from an effortlessly beautiful one. Not only will she make different choices, she will move differently through space. Race, sexuality, or family background can also affect our body language, our worldviews, and the decisions we make.
Each piece of the character puzzle is important, but every story will require different information to be revealed. For example, you might think race is an essential trait that an audience must know in order to "see" a character in their mind's eye, but Virginia Euwer Wolff, in her books Make Lemonade and True Believer, made a deliberate choice not to reveal the race of her characters. Wolff wanted readers to make the characters into whatever race they needed them to be. This is a risky choice that takes a lot of skill to pull off, but through her insights into the characters' hearts and minds, we're able to feel as if we know them even while we're missing a large piece of their physical description.
This is not only an example of an author making a choice, it's a choice that illustrates what's truly essential about defining character.
While physicality is important, in the end, it's what characters do and say that makes them real to a reader.
Think about the characters you create. What will your reader need to know to make them real? Do you allow for complexity? How does a character's physical appearance affect his mental state? Instead of falling back on the tried-and-true descriptions of hair color, eye color, and one or two dominant personality traits, consider what truly defines each of your characters. What makes them unique individuals, different from all others? Choose the information—whether it comes in the form of physical appearance, body language, or back-story—that will best reveal your character to your reader, and you'll find that your story will come to life.
f
PASSIVE VS. ACTIVE CHARACTERS _
Have you ever heard an editor or a critic refer to a character as passive? Maybe, like me, you've found yourself frustrated by this term. What exactly does it mean, and what's so bad about creating a passive character? Isn't this a trait we often find in real people, especially certain teenagers, who can be prone to spending long hours watching TV or playing videogames?
Since passive people do exist in life, it took me a long time to understand why a passive character so seldom works in the context of a novel. It wasn't until I tried unsuccessfully to write a novel featuring a passive character that I learned what makes this trait so difficult to portray. Hopefully, this section will save you lots of misspent time and effort.
V k
If you're considering writing about a passive character, or if you're told by others that your existing characters seem too passive, consider this: Passive people might be described as submissive or failing to take initiative. They are acted upon more than they act. When you look at this description side by side with the statement above about characters being revealed by what they do and say, the picture should begin to come into focus. How do we know who a character is if he doesn't act? How will you breathe life into him if he doesn't make any choices?
While it's true that we all know people in real life who seem to drift along on the tide, never taking much initiative to affect their circumstances, we don't necessarily want to read about them. We're all familiar with the stereotype of the antisocial teen who hides out in her bedroom, but would you want to read a book about that person? Not only is it hard for the audience to figure out who she is, it's tough to invest in her journey because there's nothing she's looking to learn or accomplish.
Active characters, on the other hand, are endlessly fascinating because we're always wondering what they'll do next. It's easy to feel as if we know them well, and when a reader feels like they know a character in the same way they know a real person, they'll invest in loving him, hating him, rooting for him,
Each piece of the character puzzle is important, but every story will require different information to be revealed. For example, you might think race is an essential trait that an audience must know in order to "see" a character in their mind's eye, but Virginia Euwer Wolff, in her books Make Lemonade and True Believer, made a deliberate choice not to reveal the race of her characters. Wolff wanted readers to make the characters into whatever race they needed them to be. This is a risky choice that takes a lot of skill to pull off, but through her insights into the characters' hearts and minds, we're able to feel as if we know them even while we're missing a large piece of their physical description.
This is not only an example of an author making a choice, it's a choice that illustrates what's truly essential about defining character.
While physicality is important, in the end, it's what characters do and say that makes them real to a reader.
Think about the characters you create. What will your reader need to know to make them real? Do you allow for complexity? How does a character's physical appearance affect his mental state? Instead of falling back on the tried-and-true descriptions of hair color, eye color, and one or two dominant personality traits, consider what truly defines each of your characters. What makes them unique individuals, different from all others? Choose the information—whether it comes in the form of physical appearance, body language, or back-story—that will best reveal your character to your reader, and you'll find that your story will come to life.
f
PASSIVE VS. ACTIVE CHARACTERS _
Have you ever heard an editor or a critic refer to a character as passive? Maybe, like me, you've found yourself frustrated by this term. What exactly does it mean, and what's so bad about creating a passive character? Isn't this a trait we often find in real people, especially certain teenagers, who can be prone to spending long hours watching TV or playing videogames?
Since passive people do exist in life, it took me a long time to understand why a passive character so seldom works in the context of a novel. It wasn't until I tried unsuccessfully to write a novel featuring a passive character that I learned what makes this trait so difficult to portray. Hopefully, this section will save you lots of misspent time and effort.
V k
If you're considering writing about a passive character, or if you're told by others that your existing characters seem too passive, consider this: Passive people might be described as submissive or failing to take initiative. They are acted upon more than they act. When you look at this description side by side with the statement above about characters being revealed by what they do and say, the picture should begin to come into focus. How do we know who a character is if he doesn't act? How will you breathe life into him if he doesn't make any choices?
While it's true that we all know people in real life who seem to drift along on the tide, never taking much initiative to affect their circumstances, we don't necessarily want to read about them. We're all familiar with the stereotype of the antisocial teen who hides out in her bedroom, but would you want to read a book about that person? Not only is it hard for the audience to figure out who she is, it's tough to invest in her journey because there's nothing she's looking to learn or accomplish.
Active characters, on the other hand, are endlessly fascinating because we're always wondering what they'll do next. It's easy to feel as if we know them well, and when a reader feels like they know a character in the same way they know a real person, they'll invest in loving him, hating him, rooting for him,
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