer to hide' -from that scrap he wrote My Son, My Son, one of his most moving books.
Basically, ALL his books are family based, the people move from one thing to another, get caught up in the wars, the 'new' technology, cars, telephones, planes, etc. with no discernible storyline - but they all capture and hold the imagination and some, like My Son My Son can wreck you with tears at the end.
Because, he has memorable characters! They leap from the page, they are real, flawed, as we all are, demanding your attention to the very last page. This is not my first read of his books, when I want something to 'fall into' I either go to his books or Ronnie Delderfields, which I have read several times.
With the right characters, you really can toss the plot out of the window. Let the book go where it will.
when I wrote Children Of The Moon, I had no storyline. It came from bits here and there, overhearing something - Jonquils anyone? in a flower arranging stint at church, I heard it as John Quill and wrote him into the book, then, completely stymied, left it for inspiration, a circus arrived in town, so I went ...
I remember reading a letter in WN (I think) from someone who spent half an hour in a department store waiting for his wife who was shopping, he noticed what a young woman was wearing, then realised others were wearing the same style, he had totally overlooked 'fashion' and went home to write that in his book!
My daughter spends ages sitting on our window seat (one floor up) watching the people go by. Her character dissection is amazing ... and she isn't a writer. She knows by clothes and walk who is going into the elite Joe's and who is going into the more down-market Stanleys (next door to it) or who is about to detour into the bookies, she hasn't been wrong once.
Others talk of tight plotlines, but with Howard's there are none. He had no plotlines, he never knew where the book would go when he sat down to write (every evening) and never left the work without being satisfied with where it had gone. The way I used to write, that is! Let the book write itself, let the people dictate what they did. Thrillers and suchlike need tight planning, other books don't.
You mention blurbs on books and Spring not having a definable enough plot to write one. This is my point. Novels and screenplays need that now and without it they will be left on a hard-drive or shredded in the writer's home office. I'm all for realism and character but a story does need direction to succeed today. If doesn't have a story arc then how can it even hope to compete with other works that are rejected because their story arcs not strong enough?
I know story and plot are different beast. I also know one needs good characters to bring a story to life. All I can see is that these are three necessary elements that have to coexist to make a strong work. If we neglect one for another then we are doing a great disservice to them all.
What I am saying is, you do not need a plot to start a book. He didn't. The stories flowed without a road map. There are deaths, dramas, all human life is there, to quote a motto used by a paper, but not rigidly confined to a plotline. There is a danger in tying yourself down to a storyline and stifling the characters.
I am listening to Gerry Rafferty as I write this. I suddenly thought of Fleetwood Mac's Albatross. No words. Just music. No definite reason for it to exist. It's an amazingly beautiful recording. Meanwhile, Gerry tells me that 'whatever's written in your heart is all that matters'. Precise. Two recordings, two very different results.
Try some free flowing plotless writing some time. See what miracle occurs out of it.
I disagree with the comparison of Albatross though. An instrumental is not a jump in genre or form, but a diversion from the band's own art into a more thoughtful moment or display of technical skill. So I can't understand why that means it has no definite reason to exist. I've written, or co-written instrumental pieces in bands and I can tell you there is more of a structure and a story in them than normal songs. But that's neither here nor there really.
I don't see how you can tie yourself down to a storyline. In fact I'd argue it is story that sets the characters free. It certainly sets the writer free. If the story stifles the characters then the story is wrong or not organic enough. That doesn't mean the story or even plot shouldn't be there, but they should be about the characters.
When you talk about characters/people dictating what they do, Dorothy, an author can't avoid the need for conflict and problem solving, and it's usually that that comes out in the blurb.
I realise the books I like best are character based. I don't like John Grisham, Scott Turow and James Patterson at all. They all set down a plot, tight, convoluted, and then let people live them. Dan Brown, another classic example. Weakest of characters, no way do they hold you, nor do you remember them. Dickens, all his characters are used throughout the English speaking world as examples, found it just today in a money article in the newspaper, quoting Micawber. Characters first foremost and always.
It could be that I am biased by what I read and by what I write. Autobiographies tend to be 'character' based.
Of course old Charlie boy did love plot too. Look at his ghost stories or some of his better works like Copperfield,Bleak house etc. All have a great story, characters and a resonating message. Not to mention A Christmas Carol which is probably the first example of a high concept piece in the world. In that book he virtually invented many of plot devices that are still used in novels and films today.
I can see your point about a preference to biography leading you to put character first. I also feel drained when reading tightly wound plot that has cardboard vehicles pushed in and out disguised as characters.
But I stick to my point, have a solid plot that drives the characters story forward and have those same characters affect the plot twists and you have a great foundation for a novel.
I like the way you dropped 'auto' from my posting, ST, sorry, they really are autobiographies ... the proof will be in the variety coming out. (3 next year and every year until I stop because the heart won't pump any more.)
You know I don't believe what you claim is the force behind your books, but I do have the utmost respect for you and your conviction of that process as you know. So I would never slip a rhetorical tongue in my cheek when addressing it.
I think we are writing those novels and I find conversations like this insightful and helpful in that process. I also find the different approaches and thoughts such as your own as a way of looking around all the corners of writing and not staring straight on with a blind eye.
I appreciate the open discussions on TB, they help to formulate 'thought processes' which I still need at times. I am currently writing a novel which is not channelled, something for me, knowing the market is there. (Same market I am hitting with six reprinted books over the next year or so, I would like to add a new one to the collection) and need the occasional 'boost' I get from these discussions. I'm also waiting on a big ghost writing project, which will be down to me, not spirit. It's something entirely outside my comfort zone, which will be good for me. I need challenges.
It's possible to eavesdrop on conversations whilst apparently otherwise engaged, but how do you watch people without ... well ... watching them?
Cut out a pair of eye holes in a broadsheet newspaper.
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i124/sunbeam409/periscope.jpg
Jenny, take a book with you, pretend to read, and a notebook to jot notes in.
You can be making notes about what is around you although folk won't notice as they think you're reading, and, if they care to think any further about you, will just imagine you are making notes from your book.
The Life of Pi by Yann Martel? A truly astonishing book and yet hardly a plot line until towards the end of the book but I was riveted by it.
I do do that - it's my favourite way of writing. I love those unplanned journeys.
I have to agree with that - much as I love the unplanned journeys, what happens for me is that the unplanned journey will arrive at a very specific point, which is as obvious as a major road intersection: my character has to halt there (or get run over) and then he/she has a marvellous oppportunity to decide which road or turning point to choose and often I will take control and tell him/her which was she is going or she will tell me. I don't think story stifles characters, story gives characters opportunities to demonstrate their character, or the stress they are under, by their choices.
join the club!
Indeed you are right but I find I DO remember the stories. Cracking good plots he writes! and he must have something going for him: look how successful he is. I just read The Digital Fortress and I became fairly sympathetic to Susan and also to the man protagonist - whose name I can't remember (Hah! Q.E.D. I hear you cry) but nevertheless I remember the story and a cracking good one it was. What I would say though, is that Michael Crichton did it better...cracking good stories AND characters with depth.
these are encouraging words...write on, dear lonely scribe, dip the quill afresh and write on...
he DID get lucky - there's alot of truth in that and I do agree that his prose style is not the best around in the market place