McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft
Jim speaks much truth
harryismyhero:
--- Quote from: pinkdoom on June 20, 2006, 03:54:25 PM ---Jim certainly gives good advice, and I agree...his bit on LJ about character development was a huge help to me. In my reading and library work, I've run across some memorable characters: Harry Dresden, obviously; of course Bob is as well, because now everyone wants a talking skull...:) Other characters like Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child's Special Agent Aloysius Pendergast, Kim Harrison's Rachel Morgan, Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum, and Jeffrey Deaver's Lincoln Rhyme are all very memorable characters in modern fiction.
They're all memorable for different reasons. Harry is sarcastic and has a great sense of humor, but what makes him stick out, for me, is his heart. Yes, he may sling spells and have more than a few questionable allies in his line of work, but he is a guy who will do whatever it takes to protect the ones he cares about. What also strikes me with Harry is that his character has evolved, but not disappeared. There are other writers, whom I won't mention, whose characters have lost their touch, their uniqueness.
The other characters I mentioned have very unique attributes to them as well. Special Agent Pendergast is a New Orleans native, old money, whose complexion is white as a sheet, and he wears only black, tailored suits. He's a brilliant mind who has old-world tastes and a general...oddness about him. Of course, having a psychotic younger brother out to kill you (Diogenes Pendergast) also helps. :) Rachel Morgan's got her own array of spells and magic, along with a pixie sidekick, Stephanie Plum's a klutzy bounty hunter, and Lincoln Rhyme is a crippled, but brilliant, criminal analyst.
It's just like Jim said on his LJ (as I loop back around to the starting point of this reply)...you've got to make them memorable, because otherwise, they're as flat as the page they've been printed on.
--- End quote ---
Yes, your characters need, and, if you really want to go somewhere with your writing, are required to be interesting and three-dimensional. Otherwise...yeah, that whole "flat as the page they've been printed on" thing is very appropriate. :) That's why I love Jim's writing so; he never has any flat characters.
Also, I give you kudos for loving Pendergast; I adore him! ;D Preston and Child really struck gold with him and his series! I'm just so thrilled to see a Southern character who' s really smart and stylish, and who isn't portrayed as being a stupid, inbred hick! Because, despite what people may think, there aren't very many people from the South who are that way, thankyouverymuch.
Sorry. Rant over. :D Good post, pinkdoom!
pinkdoom:
--- Quote from: harryismyhero on July 25, 2006, 05:37:30 PM ---
--- Quote from: pinkdoom on June 20, 2006, 03:54:25 PM ---Jim certainly gives good advice, and I agree...his bit on LJ about character development was a huge help to me. In my reading and library work, I've run across some memorable characters: Harry Dresden, obviously; of course Bob is as well, because now everyone wants a talking skull...:) Other characters like Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child's Special Agent Aloysius Pendergast, Kim Harrison's Rachel Morgan, Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum, and Jeffrey Deaver's Lincoln Rhyme are all very memorable characters in modern fiction.
They're all memorable for different reasons. Harry is sarcastic and has a great sense of humor, but what makes him stick out, for me, is his heart. Yes, he may sling spells and have more than a few questionable allies in his line of work, but he is a guy who will do whatever it takes to protect the ones he cares about. What also strikes me with Harry is that his character has evolved, but not disappeared. There are other writers, whom I won't mention, whose characters have lost their touch, their uniqueness.
The other characters I mentioned have very unique attributes to them as well. Special Agent Pendergast is a New Orleans native, old money, whose complexion is white as a sheet, and he wears only black, tailored suits. He's a brilliant mind who has old-world tastes and a general...oddness about him. Of course, having a psychotic younger brother out to kill you (Diogenes Pendergast) also helps. :) Rachel Morgan's got her own array of spells and magic, along with a pixie sidekick, Stephanie Plum's a klutzy bounty hunter, and Lincoln Rhyme is a crippled, but brilliant, criminal analyst.
It's just like Jim said on his LJ (as I loop back around to the starting point of this reply)...you've got to make them memorable, because otherwise, they're as flat as the page they've been printed on.
--- End quote ---
Yes, your characters need, and, if you really want to go somewhere with your writing, are required to be interesting and three-dimensional. Otherwise...yeah, that whole "flat as the page they've been printed on" thing is very appropriate. :) That's why I love Jim's writing so; he never has any flat characters.
Also, I give you kudos for loving Pendergast; I adore him! ;D Preston and Child really struck gold with him and his series! I'm just so thrilled to see a Southern character who' s really smart and stylish, and who isn't portrayed as being a stupid, inbred hick! Because, despite what people may think, there aren't very many people from the South who are that way, thankyouverymuch.
Sorry. Rant over. :D Good post, pinkdoom!
--- End quote ---
Woohoo! Why thank you, harryismyhero! Pendergast is just...different, in the good kind of way :) He struck me in Relic, and I read every book from there on out! (By the way...read Book of the Dead yet? Let me know what you thought!!) I'm so glad to have found another Pendergast fan! Character is so very important, and, once again circling back to the original point of this thread, and without character, the entire plot fails. I don't care how good it is, how unique or original or Pulitzer Prize winning it may be...characters make the story, because they are the story.
Good rant, harryismyhero...nothing wrong with a good rant! :)
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