Ellie Lieberman's Blog: Dusty Shelves - Posts Tagged "characterization"
How I Met My Characters
I tend to meet my characters the way you would meet a stranger on the streets. There are things you can tell just by looking. And these features in their own right tell you a bit about a person. There is evidence of where they came from and who they are in the way they speak, the way they look, the way they hold themselves. Peeking through the cracks of the masks we show the world, you can start to see the true person who lies beneath.
Then, you get to know them and you become their friend and confidante. They let you into their own little world and little by little the mask starts to ease off, until they are as comfortable with you as they would be with someone they’ve known their whole life. Here is where you learn of their past, confirm or rethink what you assumed when they first showed up, and discover interests, idiosyncrasies, habits, and sometimes, but not always, their secrets.
Writing characters for me is not the act of playing god, but more the role of a scribe. I listen, I watch them in my mind, and I take dictation. Hopefully it is a well enough job to do them justice, because otherwise they won’t let me get some sleep.
There are certainly elements that are borrowed or inspired by other things, whether it’s real people or other fictional characters in other stories and forms of storytelling. However, the characters are no more planned than the plot. They are not built upon like legos, though connections can be made. They appear as they are and then they leave with each new reader.
Then, you get to know them and you become their friend and confidante. They let you into their own little world and little by little the mask starts to ease off, until they are as comfortable with you as they would be with someone they’ve known their whole life. Here is where you learn of their past, confirm or rethink what you assumed when they first showed up, and discover interests, idiosyncrasies, habits, and sometimes, but not always, their secrets.
Writing characters for me is not the act of playing god, but more the role of a scribe. I listen, I watch them in my mind, and I take dictation. Hopefully it is a well enough job to do them justice, because otherwise they won’t let me get some sleep.
There are certainly elements that are borrowed or inspired by other things, whether it’s real people or other fictional characters in other stories and forms of storytelling. However, the characters are no more planned than the plot. They are not built upon like legos, though connections can be made. They appear as they are and then they leave with each new reader.
How Much Can You Change About Your Characters
How much can you change about your characters and still stay true to them?
A common exercise suggested to writers is to take their character and drop them into a different setting. This exercise is said to give a writer a better understanding for their character. If you know your characters well enough outside their story, how they would react and what they would say and do to something completely different then what they would normally encounter, it will help you write them in the setting they belong. But, how much of their environment affects who the characters are?
What if you changed their back story? And, how much of their back story would change them? Take for instance, Barbara Lieberman’s Ellen Price from Message on the Wind. If you change her wealth, you still have Ellen Price. She would still stick her nose in other people’s business and run into situations without looking. Compare this to her male counterpart, Alexander McEwen. If you changed, for instance, his culture and heritage, the fact he’s Native American, you change a huge aspect of the character as a whole. Why? Because, this is such a huge part of who he is, how he sees the world and himself, and effects even the smaller details, such as how he wears his hair.
Or is it? This brings up the whole nature versus nurture debate. How much of the characteristics of your characters are innate, would never change and are simply part of who they are regardless. And how much is dependent on the world around them, including their families, upbringing, and etc.
In Society's Foundlings, how much would be different if one thing changed? If Math and Sampson’s mother was still in the picture? If Clem came from money? If Carver went to college or invited Math to live with him instead of Sampson? Some might argue very little, while others would suggest a lot.
And how much is open to interpretation? How much could be open to debate?
How much can you change about your characters and still stay true to them?
A common exercise suggested to writers is to take their character and drop them into a different setting. This exercise is said to give a writer a better understanding for their character. If you know your characters well enough outside their story, how they would react and what they would say and do to something completely different then what they would normally encounter, it will help you write them in the setting they belong. But, how much of their environment affects who the characters are?
What if you changed their back story? And, how much of their back story would change them? Take for instance, Barbara Lieberman’s Ellen Price from Message on the Wind. If you change her wealth, you still have Ellen Price. She would still stick her nose in other people’s business and run into situations without looking. Compare this to her male counterpart, Alexander McEwen. If you changed, for instance, his culture and heritage, the fact he’s Native American, you change a huge aspect of the character as a whole. Why? Because, this is such a huge part of who he is, how he sees the world and himself, and effects even the smaller details, such as how he wears his hair.
Or is it? This brings up the whole nature versus nurture debate. How much of the characteristics of your characters are innate, would never change and are simply part of who they are regardless. And how much is dependent on the world around them, including their families, upbringing, and etc.
In Society's Foundlings, how much would be different if one thing changed? If Math and Sampson’s mother was still in the picture? If Clem came from money? If Carver went to college or invited Math to live with him instead of Sampson? Some might argue very little, while others would suggest a lot.
And how much is open to interpretation? How much could be open to debate?
How much can you change about your characters and still stay true to them?
