Last night while having trouble falling to sleep, I ran across this short list of sorts concerning characters and writing. It made me laugh a little; in fact, anyone who writes with any regularity (or has at some point) should know these things, because there‘s just no escaping them. In my reading quest this weekend, this especially called out to me regarding other people’s writing. I read the last in a series (The Study series) I was becoming attached to the series, until this last book. It was... well... uh... hmm... I did enjoy some parts, but others were just very… meh. Lackluster, you could say. The story still held me in some ways, but it bailed out in too many places and the protagonist and her love interest (two catawampus characters in their own rights) just fizzled out. Saving the very end of the first book, I liked the way their romance was handled. But then the second book came along and then third. Eventually, their affairs began to make the book lag. They were well-matched initially, but every time they were together their individuality just went ‘kapoot’.
So, as I was saying:
Planned endings almost never work out.
No kidding. You can plan and plan and plan, but (and to me this is one of the most wonderful parts of writing) nothing ever comes out quite the way you expect it. It as if the story itself is alive - and it has ideas of its own. It becomes what it wants and how it wants. In fact, planned anything rarely becomes what you thought it would be. Instead, it becomes what it should be, whether we like it or not.
Characters have a funny tendency to be themselves and go against your wishes.
This is the same as the ending thing. Only, characters are worse. They tend to be who they want and give you flack about it. It’s just one of those funny little things about characters. They may only be the product of an idea and some pretty words, but once you spend more and more time with them… the more they become clear to you. I may think I know who they are, but once I actually start to write about them… Well, it’s clear who’s really in charge.
Real characters have the ability to make mistakes.
Otherwise known as NOT a Mary Sue. The great thing about your rebellious characters is that they’re human… OK, not always human. You know, if you’re writing about unicorns and mermaids or whatever. But it’s just a turn-of-phrase. What I mean is that they’re most certainly not perfect. They make mistakes, they make bad decisions, they can be mean and selfish. A good example of this kind of character is Howl/Howell from Howl’s Moving Castle. He’s an infamous ‘slitherer’. He is by all accounts weak, scared, selfish and vain, but still manages to be a good person and a very likeable character. But he is still all of these things. He is not perfect and, as the next point covers, doesn’t get away with his selfish behavior.
It means nothing if a character has flaws but don't annoy anyone with them.
I hate to burst this out again, but Bella Swan of Twilight is really a fine example of this. She’s vulnerable, over-dependent, has a chip on her shoulder, a victim and just has a knack for bringing everything to ruin and coming out smelling like a rose. She makes some pretty big mistakes and, really, there’s nothing to her but smelling a certain way and being a catalyst by which a sparkling vampire and “bad boy” werewolf-thing start a quasi-war. Well that and a slew of other life-threatening occurrences. Does anything happen to her? Does anyone think any less of her or, in the slightest bit, reprimand her? Of course not! Why, she’s Bella Swan, brunette/doe-eyed/damsel-in-distress extraordinaire! Flawless! A victim! Innocent! Anyhow, a better example of what this should look like is taken from a novel (Fire by Kristin Cashore) which is one of my unexpectedly favorite books.
Fire is a character (in an alternate, fantasy world) called a “monster”. Basically, there are several varieties of this - dogs, mice, bugs, sky creatures, kittens, humans (though she is the last known human monster), etc - thing called a “monster”. They look like any other creature except that they are brilliantly colored. For example, a monster kitten will look like a kitten in every way, but may be bright pink with yellow paws. Other than their color, they also have the ability to compel others with their beauty and enter and even take the mind. Each creature has varying degrees of this, the human monster greatest of these. Cansrel was Fire’s father and the two of them were the last human monsters. Fire is shockingly beautiful, so beautiful that when she sees her own reflection even she is taken by her beauty. She can even influence the mind and all it entails: change thoughts, compel others to open up about secrets and thoughts that they wouldn’t otherwise share and the like. Basically, their minds are her open book. But here’s the catch: she is afraid of herself.
Fire explores what it’s like to be beautiful and to be hated/lusted/mistrusted for it. At one point in the book, she is so disgusted with life, afraid and so unwilling to accept the love of people who will only die. So she begins to close herself off and think only of herself. But then, in one scene, she is told to “stop sulking like a child”. I mean, the thing here is that she was rightly devastated. She had been through a string of one misfortune after another. She went through a lot. But she was still needed by others and had a chance to make a difference for someone other than herself. After being told, rather harshly, to grow up. Well, she did. It was hard and she needed help, but she knew she couldn’t stay as that hurting person forever.
Even being understandably numb, she was reprimanded and grew so much as a character. Steph-e-nieeee Mey-errrrrr~ In any case, I didn’t mean to turn this into Fire spam. But really, it’s an amazing read.
Mary Sues are characters who have reached the peak of character development by the first chapter.
Since I went into such great depth in the last point, I’ll touch sparingly here. Characters like Nora in Hush, Hush, Bella in Twilight and Jordan in Uninvited: by page ten we’ll know who they are, why they are they way they are and what to expect of them at every turn. What’s the fun in that? Without characters, what is a story? And if we know the characters off-the-bat, why read the story? We read books to learn who we are reading about and why we should care. These characters never change or grow. They are two-dimensional, flat and uninteresting. Floppppppp.
So, this is just a bit of my two sense based of this little list. But, seriously, read Fire.
Toodle Pip.
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