McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft
Working against yourself
Jack_of_Names:
Aside from putting all the chaos in my head on paper, and getting distracted by the overly shiny internet, and books, I have trouble not making my characters Supermen. Not that I don't want them to have powers, but, I have a real problem letting them loose, at all. The best I've been able to do is a very painful draw so far. But that is progress... I dream of the day when my character is bruised and bloody, maybe tied to somthing with no genuine hope of escape... That's when I'll know I've made it...
Tersa:
I have a problem of introducing too many characters at once, but my major problem is that I want to know everything about every character with a decent sized part, and you just can't freaking do that when you're writing from first person POV. I have real problems focusing on my one main character, not because he doesn't interest me, but because I try to make all my characters interesting and I keep going "Hey, wait! YOU! Get back here! Why'd you do that?!" and trying to figure out every detail of their minds while my main character is neglected and sitting forelorn, asking "But... What about me?" Because of this little habit, I know less about my main character and how he thinks than anyone else, a slight problem when you're writing from his perspective...
blgarver:
--- Quote from: Tersa on December 02, 2006, 02:12:25 AM ---I have a problem of introducing too many characters at once, but my major problem is that I want to know everything about every character with a decent sized part, and you just can't freaking do that when you're writing from first person POV. I have real problems focusing on my one main character, not because he doesn't interest me, but because I try to make all my characters interesting and I keep going "Hey, wait! YOU! Get back here! Why'd you do that?!" and trying to figure out every detail of their minds while my main character is neglected and sitting forelorn, asking "But... What about me?" Because of this little habit, I know less about my main character and how he thinks than anyone else, a slight problem when you're writing from his perspective...
--- End quote ---
I'm familiar with this issue, also. In my method, I start with story concept, not character, then I try to come up with some characters that would compliment the story. Kind of a clunky way to work.
I was having a discussion about character backstory with my roommate last night and we came to the conclusion that some stories don't need backstory. Or, a lot of it, at least. The one I'm writing now isn't a backstory piece. It's just a story.
The Dresden Files, however, is a backstory piece. Lots of vibrant characters with all kinds of histories.
I've often thought that character personality is sort of a two way street. You can either build the character outline, get to know him in your head, have all the traits and reactions and quirks laid out beforehand and then make him/her act accordingly as you write...or, the reverse: just write and let the character live in the story, and then his actions/reactions build the character outline naturally.
Try to think of yourself as a character. Did anyone write an outline for you? What makes you act the way you do? Do you always act consistently?
In other words, I think the way I act makes up my personality more than my personality governs the way I act. I try to apply that to my characters, too.
Tasmin21:
Oddly, a lot of my consistent troubles come from the actual mechanics of writing. I am famous for comma splices, using contractions outside an informal context, run on sentences... I recently went back through the first chapter of my current fiasco and eliminated all contractions that weren't in speech, cut up some of my lengthier sentences, and generally polished a little. It added almost 200 words to the length.
These are problems I know I have, and yet I can't seem to stop doing it. I know the "team" of editors that I rely on are about ready to strangle me because they keep having to point out "Here, you did it again..."
waywardclam:
Wait a minute -- we're NOT supposed to use contractions? ???
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