olmue: (me sketch)
[personal profile] olmue
I've been trying so hard to write lately, and I have ideas crowding my head and rising up in my insides and wanting to get out. But at the same time, it's that pre-school runup where schedules are insane and each kid has a unique time and date for registration, dentist, etc. Add in tons of cross country practice and a track meet to the schedule, my own scout committee meetings, startup events for my husband's department (as in social events we should make an appearance at), and basically, I am losing my mind. I just have a hard time writing something intimate and personal (or funny and adventurous--whatever it is, it comes from that quiet whisper in my mind that I need alone time to process) when I'm sitting RIGHT next to someone in the waiting room and they are looking over my shoulder. So I brought a book to read and ended up taking notes. And thinking about not only this book, but others I've read that are particularly strong in something. So here are a couple of things I've learned from books that are especially well-written:

1. I think I have a fairly well developed sense of justice. So one thing that makes me really like a character is if they are essentially decent people in a world that isn't. If they quietly do their good thing without complaining, and let me, the reader, complain about injustice on their behalf, I'm hooked. Arthur in Kevin Crossley-Holland's books. Sam in Maggie Stiefvater's Shiver. Harry against the Dursleys or Umbridge or Voldemort or Snape. I'm pretty sure this is a personal thing, but I am much more sympathetic to these kinds of characters than the Bad Person Who is Misunderstood/aka Hot Bad Boy. Regardless which kind of character you like, though, standing two very different characters against each other can help saturate their colors a bit, and make them for vivid and memorable.

2. The use of weaknesses to solve the ultimate problem. I like a character with weaknesses. Someone likeable who still has something to struggle against. And I love it when they find a way to use what seemed a weakness as a strength. Brandon Sanderson's characters do this quite a lot. And even if it's not exactly a weakness, I notice this kind of "seeding" happening in other books, where the pieces crop up as the book goes along, seemingly unconnected, and then--the final piece falls into place and the MC realizes that this--THIS--is how to solve the unsolveable problem. There's a fantastic kickboxing scene at the end of The Knights of Crystallia (Alcatraz) that pulls a bunch of threads together quite awesomely. No less interesting is the way the ultimate solution in Shiver is laid out. I like this sort of thing because I like to be able to be surprised and at the same time reread and see how it was inevitable.

3. Nouns and verbs. Specific nouns and verbs that show what kind of thing your focal character pays attention to and cares about. I still remember wanting to eat Elizabeth Bunce's book A Curse Dark as Gold when I read it the first time. I'd spent nearly two years in Germany, and while I speak Germany, my reading lags. Being me, I had a library card and checked out books all the time in German. But it was still slow going. To get a book that was in my own language, and to have such LOVELY language...well, I didn't eat it, but I came close. :) The thing with language is, it doesn't have to be all sunsets and purple. It just has to fit the character, be specific, and surprise your reader with new ways of looking at things.

4. Just as you lay in the pieces of the plot solution, you should lay in reasons for meaning. In The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight, by Jennifer E. Smith, the actual on the ground plot is slight. Two people get on an airplane. They talk. They get out at the other end, and one goes to a wedding and the other to...well, not a wedding. The thing that makes the book work is all of the investment the author made so we know the meaning of the events. The MC is scared to fly. Her dad was the one who helped her over that fear. Except it's her dad's wedding she's going to--to a new wife, the woman he left their family for. So when this total stranger (but very nice! See #1) helps her through her flying fears, the whole action takes on tons more meaning. In Shiver, we get a bit of backstory about something the characters went through earlier in life. Then in the Now, we get a similar situation--only, the stakes are higher this time. We already have a clue how that character will react, which heightens the tension, because we know how much more is at stake in the Now. In Harry Potter, we have been amply shown--over pages and volumes and bucketloads of story--everything Harry stands to lose if he acts. But we've also been shown why he can't NOT act when he walks into the forest.

What about you? What have you learned about writing from reading good books?

Date: 2014-08-19 08:35 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] robinellen.livejournal.com
Yes, #4 is so true! I also like loyal characters, I think. Especially if they're loyal with compassion rather than simply blindly loyal. (IN fact, blind loyalty is very irritating in a character.) I'm thinking of a couple of love triangles that I've actually liked -- like in Aprilynne Pike's WINGS series. Laurel was in love with David but fell in love with Tam as she became more and more fae...but she didn't just ditch David. Nor did she stay with him simply because she was with him first. Instead, throughout the series, she begins to talk to David about how she's changing -- and she ultimately helps him see that she's not the person he wanted her to be anymore, therefore freeing him (and herself) to find someone else.

As I'm someone who usually needs some aspect of romance in the books I love, this kind of characterization catches my attention the most quickly -- and helps me sympathize more deeply with the characters. :)

Date: 2014-08-19 08:50 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] olmue.livejournal.com
Oh yes, definitely. I think that the two most important personal qualities in real life to me are loyalty and integrity in equal amounts. "My country, right or wrong" or "I'll stand by my man, even if he's a criminal" don't cut it for me. But neither does the idea of ditching someone in favor of self interest. I'm always disturbed when someone professes great loyalty to someone/some some idea or group, and then one day up and dumps it all. I love best the people and/or characters who have integrity and can be loyal despite all kinds of seeming obstacles. (It also ups the unresolved tension in a book, that longing for connection + obstacles.)

And now that you have brought this up and made me think about it, I think I could probably spill a bit of this in both my good characters and my bad ones. :)

Date: 2014-08-20 08:10 pm (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
I like your analysis Rose. I esp. like when I see something like a weakness, the very humanity, be the source of the solution. A non-whiny narrator is a must.

On eating books. I was so starved for English when living in Europe, that when a book arrived in the mail, I ate it up! Of course, I'd eat up Stephen Ambrose any day. I read Les Miserables at this time and having visited the places Victor Hugo writes about made it all so much more beautiful.

One thing I've learned from reading good books is that although I have a fondness for beautiful language, it is not primary. The story must tug at my heart first before I can wallow in the language.

Vijaya

Date: 2014-08-20 09:12 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] olmue.livejournal.com
Yes, definitely, on the story coming first. Something has to happen, something has to actually *change*, or all the pretty language in the world won't make up for the lack. (But if you have a strong story to start out with, then the language only makes it better!)

Profile

olmue: (Default)
olmue

April 2017

S M T W T F S
      1
2345678
9101112131415
161718192021 22
23242526272829
30      

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jul. 14th, 2025 07:50 pm
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios