Todays post addresses the notion that opinions, rather than just thoughts, might unlock the door to your characters inner worlds: We Want Your Opinions In the struggle to penetrate inside the mind of your lead character, you may find yourself confined to only the most surface-level thoughts. The character thinks about what just happened or what he plans to do next. That’s okay—at least he’s thinking. Yet this level of character depth seems listless next to the engaging heroes of books you admire. What are those authors doing that you’re not? To a large extent, their protagonists are spouting off their opinions. A good heroine has an opinion about everything. Depending on how outrageous they are or how many are unleashed, the character’s opinions may be the main draw of the book, especially in a mystery series. We want to find out what blessed thing Terry is going to say next. Contrast that with thoughts. You try to insert thoughts for a character who is in earnest pursuit of his goals, and what happens? Y-y-y-yawn. Readers assume, as a given, that a lead character wants to accomplish something during the course of the book. The real question is: are we are going to have fun along the way? If your hero makes swashbuckling remarks as he cleaves a path through his obstacles, we can vicariously enjoy them. If your heroine gives us the low-down on the people she has to deal with, we feel included, like we’re part of her group. When you add opinions into your mix, a much larger goal can be attained as well. In order for your character to make opinions that are consistent with his personality, you have to think through them first: who is this person? Opinions add up to an attitude, and that is a prism through which your character can view everything that is taking place. So, you’re not just trying to come up with bon mots and witty repartee. You must create that entire attitude. That only happens, however, when you reach beyond yourself. Think about it: would I want to read about a person who has ordinary opinions? Of course not. I get enough of them at the office. I’m drawn to someone who is larger than life. The opinions she sloughs off are not just scattered along the way. In order to be shocking, you have to inhabit the mind of the person who could come up with a remark like that in the first place. You must become the person making the comments. When the opinions are crackling, you’re in thrall—to the character brave enough to make them. Exercise: Closely examine any scene you’ve written. Do you find that your character is merely an observer, telling us what other people are doing? The accurate camera lens? Forget that idea. Put a filter on that camera: try to make everything shocking pink, or true blue, or bilious yellow. What does your character have to say about what is happening? “Opinion is the medium between knowledge and ignorance.” —Plato Copyright @ 2014, John Paine
Posted on: Thu, 04 Dec 2014 18:41:17 +0000
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