posted
So here I am, idely browsing over these newly-discovered boards. I wander into the first thread that catches my interest, and... is that... the author? Goofing off with his fans?! This simply can't be. Maybe I've got the wrong idea all around here, but I'm simply not used to this sort of devotion to one's fanbase. I'm impressed. Again.
I just finished the last of the self-labeled Ender Quartet, and I'm still wide-eyed. Days later. I didn't think such amazing devotion to characters could be found in this genre. Or hell, even at all. I know Ender and Valentine and Jane better than I do half my friends. I've a wonderful imagination, so it's not uncommon at all to be drawn into books, but it's quite rare that I find myself laughing, crying, and otherwise raising the eyebrows of those around me. Truely, these characters will remain with me for years.
Which lead me to take a look at my own pet project. Character development has always been a weak point for me. Until now I had just written it off as something I simply didnt have the knack for. However, after this series, I've found motivation to breathe new life into what was becoming quite a stale novel. Sounds great, eh? Well, I'm 60,000 words into said novel and it's proving to be a lot of work. I'm much happier with it though, and I'm finding myself much more drawn into the story.
So I guess this whole meandering thread boils down to, "Wow, I've been truely moved by the series, so much so that I've taken a fresh look at my own writing. Thanks."
Posts: 5 | Registered: Mar 2006
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posted
Thanks for such kind words. Sounds like you were ready for the Speaker books - the experience of reading depends in large part on the reader's state of mind and level of interest in the issues that engage the characters.
At the same time, since you're a novelist yourself, and character has seemed elusive to you, here's what makes characters most interesting and compelling: Complexity of motive. Motive is everything; it's what we read for in character-centered novels. To find out why people do what they do: What they THINK they're doing, and what their REAL motive is.
Not all characters are unselfaware, of course, but some are. Some characters have very simple motives (as in the old comedy of humours, where a single driving desire causes a character to override his own best interests as well as those of everyone around him). Others, though, are deeply conflicted, wanting mutually exclusive results and having to choose among them.
Most interesting are situations, not of choices between good and evil, but of choices between two evils or two mutually exclusive goods. And in working out the resolution - finding what your characters DO in such situations - you are likely to awaken your own unconscious mind's reservoir of human understanding.
Of course, there IS such a thing as Romantic characterization, in which the characters simply are what they do, and they do everything for the most obvious motivation. This is almost required in film, where you have little dialogue to convey subtleties of emotion. But the glory of novel-writing is that you can get deep inside a character's mind and give us thought processes that are never accessible in film or even on stage.
Posts: 2005 | Registered: Jul 1999
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I'm surprised I, Robot was so romanticised. I havn't read that particular book, but the Asimov I have read is so often overloaded with dialogue that I can't read him anymore.
Posts: 1138 | Registered: Nov 2005
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Ah, see, therein lies my problem. I consider myself a 'situational writer', as in, give me any situation, any bit of 'whereness', and I can write the point of view into it. It's always been my strong point. Action sequences, scenery description, things along that vein, those have always come naturally to me.
Perhaps I've just not put enough work into it. As you mentioned, and I can clearly see now through your books, motives (and the decisions that followed) are what kept me turning the page. In most books I find myself reading through the 'dialogue chapters' as fast as I can, looking forward to nothing but the next battle, the next conflict, the next discovery. I guess I just accepted this as the norm. I even find that in my own writing, I'm struggling through the dialogue and character relations, just to get to the next conflict. Your books showed me it didn't have to be that way. Now that I've seen what mastery of character can do, what it's like to be lead through each thought process, to understand every decision, I simply can't allow myself to be so drab.
I'm trying to follow your advice, it feels like great advice (something a little to rare to me, I'm quite stubborn.) It's just going to be a lot of work! The last chapter I've worked on was 'post-Ender', and as I'm reading previous chapters and comparing them, the difference is huge. I'm just going to have to tear apart what I've already put down and really try to get a feel for what my characters would be thinking, how they would interpret everything around them. Hopefully it will pay off in the end (I sincerely believe it will!)
Posts: 5 | Registered: Mar 2006
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Mr. Card has written an amazingly helpful book (well several but this one should help you a lot) called Characters and Viewpoint. I bought mine from Amazon and the book has helped out soooo much with my writing. Also check out this link for more really wonderful information: Uncle Orson's Writing Class
All this plus much more available for free, well, except the book, you have to pay for that one, but it is most definitely worth it!
Posts: 1918 | Registered: Mar 2005
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Thank you DarkKnight, I'll check those links out (not to mention the book!) the first chance I get.
Posts: 5 | Registered: Mar 2006
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