McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft

The Author is NOT the Character.

<< < (2/6) > >>

Persephone:

--- Quote from: Landing on October 28, 2010, 03:24:56 AM ---I don't think I can agree with you, from all my experience if a author has written enough you are able to tell certain things about their beliefs. Granted some you will be able to tell less about then others, but if the reader is skilled enough they will be able to learn things about how the author thinks.

--- End quote ---

Because you know... It's not like Jim Butcher likes Burger King or Coke.  ;)  :D
What I got out of the article is that the problem lies not in people judging an author for conveyed opinions, but in people judging the author for a characters direct actions.
"Changes" is a good example of this, because Harry starts to morph from a hero into more of an antihero, and some people were deeply uncomfortable with that as being an expression of an authors belief that 'the ends justify the means'. It's not that simple, and it's likely not the direct opinion of the author, rather its a tool to move a character through the crucible to force them into further development.

Is it in fact some subtle intimation that no good thing can triumph over evil unstained? Maybe, but I doubt it. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

OZ:
Well said Persephone. I had a rather long response typed up last night and my internet connection died just as I was about to post it. You said it much more eloquently than I would have. It is foolish in most cases to confuse a character and their personality with the author's. On the other hand sometime themes are repeated throughout an author's works that make seem very likely that this is something important to the author. ( Note that I said likely not absolutely ) Of course there are some repeated themes that just leave me puzzled. Why did Jack Chalker put a man into a woman's body at least once in every one of his series that I read? I have no idea.

Landing:

--- Quote from: Persephone Queen in Hellfire on October 28, 2010, 06:24:10 AM ---Because you know... It's not like Jim Butcher likes Burger King or Coke.  ;)  :D
What I got out of the article is that the problem lies not in people judging an author for conveyed opinions, but in people judging the author for a characters direct actions.
"Changes" is a good example of this, because Harry starts to morph from a hero into more of an antihero, and some people were deeply uncomfortable with that as being an expression of an authors belief that 'the ends justify the means'. It's not that simple, and it's likely not the direct opinion of the author, rather its a tool to move a character through the crucible to force them into further development.

Is it in fact some subtle intimation that no good thing can triumph over evil unstained? Maybe, but I doubt it. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

--- End quote ---

I can't tell if you are agreeing with me or not.  ??? ;D

As for people judging the author for the beliefs and views of the characters, no that's just foolish, obviously a author and the character aren't the same. But with enough books (20 or 30 and not all in the same series) a reader can start to notice themes in the writing and characteristics that directly reflect on the author. For instance in a great deal of Roger Zelazny books his characters are smokers, this is a direct reflection on the fact that he himself was a heavy smoker. It is also interesting that his characters stopped smoking at the same time he himself quite. Now I'm not saying that if you give me 30 books by some random author I will be able to tell you his/her political views, views on religion and if they like boxers or briefs, but I will be able to find some things out about the author (especially if one of those books is a autobiography.  :P )

Thrythlind:
I was remarking the same thing to myself the other day that I am so very, very much unlike Lucretia (main character of Bystander)

Lucretia: attractive, polyglot, clothes horse, likes dressing up, binge alcoholic (on verge of deciding to try to kick it), hostile non-believer, overtly sexual, promiscuous, vulgar speech patterns, grew up homeless, manipulative and good at understanding/reading people

Me: fat white guy, foreign languages defeat all attempts to learn them, just throws on clothes, teatotaller, fervent Catholic with traces of other belief systems' influences (especially Asian), terminally shy, getting close to a particular movie title, rarely if ever curses, grew up fairly well-off, bad at dealing with people in general

What we have the Same: Love reading, hate being touched, like solitude/fear company, confidence problems (mostly past for me), trust issues, no sense of home

Persephone:

--- Quote from: Thrythlind on October 29, 2010, 01:23:29 AM ---I was remarking the same thing to myself the other day that I am so very, very much unlike Lucretia (main character of Bystander)

--- End quote ---

You know, I enjoy writing characters that are really not very much like me. But the funny thing is occasionally they're so different from me that it really takes ME a while to get around to understanding them.
Nothing I've written is published, but in my latest fiction, I had a great story, and a great character, but the two didn't fit quite right, I didn't understand her. I had to muddle through a lot of brainstorming and back story creation before I finally had that moment of "Aha! That's who you are! I GET it!"
The down side being that now that I have made her REAL I'm stuck with yet another character voice in my head.  :D

Landing... It's a little bit of both. I agree that you can find nuances of a writer in their work. I personally love it when I read a character like Harry who is so very detailed and REAL, and then I get to know that the author shares some of the same interests/quirks.
But I think in the field of writing, especially in creating fiction, its very important that the reader not let their emotions get carried away. Would Jim write about his character killing someone as a point of action and intensity in the story? Yes. Would Jim himself use violence, or condone that sort of violence just because he writes about it? Hardly.

But, after all, I might be biased because I'm a pretty brutal writer. In the epic series I have outlined with a co-writer, we kill off a LOT of the important characters. And we do so quite heartlessly. Because the characters no matter how beloved, needed to DIE to further the story. They're martyrs to the cause. I promise. 
*She says in her calmest 'I promise I'm not crazy' voice*

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page