Character Abuse
Remember when you were a kid and your parents told you, just before reigning down whatever punishment your latest show of bad judgement deserved, "This hurts me more than it does you." *snicker*
I only laugh because, as a kid, my internal reply to that was always, "I doubt that."
And then I became a parent. And a writer.
And now I'm faced with doing some terrible damage to one of my characters. [SPOILER ALERT] In fact, to my main character in my next book, Hazard. I'm just glad he can't reach through the page and get me back, because he's not the most pleasant person to deal with when he's mad.
Unfortunately, that's what writing is all about. I remember reading a blog post by one of my favorite writers a few years back, and her advice to another newbie writer was, "You have to be willing to beat up your characters." Without the danger of losing everything, there's no tension in the story. No need to keep reading to see if he/she makes it out.
Conflict requires tension. With nothing to overcome, the story ceases to demand our respect. And the bigger the stakes, the higher the tension level. It's like pulling on a bowstring to see how far you can stretch it without breaking.
I didn't realize how important this was to the success of a story until I saw the antitheses of it in action. As it turns out, it was a movie, not a book: My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Whether you liked the movie or not (and, as a writer, I was most certainly in the latter category), you have to admit that everything in that story was too easy. It was like the whole thing was coasting downhill. There was no conflict--the unlikely girl sees a handsome guy she likes, he falls in love with her, they get married and everyone dances. Ech! I kept waiting for a bump in the road, something to derail all the insipid happiness, but it never happened. It was one straight, unbroken line from Once Upon a Time to They Lived Happily Ever After.
I guess if you like your fiction to go down like pre-digested oatmeal, this story is just what the doctor ordered. There's no excitement, no finger-biting, no blood-pressure-rising worry about whether the hero/heroine is going to be able to accomplish their goals. For me, however, I like worrying about my hero/heroine. I love books that won't let me put them down until I KNOW everyone is safe and all the ends that can be have been tied up with a scraggly ribbon.
I love it when other people beat up their characters, but as a writer, it takes time and experience to learn to do that with your own. I'll admit I've worked to that end in my books, and with every one I write, it gets a little easier. And for those of you who don't write, you have to understand just how hard that is. A writer's characters are like their children--they create them, bring them into this world, nurture and protect them. As much as you, as a reader, might love your favorite characters and hate seeing bad things happen to them, imagine how the writer feels having to do that to them. Even worse is the writer who has to kill off a beloved character. But sometimes, in the interest of good storytelling, it has to be done. Someday I may have to do that, too (killing off a main character). It's a big step, though, and one I'm not quite ready to take. For now, however, I'm preparing to put my character through a life-changing battle that will leave him close to death and probably wishing he was already there.
In advance I say to my readers, sorry.
I only laugh because, as a kid, my internal reply to that was always, "I doubt that."
And then I became a parent. And a writer.
And now I'm faced with doing some terrible damage to one of my characters. [SPOILER ALERT] In fact, to my main character in my next book, Hazard. I'm just glad he can't reach through the page and get me back, because he's not the most pleasant person to deal with when he's mad.
Unfortunately, that's what writing is all about. I remember reading a blog post by one of my favorite writers a few years back, and her advice to another newbie writer was, "You have to be willing to beat up your characters." Without the danger of losing everything, there's no tension in the story. No need to keep reading to see if he/she makes it out.
Conflict requires tension. With nothing to overcome, the story ceases to demand our respect. And the bigger the stakes, the higher the tension level. It's like pulling on a bowstring to see how far you can stretch it without breaking.
I didn't realize how important this was to the success of a story until I saw the antitheses of it in action. As it turns out, it was a movie, not a book: My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Whether you liked the movie or not (and, as a writer, I was most certainly in the latter category), you have to admit that everything in that story was too easy. It was like the whole thing was coasting downhill. There was no conflict--the unlikely girl sees a handsome guy she likes, he falls in love with her, they get married and everyone dances. Ech! I kept waiting for a bump in the road, something to derail all the insipid happiness, but it never happened. It was one straight, unbroken line from Once Upon a Time to They Lived Happily Ever After.
I guess if you like your fiction to go down like pre-digested oatmeal, this story is just what the doctor ordered. There's no excitement, no finger-biting, no blood-pressure-rising worry about whether the hero/heroine is going to be able to accomplish their goals. For me, however, I like worrying about my hero/heroine. I love books that won't let me put them down until I KNOW everyone is safe and all the ends that can be have been tied up with a scraggly ribbon.
I love it when other people beat up their characters, but as a writer, it takes time and experience to learn to do that with your own. I'll admit I've worked to that end in my books, and with every one I write, it gets a little easier. And for those of you who don't write, you have to understand just how hard that is. A writer's characters are like their children--they create them, bring them into this world, nurture and protect them. As much as you, as a reader, might love your favorite characters and hate seeing bad things happen to them, imagine how the writer feels having to do that to them. Even worse is the writer who has to kill off a beloved character. But sometimes, in the interest of good storytelling, it has to be done. Someday I may have to do that, too (killing off a main character). It's a big step, though, and one I'm not quite ready to take. For now, however, I'm preparing to put my character through a life-changing battle that will leave him close to death and probably wishing he was already there.
In advance I say to my readers, sorry.
And don't forget, characters need credible antagonists (whether they are other characters or just opposing forces, like a disaster or whatever.) You knew that, but it can't be emphasized enough in discussing this topic. If the character is not at risk, the story suffers. If the character doesn't get beat up once in a while - or at least credibly avoid a very real possibility of getting beaten up - then they are not at risk. It isn't really succeeding if there is no real possibility of failure. "Beaten up" is a broad phrase - it could be risk or harm to somebody else, or some cause, even if the character themselves is nigh-invulnerable. But there has to be something or it's MBFGW. (Or as I recently observed elsewhere on this topic: "That way lies Mary Suedom." :) I haven't seen that movie but it sounds kinda Mary Sueish from all reports.)
ReplyDeleteI write fiction under this name where the usual plot is that one of the characters suddenly (or already) has Phenomenal Cosmic Powers.* The only way for them to be credibly opposed is a) another character with PCP (a serendipitous acronym in a way) or b) for them to have internal conflict regarding their usage of said PCP. I usually go with the latter. But honestly, the lack of credible opposition is probably the biggest single weakness in my typical plot. I'm working on it. :)
*Well not really "Cosmic" but that phrase evokes the problem so nicely.
Writing is a process that must be learned. Very few of us are born knowing it. I'm learned through every mistake I make (which, judging from some of the reviews I've gotten, is a lot) But I keep working at it. That's why it's important for all writers to read, so we can see how the more experienced writer handles these things and can use that to improve our own writing.
ReplyDelete