Taking it to extremes
I recently read an article about what some novelists will do so
they can get to know their characters and stay enmeshed in the
atmosphere of their book while they're writing it. Apparently, some
novelists may indulge in 'extreme behaviour'.
This got me wondering what sort of extreme behaviour we're talking about. Because, disappointingly, the writer of the article didn't elaborate. Would a crime writer lead a secret life as a murderer, so they know exactly what it's like to stick a knife into a victim? And would that stand up as a defence at the Old Bailey? If you're writing classic chick lit, should you run up massive credit card debts by buying endless shoes and handbags, just so you can describe exactly how it feels to wear a pair of Christian Louboutin heels or carry the latest Prada It bag? Could you make those shoes tax-deductible because they're part of your research? Or if you're describing a character having an affair, should you cheat on your own partner? Would they understand if they found out?
I don't know if I've been indulging in extreme behaviour with my own characters.* I've lived with them, dreamed about them, imagined them and written about them for the past 20 months. I've also talked to them. Out loud. Asked them what they wanted, what they were thinking, how they felt, and why the hell they'd behaved in a particular way and completely screwed up my plans for them. I've cried for them and laughed with them.
This afternoon, I sent them off into the big wide world. And before I did, I gave each of them a hug for luck. I wish I'd done it before. Because I got such a strong impression of each of them. One character gave me a quick squeeze, made a squeaky noise and stepped away again. Another gave me a big hug and held on tight. A third shook my hand and kissed me on both cheeks.
It's an experiment that I'll repeat for my next novel. And I'll do it earlier in the process next time. I wonder what other character-development exercises I can come up with. I only hope they don't get me into too much trouble.
* Who am I kidding? Of course I have!
This got me wondering what sort of extreme behaviour we're talking about. Because, disappointingly, the writer of the article didn't elaborate. Would a crime writer lead a secret life as a murderer, so they know exactly what it's like to stick a knife into a victim? And would that stand up as a defence at the Old Bailey? If you're writing classic chick lit, should you run up massive credit card debts by buying endless shoes and handbags, just so you can describe exactly how it feels to wear a pair of Christian Louboutin heels or carry the latest Prada It bag? Could you make those shoes tax-deductible because they're part of your research? Or if you're describing a character having an affair, should you cheat on your own partner? Would they understand if they found out?
I don't know if I've been indulging in extreme behaviour with my own characters.* I've lived with them, dreamed about them, imagined them and written about them for the past 20 months. I've also talked to them. Out loud. Asked them what they wanted, what they were thinking, how they felt, and why the hell they'd behaved in a particular way and completely screwed up my plans for them. I've cried for them and laughed with them.
This afternoon, I sent them off into the big wide world. And before I did, I gave each of them a hug for luck. I wish I'd done it before. Because I got such a strong impression of each of them. One character gave me a quick squeeze, made a squeaky noise and stepped away again. Another gave me a big hug and held on tight. A third shook my hand and kissed me on both cheeks.
It's an experiment that I'll repeat for my next novel. And I'll do it earlier in the process next time. I wonder what other character-development exercises I can come up with. I only hope they don't get me into too much trouble.
* Who am I kidding? Of course I have!
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35 Comments
I had similar relationships with my MCs while I was was writing, but I don't seem to have the same empathy during editing and revision.
Very good luck with your lot, Spangles.
Karen55, I have also wondered about writers of erotic literature! I have a friend who used to write it (he referred to it as 'filth', as in 'I've got a contract to write some more filth'). I shall have to ask him…
Mcallan, I'm glad I'm not the only one who goes to sleep thinking about my main character. And who wakes in the middle of the night to think some more. Exhausting but fun. Or plain barmy?
Thanks, Tony, both for your sympathy and also for your best wishes. I've sent the last batch of my novel off to my agent. I expect she'll send it back with requests for revisions, which is absolutely fine by me because so far all her suggestions have added immeasurably to the plot and the character development. Maybe you don't have the same empathy with your characters during the revisions stage as you do when writing because you're looking at them more dispassionately?
Norm, I immediately imagined The Big Writer in the Sky licking his pencil and creating a new character, and cackling as he/she makes that character clash with another. 'This is going to be good,' says TBWITS. 'Oh yes, the readers are going to love this!'
Gerry, that character you saw got worse. Much worse. The hero nearly decked him at one point. Definitely a candidate for an ASBO if not a prison sentence for fraud. Yes. You heard it here first.
Thanks, Steve. I think it's the probably the same for fiction and non-fiction characters. They've got to live on the page. As well as in the bar!
Thanks, SecretSpi. I'm inviting everyone to the launch party when it's published, and I hope you'll be able to come. I'll give you lots of notice so you can plan your trip well in advance.
Unfortunately I had some rather disappointing news about my novel this morning. My agent had sent the first two batches to a publisher who loved it. But who has now rejected it. Apparently it's too similar in voice and setting to other novels on her list. Rats and triple rats. However, it was very encouraging feedback so I'm still feeling buoyant.
Seriously now, it's very interesting to hear that the publisher loved it, but that it was too similar to work already on their list. Perhaps your agent should approach publishers who are begging for their own slice of this lucrative market? No doubt your book will bring success to all three parties when the right publisher is found.
Jill, all I can say to your suggestion is that my lawyer has instructed me to say 'No comment'! (I can see that you already know me too well.)
But I'm stillalive and can dress myself...that must count for something....
Getting back to the point of your blog I saw the film Letters To Juliet this week, and the film was ok. However the elderly love interest, Lorenzo, was the spitting dab of my MC!...seriously!..it was spooky.
I was going to ask whether anyone has seen the real life version of one of their characters, and if so how they felt about it. I should think it certainly was spooky. i've just looked the film up online. Was the actor Franco Nero?
Recently I gave a talk in London as part of a day of other talks on astrology, and one of my fellow speakers looked so much like my male MC that I had to restrain myself from walking around him as though he was an exhibit in Madame Tussauds. Voices are another thing I take note of. Sometimes I've heard someone on the radio or TV and been puzzled because they sound so familiar. Suddenly, I've realized it's because they sound like one of my characters. Very strange.
I am just having a quiet chortle to myself at the image of you ogling your fellow speaker as if he was a rare species!
I have never thought of the voice thing before1..Now look what you have gone and done to my tiny brain!
Jill, what a good idea to have the perfect actress in mind for when your book becomes a film. An Oscar-winning film, of course, with your novel as the most successful film tie-in of the decade. I have heard of publishers asking their authors which actors and actresses they think should play their characters on screen, so it's as well to be prepared!
I think Neil Oliver appeals to me because of his twinkly eyes. He looks as though he's a good laugh. Which is so important!
And Neil Oliver - I've seen a few episodes of Coast this week, it must be the cheeky half-smile he always seems to have. I prefer Alice myself.
Good feedback from a publisher is not easy to come by, so well done Spangles. You have an agent, which most of us on here would give our eye teeth for. That's half the battle, and I'm sure your agent feels he is able to sell your MS, it's just finding the one. Good luck with it Spangles.
Inky, that's a wonderful way to see it - my characters rejecting two publishers. And as the male MC is a publisher himself, he obviously has incredibly high standards. This is all very cheering! Alice seems very nice, doesn't she? The only one of the team I"m not keen on is that hectic man who keeps saying 'Golly!' and 'Sooper!' Can't think what his name is but I feel like throwing a bucket of cold (sea) water over him and begging him to calm down.
Weens, have you tried talking to your characters? I felt a bit silly doing so at first, but after a while I learnt to chat away to them quite happily. For some reason, I particularly like talking to them while doing the washing up, though any eavesdropper would think I'd gone completely round the bend as the conversation is one-sided and strange, such as 'I don't know, you tell me what you want to do' or 'Bloody get on with it then and stop mucking about in Chapter 3'. Just keep your mind clear and see what comes to you.
Thanks, Liss! The fact is that I love them. Even the scoundrel that Gerry saw walking down the street. And even his ghastly mother, who'd make a shoal of piranha fish feel nervous.
Inky, yes, my male MC is ultra capable. One of his problems, actually, but that's another story. Or rather, it's a novel!
And yes, it is Mark Horton who makes me grit my teeth. I'm sure he's quite sweet, really. So it's Nicholas Crane who drives you insane (so early for poetry!). He went round Britain with that umbrella, didn't he? But has he ever used it?
Yes, I also hope my characters are behaving themselves because with luck this is the week when my agent will be reading about their exploits in the final half of the book. And I hope she'll think they've done well in getting themselves completely tangled up in the plot and then getting themselves (mostly) untangled at the end. I also included two four-letter words at the end, which I hope she won't mind. It would have been ludicrous for the two characters involved to have said anything else, given the circs.
Nicholas Crane always looks so pleased with himself, which I find another irritant, Inky. And he looks a bit prissy. I have also wondered what Neil Oliver has in his bag and decided it's a packet of sandwiches, wrapped up in silver foil, and a Penguin biscuit. And, presumably, a hairbrush.
Ha, I watched an episode of Coast last week where he opened his bag (claims he often gets asked what he carries inside it) and he did indeed pull out sandwiches wrapped in silver foil! And 'research', which in this case was an old football magazine. No hairbrush needed though, it's like that when he wakes up.
There comes a time, does there not, when your characters are more real than, er, real people - I find myself snapping at the er, real people, for bothering me with banalities when there's so much more important stuff at stake. Particularly of the ilk: What else have you been doing, other than sitting at the computer?
Hurumph. I've been saving the world/rescuing a kitten/consoling a boy in dispair/telling a woman not to give up/laughing at the joke/holding an old ladies hand as she confronts her mortality. And you're twittering about bills? (not YOU, of course Spangles - you wouldn't twitter about bills - I mean the rude interrupters with a bill fetish. :)
Of course an imaginary world can be realer than the real one - we can fashion it just as we like. I wonder how long can you stay in it, realistically?
Yes, my characters have been more real than many real people for some time now. It reminds me of that famous drawing of Charles Dickens, sitting at his desk and surrounded by his characters who are all milling about. How long can you stay in it? I wonder. I suppose too long, without returning to so-called reality, could be dangerous to one's mental health?
But even as I'm mourning the loss of my current cast of characters, as I'm not intimately involved in their lives at the moment (though I'm sure I will be if I'm asked to make some revisions), a new set of characters is beginning to pipe up and shout for my attention. So far, I've got two of their names. I don't know who they are as people yet.
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