Voice and Characterization

[kymahalei]

Thanks for sharing about plot. We had 87 people look at the thread and five were bold enough to answer. Here is some more food for thought, excerpted from some correspondence I had with Elfscribe. See what you think and let me know how you do it!
On to thinking about voice. I want to know what it is that gives some narratives such energy and some characters such life. There is a certain element, I call it stage business, where the writer sketches in enough of what is going on around the story so that the reader can build a believable, lifelike picture of it in their imagination. In this sense, voice isn’t the dialogue or the descriptions so much as the overall effect of the words on the imagination of the reader. Good voice in the case of setting gives the reader the sense of moving through the world of the writer. Often there is the contrast of the bigger setting with some little detail or details. There is the town, and the wind swirling the leaves into a corner of a building. There is the room, and the light shining through a green bottle.

Characters and voice are more of a challenge. Good writing will have the reader believing that she is in the same room with the character and have a sense of who they are, what they look like, how they act and what motivates them. All writing of characters, description, action and dialogue, needs to move the plot forward, but it also needs to reveal who the character is. The easiest way to do this I’ve found is to step into the persona of the character as I write. If I do that, the words tend to flow. It’s kind of a passive trick, because I’m not really thinking about what I’m doing. The product of this idea is satisfactory but not stunning. To get to the next level, where the characters resonate as real and as complex as actual people I need to do something else. I just don’t know what that is. (How do you do it?)

[Darth Fingon]

Jan 30, 2011 14:00:35 GMT -6 kymahalei said:

The easiest way to do this I’ve found is to step into the persona of the character as I write. If I do that, the words tend to flow. It’s kind of a passive trick, because I’m not really thinking about what I’m doing. The product of this idea is satisfactory but not stunning. To get to the next level, where the characters resonate as real and as complex as actual people I need to do something else. I just don’t know what that is. (How do you do it?)

I hope you mean 'something else' as in 'something in addition to this' instead of 'something instead of this', because it sounds to me as if what you're doing already is a good thing to do. You want to be able to take on that character's persona, especially (as you are) when writing a first person story. The more you are able to think like your character, the better his or her voice will be.

However, using only this technique does have one big drawback: it is possible to identify so much with your character that you run the risk of writing too much from that point of view. Sometimes (and I know this happens to me) an action or a line of dialogue or any other plot element will make perfect sense to you because you know that this is how the character would behave. And because you're writing from that character's point of view, it might seem silly or even untrue to the PoV to explain why he's behaving that way, since he knows what's happening and so do you. But your readers might not.

So sometimes it's necessary to step back from the character in order to write more effectively. I remember debates about this on The Other Writing Forum. I was told that I shouldn't include tags such as 'she thought' when writing what a character is thinking, because of course that character wouldn't be so blatantly aware of her own thoughts. Well, yes, but consider the outcome: remove all of those tags and you have a dog's breakfast of exposition and thought all jumbled together. Not every thought needs a tag, but a few certainly help to clarify things. Sometimes, you have to cheat your PoV just a little. Giving yourself that little bit of distance between your character's head and what you write can give you the freedom to include information that might not be 100% PoV accurate, but enhances the flow and feel of the story.

[virtuella]

I find two things very helpful:

1) a little knowledge of psychology, which does not need to be academic, but can just as well be based on faithful observation of real people. It's good to be aware of how the same personality trait can play out differently in various contexts. It helps to watch our own internal monologue and become aware of how we explain the world to ourselves, what excuses we tend to make for ourselves and others, what misunderstandings we are prone to etc.

and

2) good observation in general. What you say about the general picture and then the detail, Ky, is quite right, and I would add that what detail we choose is the crucial thing. The descriptive passages I'm proudest of are all based on real life observations. Truth Be Told, which many people have praised for it's vivid descriptions, is largely using details from the notebook I tend to carry about with me. It's always good to get some detail which is not immediately obvious to the cursory glance, but which is very clearly there and rings true with the reader. For example, we could all easily whip up a generic description of a cute little girl. But it gives a spark of life to her if you mention that she keeps tightening her ponytail and every time she does this, it slips a little more to one side, till it sits practically over her ear. My daughter does that.

[pandemonium]

Jan 30, 2011 20:26:23 GMT -6 Darth Fingon said:

However, using only this technique does have one big drawback: it is possible to identify so much with your character that you run the risk of writing too much from that point of view. Sometimes (and I know this happens to me) an action or a line of dialogue or any other plot element will make perfect sense to you because you know that this is how the character would behave. And because you're writing from that character's point of view, it might seem silly or even untrue to the PoV to explain why he's behaving that way, since he knows what's happening and so do you. But your readers might not.

Goodness yes! I know exactly what you mean about getting locked into a character's POV. That's one reason why I try (successfully or not) to write from different character's headspaces. For example, Meriadoc Brandybuck's voice (and yes, I have written from his POV -- just started actually) is distinctly different from Sauron/Mairon's. Or at least I have deluded myself into thinking the voices differ!

Likewise, I discard the proscriptions against the "he thought" and "she thought" constructs. They can be pretty useful.

I'll second Virtuella's remark on psychology. I constantly ask myself as I am writing from a character's POV "How would he or she react to this? How would he or she process this?" all based on what I see of the character's personality, life experience, and cultural/physical environment.

I like your comment about the character "moving through space," Ky. My "spatial reasoning" is pretty strong, which is why I can visualize even very abstract things like molecules in my mind, so I try to couple that to my verbal abilities. It's not always easy, but as I continue writing over the years, I think there may be some neural pathways developing between those parts of my ol' noggin.

[kymahalei]

Jan 30, 2011 20:26:23 GMT -6 Darth Fingon said:

However, using only this technique does have one big drawback: it is possible to identify so much with your character that you run the risk of writing too much from that point of view. Sometimes (and I know this happens to me) an action or a line of dialogue or any other plot element will make perfect sense to you because you know that this is how the character would behave. And because you're writing from that character's point of view, it might seem silly or even untrue to the PoV to explain why he's behaving that way, since he knows what's happening and so do you. But your readers might not.

So sometimes it's necessary to step back from the character in order to write more effectively. I remember debates about this on The Other Writing Forum. I was told that I shouldn't include tags such as 'she thought' when writing what a character is thinking, because of course that character wouldn't be so blatantly aware of her own thoughts. Well, yes, but consider the outcome: remove all of those tags and you have a dog's breakfast of exposition and thought all jumbled together. Not every thought needs a tag, but a few certainly help to clarify things. Sometimes, you have to cheat your PoV just a little. Giving yourself that little bit of distance between your character's head and what you write can give you the freedom to include information that might not be 100% PoV accurate, but enhances the flow and feel of the story.

This is an excellent point. I"ve felt very confined by writing in the first person. It doesn't lend itself to that little bit of distance that would offer another perspective. I have no issue with tagging thoughts as needed. How else would you do it?



Virtuella Wrote

1) a little knowledge of psychology, which does not need to be academic, but can just as well be based on faithful observation of real people. It's good to be aware of how the same personality trait can play out differently in various contexts. It helps to watch our own internal monologue and become aware of how we explain the world to ourselves, what excuses we tend to make for ourselves and others, what misunderstandings we are prone to etc.

Quite profound! The more I write the more I feel like I need to become a mindful observer of life. I've just been trying to be more mindful of the external things, but the internal monologue is certainly very important as well. Considering not just the motivations but the inner voice - how the character explains himself to himself. . . Something new for me to try.

I've heard of people who use a writer's notebook. I imagine that it makes you more mindful overall. Even just thinking that something would go well in a notebook, might be enough to make it stick in your brain to be used later.

I also think I could spend more time "in character." So much of my writing is between errands and carpools. I should listen to some of the soundtracks recommended in another thread here at LC and let my character do some wondering and thinking.

[kymahalei]

Feb 14, 2011 9:42:44 GMT -6 pandemonium said:

Goodness yes! I know exactly what you mean about getting locked into a character's POV. That's one reason why I try (successfully or not) to write from different character's headspaces. For example, Meriadoc Brandybuck's voice (and yes, I have written from his POV -- just started actually) is distinctly different from Sauron/Mairon's. Or at least I have deluded myself into thinking the voices differ!

It's like putting on a play, only the writer gets to be the actor for all of the characters in the cast!

Feb 14, 2011 9:42:44 GMT -6 pandemonium said:

I'll second Virtuella's remark on psychology. I constantly ask myself as I am writing from a character's POV "How would he or she react to this? How would he or she process this?" all based on what I see of the character's personality, life experience, and cultural/physical environment.

You do that cultural/physical environment so very well. I think I need to make the time to proactively ask those questions when I write.

Feb 14, 2011 9:42:44 GMT -6 pandemonium said:

I like your comment about the character "moving through space," Ky. My "spatial reasoning" is pretty strong, which is why I can visualize even very abstract things like molecules in my mind, so I try to couple that to my verbal abilities. It's not always easy, but as I continue writing over the years, I think there may be some neural pathways developing between those parts of my ol' noggin.

Back to visualizing again. This whole process takes a huge amount of directed imagination. Sometimes I feel like my brain is like butter on a hot knife. Nothing seems to want to stick. Other times writing is in the flow - things just come together and make sense. I think that your neural pathways must be well developed, but that only comes with a lot of experience and willingness to work things out.