This is the second part in a three part series about scenes. I stated in my initial post on scenes that a great scene will contain all three of the following things: plot, character, and setting. A good scene will contain two of the three. My previous post was about plot, so this time, I’m going to tackle character. As I stated in the plot post, plot and character are so intertwined that it’s impossible to discuss one without referring to the other, so there will be some talk here about plot as well. Next week, I’ll finish this initial discussion of the three with a post on setting. There are of course many, many more things that can be said about plot, character, and setting than we’ll get to in these short posts; we’re only attempting to scratch the surface of the three here. So, without further commercial interruption, I give you . . .
A Matter of Character
Every story will revolve around some type of character, whether they’re human or alien or sentient furniture or what. In order for the story to be compelling, in order for the reader to get drawn into the story, to hold on tightly and never want to let go, you need to have characters that resonate with the reader, or that at least create some sort of bond with the reader. In essence, the reader needs to CARE about the characters. If the reader doesn’t care, then they won’t last through the entire story. In fact, I’ve had editors reject material because the characters were not sympathetic enough, they couldn’t form a connection to the characters, and so they passed on the project. This isn’t to say that you have to have a likeable character (look at Hannibal—a great character . . . but not someone you can like . . . I hope), but you have to have a character that the reader can identify with or be intrigued with, and you have to present that character in such a way that the reader wants to follow this person’s life. Because that’s exactly what the story is: the character’s life. If the reader is going to invest in the character enough to read the entire story, they need to be able to see why the character behaves the way they do, and they need to be interested in what happens to the character after that. Does the character survive? Does he or she redeem herself? What will this character do next?
I could write a thousand posts on characters and how to write them and where they come from, etc, but for this post, I want to focus on characters within scenes in particular. Obviously for scenes, you’re going to have a character interacting in some way with something in order to be able to “count” character as part of that scene. The question is, when can you count character as being an integral part of the scene? And the answer: When something in that scene forces the character to change, or introduces an element that in the end will force the character to change.
Just like plot, character will only count if there’s some type of CHANGE, some subtle shift in the character’s perceptions.
It doesn’t have to be a huge shift. The arrogant prick doesn’t have to suddenly become a altruistic humanitarian. Such role-reversals don’t happen in real life, and if you have such a thing in one single scene in your story, the reader is going to snort in disbelief and put the story down. (In fact, if you have such a thing happen in an entire novel, I’d say that the reader will put the book down in disgust; such huge reversal just don’t happen, and it would be hard to convince a reader that it can happen, even in 1000 pages or more.) No. The change for character is usually subtle. A tweaking of the characters perception, a sudden question that brings the character’s beliefs into doubt, a new fact that forces the character to view the world—or him- or herself—in a different way, the introduction of a new idea that forces that character to THINK.
This is why people believe that writers “torture” they’re characters. Because we do. *grin* We take someone who would in the normal course of events remain static, unchanged, and we FORCE them to think or act in a way slightly outside their norm. And in order to do this, in order to enforce this change, we generally have to do something drastic. People don’t change on a whim. Think about all of the relationships you’ve ever had where you’ve thought you could change someone . . . and how disastrously those relationships turned out. People don’t WANT to change. They have to be gently prodded—or sometimes not so gently prodded—one step at a time to an event that forces them to make a decision and act in a different way. This is where the plot and character become so intertwined as to be indistinguishable from one another.
If a scene contains some element that prods the character toward this ultimate moment, where the character has to make a decision about whether to change their perceptions or not, then you can count character as part of the scene. Typically, this happens when something in the plot introduces an idea that forces the character to think, to analyze themselves and their perceptions, to start questioning their perceptions. You’ll find that often when something changes in the plot, something will also change regarding character, and vice versa. And if this is true, then you have a good scene. If you can work in something regarding a change in setting here as well, then you’ll have a great scene. (And note that key word again, even for setting: CHANGE.)
So the next time you sit down to write a scene, ask yourself what changed with the plot. And THEN ask yourself how that might affect the characters and their perceptions. If it changed someone’s point of view, or shifted them toward a meaningful event that will change their point of view, then you’ve also introduced character into the scene as well. And if you think you’ve gotten to that ultimate moment when a character is tortured into change, ask yourself how this change will affect the plot. Because a change in character SHOULD affect the plot. It doesn’t have to of course, but typically people will change because they want something in their world to change as well, and if you’re doing your job as a writer, the only way to make that change in the world is for them to make a change in themselves.
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PS--If you were hoping that this post was about how to CREATE characters, don’t fret. I’ll try to tackle that thorny issue in a future post. Let me finish off the scene posts first though, for continuity’s sake if nothing else.
A Matter of Character
Every story will revolve around some type of character, whether they’re human or alien or sentient furniture or what. In order for the story to be compelling, in order for the reader to get drawn into the story, to hold on tightly and never want to let go, you need to have characters that resonate with the reader, or that at least create some sort of bond with the reader. In essence, the reader needs to CARE about the characters. If the reader doesn’t care, then they won’t last through the entire story. In fact, I’ve had editors reject material because the characters were not sympathetic enough, they couldn’t form a connection to the characters, and so they passed on the project. This isn’t to say that you have to have a likeable character (look at Hannibal—a great character . . . but not someone you can like . . . I hope), but you have to have a character that the reader can identify with or be intrigued with, and you have to present that character in such a way that the reader wants to follow this person’s life. Because that’s exactly what the story is: the character’s life. If the reader is going to invest in the character enough to read the entire story, they need to be able to see why the character behaves the way they do, and they need to be interested in what happens to the character after that. Does the character survive? Does he or she redeem herself? What will this character do next?
I could write a thousand posts on characters and how to write them and where they come from, etc, but for this post, I want to focus on characters within scenes in particular. Obviously for scenes, you’re going to have a character interacting in some way with something in order to be able to “count” character as part of that scene. The question is, when can you count character as being an integral part of the scene? And the answer: When something in that scene forces the character to change, or introduces an element that in the end will force the character to change.
Just like plot, character will only count if there’s some type of CHANGE, some subtle shift in the character’s perceptions.
It doesn’t have to be a huge shift. The arrogant prick doesn’t have to suddenly become a altruistic humanitarian. Such role-reversals don’t happen in real life, and if you have such a thing in one single scene in your story, the reader is going to snort in disbelief and put the story down. (In fact, if you have such a thing happen in an entire novel, I’d say that the reader will put the book down in disgust; such huge reversal just don’t happen, and it would be hard to convince a reader that it can happen, even in 1000 pages or more.) No. The change for character is usually subtle. A tweaking of the characters perception, a sudden question that brings the character’s beliefs into doubt, a new fact that forces the character to view the world—or him- or herself—in a different way, the introduction of a new idea that forces that character to THINK.
This is why people believe that writers “torture” they’re characters. Because we do. *grin* We take someone who would in the normal course of events remain static, unchanged, and we FORCE them to think or act in a way slightly outside their norm. And in order to do this, in order to enforce this change, we generally have to do something drastic. People don’t change on a whim. Think about all of the relationships you’ve ever had where you’ve thought you could change someone . . . and how disastrously those relationships turned out. People don’t WANT to change. They have to be gently prodded—or sometimes not so gently prodded—one step at a time to an event that forces them to make a decision and act in a different way. This is where the plot and character become so intertwined as to be indistinguishable from one another.
If a scene contains some element that prods the character toward this ultimate moment, where the character has to make a decision about whether to change their perceptions or not, then you can count character as part of the scene. Typically, this happens when something in the plot introduces an idea that forces the character to think, to analyze themselves and their perceptions, to start questioning their perceptions. You’ll find that often when something changes in the plot, something will also change regarding character, and vice versa. And if this is true, then you have a good scene. If you can work in something regarding a change in setting here as well, then you’ll have a great scene. (And note that key word again, even for setting: CHANGE.)
So the next time you sit down to write a scene, ask yourself what changed with the plot. And THEN ask yourself how that might affect the characters and their perceptions. If it changed someone’s point of view, or shifted them toward a meaningful event that will change their point of view, then you’ve also introduced character into the scene as well. And if you think you’ve gotten to that ultimate moment when a character is tortured into change, ask yourself how this change will affect the plot. Because a change in character SHOULD affect the plot. It doesn’t have to of course, but typically people will change because they want something in their world to change as well, and if you’re doing your job as a writer, the only way to make that change in the world is for them to make a change in themselves.
***********************
PS--If you were hoping that this post was about how to CREATE characters, don’t fret. I’ll try to tackle that thorny issue in a future post. Let me finish off the scene posts first though, for continuity’s sake if nothing else.
