Hatrack River Writers Workshop   
my profile login | search | faq | forum home

  next oldest topic   next newest topic
» Hatrack River Writers Workshop » Forums » Open Discussions About Writing » Thoughts on Character Interaction and How It Affects Story Pacing

   
Author Topic: Thoughts on Character Interaction and How It Affects Story Pacing
Disgruntled Peony
Member
Member # 10416

 - posted      Profile for Disgruntled Peony   Email Disgruntled Peony         Edit/Delete Post 
I've done a fair amount of critiques in the past four months, and I've had some thoughts I realized it might be interesting to share for general discussion purposes. One of the biggest things that I've noticed seems to make or break a story for me as a reader is character interaction (or the lack thereof). Essentially, any story where the focus is almost entirely on one character has to work much harder to hold my attention than a story that has multiple characters interacting with each other.

There are a few different reasons for this:

  • Good dialogue is full of conflict, and conflict is interesting.
  • Shorter paragraphs let the eye move more quickly, which gives the illusion (and often the reality) of speedier reading.
  • Multiple characters mean multiple viewpoints, which gives the reader more characters to identify (or disagree) with.


On a related note, I'm always sad when I see an important conversation summarized in one paragraph instead of being played out between the relevant characters. That always seems like a missed opportunity to me. HUGE fan of dialogue, here.

Posts: 745 | Registered: May 2015  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
extrinsic
Member
Member # 8019

 - posted      Profile for extrinsic   Email extrinsic         Edit/Delete Post 
Noteworthy insights about character and conflict, dialogue and narrative interrelations and methods.

From Socrates, at least, through time to the present, characterization theory focuses on development through social interaction:

Codetermination
Cooperation
Coordination
Confliction
Contention
Confrontation
Conflagration

Dramatic prose ought should at least evolve around the latter five, pivot about the middle of the lot oriented on antagonism's want and problem -- satisfactions thereof for complication. Clash of wills is essential for drama, reader effect, interest, and engagement.

Clashes take two personas to lambada; three is a party-riot. Personas need not be two or more characters, though a stuck-in-the-bathtub narrative is likely and challenging without two or more characters in clash. One character could have an internal clash of moral personas, actually, best practice that a character have clashing personas. One persona is in moral transition between clashes, probably a coincidence of an external clash, if not at a standstill -- static, in other words.

The term "conflict" generally used for character theory is a comparatively recent development, though traces span the opus. Critical secondary and tertiary analysis credits a number of theorists with first use of the term for literary application as early as the eighteenth century' oughts, though generally associated with Realism's nineteen century emergence and heyday. At that, not much to go on beyond vague principles, let alone realizable conventions and customs.

Generally, how many writers, critics, and readers use "conflict" comprises several principles, includes "complication" and theme and meaning and moral condition.

Gardner, Hills, Chatman, Booth, and Knight each speak of dialogue as a necessary narrative component, though are unclear about what else comprises effective and dynamic conversation scene development. For that, a mnemonic offers clearer guidance: Description, Introspection, Action, Narration, Emotion, Sensation, Summarization, Exposition, _Conversation_, Recollection, Explanation, and Transition -- DIANE'S SECRET. Without at least several of the former, especially sensation and emotion clashes, a conversation risks dialogue heaviness. The dozen composition modes are as necessary, if not more so, than speech words themselves and overlap each other for a symphonic synergy. They are context and texture for speech and thought. Add in Antagonism, Causation, and Tension -- ACT --, plus echo, non sequitur, squabble, colloquy, and question and answer conversational interaction, and dialogue drama's your oyster.

One point on which many character theorists agree, everyone has an agenda at odds with others', and each conceals true agendas, even from the self. The agenda is the same and also at odds internally; that is, a moral complication of self-involved wants and problems at odds with socially responsible outcomes.

Posts: 6037 | Registered: Jun 2008  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Grumpy old guy
Member
Member # 9922

 - posted      Profile for Grumpy old guy   Email Grumpy old guy         Edit/Delete Post 
For me, the number of characters is irrelevant providing those that are there have depth, complexity, and veritas. Tragedy, and it's child, Drama, revolves around the conflict, or contest, between two forces expressing some part of the human condition in opposition. Good vs. Evil, Right vs. Wrong, What I want to do vs. my Conscience.

IMHO you can have all the conflict and dialogue of the biggest Hollywood blockbuster with a single character fighting their own desires and impulses.

"I know what I should do, but the cost. Oh, the cost!"

Phil. [Smile]

Posts: 1937 | Registered: Sep 2012  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Reziac
Member
Member # 9345

 - posted      Profile for Reziac   Email Reziac         Edit/Delete Post 
quote:
Originally posted by Disgruntled Peony:
On a related note, I'm always sad when I see an important conversation summarized in one paragraph instead of being played out between the relevant characters. That always seems like a missed opportunity to me. HUGE fan of dialogue, here.

When I crit this is often one of my specific gripes: Don't summarize this here scene, especially not this here important or transitional scene.

Single-character scenes are more likely to suffer from excessive summarization. One way to avoid that is to regard the situation and/or environment as another character, and let the live-action character interact with it on that basis. Characters with a habit of talking to themselves can be real handy... given that most people who talk to themselves are actually talking to something in their environment.

Posts: 782 | Registered: Dec 2010  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
   

   Close Topic   Feature Topic   Move Topic   Delete Topic next oldest topic   next newest topic
 - Printer-friendly view of this topic
Hop To:


Contact Us | Hatrack River Home Page

Copyright © 2008 Hatrack River Enterprises Inc. All rights reserved.
Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.


Powered by Infopop Corporation
UBB.classic™ 6.7.2