posted
A week or two ago I was listening to a program in which a Death Row lawyer was discussing an autobiography. The novel he wrote is not the point of this post so much as something he mentioned about his work that just struck me weeks later.
This was an attorney in Texas that defended death row prisoners. The majority of his work consists of appeals which lesson the Death sentence to life in prison. Overall the conversation was interesing but morose, yet a separate topic from my observation.
At his firm, and most (by his account), it is protocal to build a complete family tree of the cliente. He emphasised the amount of effort and accuracy put into this family tree. It was the "Family tree" which triggered my thought, because I was thinking of methods for character building in novel length or millieu work.
The purpose for their investigation into the family tree was to look for inherited patterns of mental illness primarily, but also, he said, very helpful in portray an accurate picture of how the convict grew up. He went on to list many interesting observations the clientes had in common.
I then asked myself the scale of a appeal trial in comparison to creating a world for a novel. Of course no ones life is on the line when writing a novel, but it seemed by his accounts very comparable in regards to "Billable hours" I can already hear the rebuttals, and perhaps many won't see this analogy completely accurate, but that family tree is an element in a set of tools that are designed to convince a panel of twelve jurors to spare the life of a convicted murderer. What was the scale of significance does the family tree have in the equation? It is just an element, but an important on nonetheless. What role could it have in a novel? depends on the story I suppose, but it reminded me that we need to arm ourselves with a variety of tools to create a convincing case to our readers.
One observation that I have made is the noticeable variance in the levels of world building and character building between succesful novels that I have read, and those ms I have critiqued that aren't published(>twenty) and those published I think are poorly written novels (IMO)
I honestly feel that one of the gravest oversights that we as amateur writers is overlooking the importance of Character an Millieu Development. I really have no way to prove this point or convince others just how serious and important this is, I just thought I would throw this out for those who might heed my words.
As I mentally flip back through all the hundreds of novels and stories in my archive. Those that resonate have, above all else highly developed characters, secondly millieu, then intricate plot/character relationships and interactions--the symbiosis of motives and action, cause and effect.
Of course the type of story depends of the type and level of development required, but think how much information was archived in the making of, Lord of The Rings, Earthbound series, Foundation series, or (Heaven help us) Robert Jordans epic saga. These are the types that have encyclopedias of notebooks behind them, but even a regular novel... Ask yourself about your favorite novel and consider what that author must know about the characters and world he created. Do you have that much knowledge of yours?
A family tree could be a valuable tool for novel writing. I have seen it many times on the first or second page of a book. Mainly I was just trying to create a little wake up call to myself and any other new writers here that might need this message. Take it seriously. Those with best sellers do.
Happy writing.
[This message has been edited by Bent Tree (edited March 07, 2010).]
posted
Hah! I have a family tree for THE IGNORED PROPHECY.
I also don't think anyone could accuse me of neglecting milieu on that series, at least.
On the other hand, and having nothing to do with writing, I'm completely mystified by what good a family tree could do in an appeals case. Generally speaking, the only thing an attorney is allowed to argue on appeal is that the trial court made an error in applying the law. The facts of the case are assumed to have been determined by the jury and the appeals court usually won't go there. And the appeal is not so much a trial as filing appellate briefs. I had to write one for a class, once (unlawful detainer (eviction), not death sentence )
posted
And just the other day I put together a family tree of sorts for my novel. Granted, it's not actually tracing family lineage, but it does trace factions and gives a nice visual indication of where loyalties lie, opportunities for conflict, and who has to die first
I've learned that I can't really plot out the details of the story unless I get the background of the characters and milieu. I can figure out a beginning and an end without that stuff, but the middle needs that depth in order to keep the story going.
quote:On the other hand, and having nothing to do with writing, I'm completely mystified by what good a family tree could do in an appeals case. Generally speaking, the only thing an attorney is allowed to argue on appeal is that the trial court made an error in applying the law.
You would have been surprised. I will have a hard time stating exact cases, but the aparent lack of surviving fathers in the tree, amount of the tree affected by mental illness, drug abuse, are a few. I wish I could give some specifics they were very interesting.
posted
I have family trees for several of my characters. One of the things that I often see in SFF (and something that can set off the cliche alert) is the character without any family whatsoever. That's rare. People have families. They may be estranged from them, they may wish they didn't have them, but they do. And those families influence their behavior and backstory (which is, I think, the point Bent Tree is referring to).
I had to completely rewrite a NIP when I sat down to make a family tree for one of the families in it. It made me realize there was a kinship relationship between two of my minor characters which completely changed the central mystery of the novel. And once I realized that, a NIP I'd been struggling to make go anywhere suddenly just wrote itself.
posted
I've always been concerned that my characters sprang from nowhere but my head, and that it shows. Seems I know something of their parentage and ancestry, but I don't think much of it comes across in the stories.
Rule of thumb...short of something extraordinary in your character's life, somewhere there's someone who cares what happens to him, even if it is only his mother.
quote:I have family trees for several of my characters. One of the things that I often see in SFF (and something that can set off the cliche alert) is the character without any family whatsoever. That's rare. People have families. They may be estranged from them, they may wish they didn't have them, but they do.
Well, there are a couple things mitigating against the presence of families, at least in SF. You have demographics. The more advanced a (human) society becomes, the less children it produces. Look at population growth in industrialized countries. Add in to the fact that industrialized societies have mobile populations, causing a breakdown of extended family relations, and it's not inconceivable for your characters to only have parents, with no siblings or cousins to worry about.
If those parents had their only child when they were pushing the end of their fertile years (also increasingly common), they might both be dead and buried from natural causes by the time your MC hits 30.
So, I don't find the lack of a family for a character or group of characters as an oversight, but more of a reflection on how things are going.
posted
I once had generations of people for one project, then I decided to order them into a family tree. Then I noticed that two of my characters who were supposed to get married were first-cousins.
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posted
I heard part of the same program, Bent Tree. It was fascinating. It was on NPR.
Interesting insights about family trees and the importance of a well-developed milieu. I just realized from this conversation that i need to go back and re-read OSC's Characters and Viewpoints section on Milieu stories now that i've finally connected that THAT is what is unique about my novel WIP. Yes, only took me two drafts to get there.
something along the lines of a relationship tree. This also is also a very important aspect to consider. How characters in your stories relate to one another. What histories do they share?
Imagine yourself in a party, and you know the host. Yo also know many of the others in attendance, some from work, some from "Way Back" some you know only through rumours, stories you have heard about them from your friends. What history do they share with the host? One you may have seen naked, and they blush everytime they see you look at them. One may be bitter because you are now married to the love of his life.
I am not saying you have to go out and think up ever soap opera scenario regarding the social circles within your stories, but I have notice a hollow feeling when reading some stories that neglected that level of development. This, to me is most significant in scenes where the writer does make a big deal of a social situation, but fails to provide the symbiotic display. Just hollow characters, whose conversations don't ring true, because they have no apparent history with one another.
I have found that timelines also help, because to a timeline you can jot down integral facts, pertinant to the exposition of your story, and in doing so you begin to think about the cause and effect of these events and therefore the human element that created these situations. Alot of times just the act of penciling down an idea on paper it sets the cognitive gears in motion.
quote:I am not saying you have to go out and think up ever soap opera scenario regarding the social circles within your stories, but I have notice a hollow feeling when reading some stories that neglected that level of development. This, to me is most significant in scenes where the writer does make a big deal of a social situation, but fails to provide the symbiotic display. Just hollow characters, whose conversations don't ring true, because they have no apparent history with one another.
Wow, this is so true. But this is more than a making a family tree, this is detail knowledge of the characters' pasts, more like a family history.
How deep do you go into this? Because honestly, you could go so deep into discovering back story or world building in general that you never actually get around to writing the story.
Someone on another writing site said that you should know the ecomonics of the world you created. I don't understand the economics of the world I live in; how can I understand the economics of the world I create? And unless my character is an economist when will this ever come up.
I know this is different than knowing your characters' back story, but it is the small details (in character interactions and in world building) that adds depth to the story. But there must be a balance between doing too much (and wasting your time) and doing too little. Any thoughts?
[This message has been edited by MAP (edited March 08, 2010).]
quote:How deep do you go into this? Because honestly, you could go so deep into discovering back story or world building in general that you never actually get around to writing the story.
I briefly mentioned above, but I sketch out the important events that have happened in the past that lead to the present of the world of the world I have create. For example one of my worlsd is a colony about four hundred years after the inital founders landed, so vital events that must have happened: The colony ship arrived, a space elevator was constructed, ground studies were done, Villages were built, crops were planted. these are seemingly mundane, but these for example: the village leader was overthrown and the religious principles on which the colony was founded are compromised. At these critical elements you at least have to think about the characters, political parties, that affected this situation. I really think that just by creating that timeline, you automatically start to think of the people involved and motives, etc...
quote:Someone on another writing site said that you should know the ecomonics of the world you created. I don't understand the economics of the world I live in; how can I understand the economics of the world I create? And unless my character is an economist when will this ever come up.
I would have to agree with that saying for the most part. In some worlds gold nuggets may be so abundant that kids use them in their slingshots to shoot squirell(or Smirks)that themselves are so valuable becuse all there is to eat is fish and mammal meat is the most prized material on the planet. But when you start to think of economics you have to look at what industry they have, their resources, their unmet needs. Supply and demand, like spice in "Dune"
quote:I know this is different than knowing your characters' back story, but it is the small details (in character interactions and in world building) that adds depth to the story. But there must be a balance between doing too much (and wasting your time) and doing too little. Any thoughts?
I think it all has to do with your level of commitment, the importance of Millieu in your story, among other things. I suppose it is possible to go off the deep end, but I know I have a little logic switch in my own mind that tells me if I am going to far.
As for wasting time, I dunno. Ask OSC what he knows about the Enderverse...better yet Pick up a copy of "Ender's Companion"(because I have an essay in it )Which is an encyclopedia of the Enderverse, with entries on characters, important events, you name it. Ask yourself is this Millieu I created going to grow into a series of five best-selling novels? Am I going to be answering questions my fans have about how a certain character got to be the way they did, ten years from now? I think that perhaps it is that level of commitment to such thorough Millieu work that led to the success of those novels, those series.
Just my opinion.
[This message has been edited by Bent Tree (edited March 08, 2010).]
[This message has been edited by Bent Tree (edited March 08, 2010).]
posted
My thought is that if a character does not have at least two points of contact with other central characters in the story (preferably three or more), then they're side characters. By point of contact I mean direct involvement in the life of a central character before the story actually begins. Once you know these relationships, map them out. In general, the more intertwined a character is with all the others, the better developed he is (though this can be taken to extremes, bringing you to soap-opera land where everybody is related to everyone else). A character with a single connection to the group can probably disappear without the story suffering all that much, or it will benefit the story greatly to establish additional connections.
Knowing the economy of the world is, in its simplest sense, knowing what people value, and how they go about obtaining it. I don't think the advice was to be the John Keynes or F.A. Hayek of your world
posted
I am listening to Melissa Scott discuss many of these elements of world building on her seminar for Odyssey Writers workshop on Itunes. You can find the Odyssey siteHere. There are also many other podcast that you can downolad for free that are excerpts from speakers at the workshop that cover a great range of writing related subjects.
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posted
Speaking as a reader (and a genealogist), I have always loved the family trees published in books. But then, I also love the maps, and the "dramatis personae" and other stuff like that. Tolkien's appendices to LORD OF THE RINGS were sheer delight.
But even if you never publish things like that in your books, creating them is a great help to know your characters, your setting, and your plot better.
Thanks, Bent Tree, for starting this topic.
By the way, somewhere around here I have a list of questions you can ask yourself to help with world-building (though they may be on the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America website somewhere <sfwa.org> ). If I track it down, I'll post something about it here.
She was so kind as to dig up the original program in question which can be found Here One particular reference to the family tree begins at about minute 11:45 of the podcast. There is another however I didn't look up.
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