Post by Joe Snack Road on Aug 7, 2005 15:32:36 GMT -5
Taken from the textbook "What If? - College Edition - Second Edition, Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers" by Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter...
Okay, this chapter isn't as useful as others... but it raises useful points, or at least, traits that can be added to good characters - in wrestling, it could be a hero who is heroic, but sometimes a bit too proud of his own accomplishments. -coughchrisjerichocough- What? FP E-fed equivalent? -coughkaorinightcough-
Chapter 29 - Making Heroes Flawed
In Aspects of the Novel, E.M. Forster wrote that "all actors in a story are, or pretend to be, human beings. Since the [fiction writer] is also a human being, there is an affinity between him and his subject matter which is absent in many other forms of art." If we think of this natural affinity as a tool to employ - one human being (the writer) identifying with another human being (his or her character) - then we can begin to understand the responsibility a writer has to create characters with complex personalities and contradictory make-ups. This complexity is especially important in creating protagonists, the heroes of the story, the character we want our readers to root for.
While it's true that the most richly rewarding stories are populated with protagonists, or heroes, whose efforts and intentions are admirable, no credible fictional character is entirely admirable, purely heroic. This becomes obvious when, remembering Forster, we think of our fictional creations as human. The most virtuous of human beings is flawed. That's what it means to be human. So, too, with our protagonist heroes.
The Exercise
Here's one way to consider creating heroic characters, employing that affinity Forster described, which helps to guard against making them impossibly good. Think of this exercise as your credit-and-debit sheet.
First, write a brief synopsis of your hero's personality, highlighting his or her best qualities. Then make a list of those highlighted qualities: for example, fairness, integrity, charitable impules, modesty, etc.
Next, imagine a not so admirable, offsetting personality trait that your hero has to struggle to control, and match it with the admirable trait. He may or may not be conscious of that struggle. If you listed "fairness," for instance, you might place next to it something like, "pride." If you listed "integrity," you might list, on the debit side, "intolerance." And so on.
Finally, mix the good and the bad, so that, in the first case, you have a hero who is, indeed, fair in the end, but who occasionally self-servingly makes clear to one and all that he is one who has to suppress the impulse to do so. Perhaps he boasts, if only to himself, about some objectively scrupulous action he's taken. He's fair, but he's sometimes a bit pleased with himself.
Or, if your hero resists the temptation to cheat and thereby profit in the process, perhaps she harbors a suspicion that her business partner isn't behaving quite so honorably, interpreting her actions as suspect, even if there's no clear evidence. She's honest as the day is long, but is apt to define that quality too strictly.
The Objective
The key is to make the admire aspect the dominant of the two, but also to remember, as you set your protagonist heroes free to determine the outcome of the story, that they have the negative component lurking in their personalities as well. Maybe the hero is aware of his flaws and consciously fights back their emergence. Maybe someone else in the story perceives the hero's flaws. In any case, by mixing the two ingredients, one from the credit and one from the debit side of the ledger, you'll be helped to resist creating the unconvincing and - equally damning - uninteresting saintly hero.
Okay, this chapter isn't as useful as others... but it raises useful points, or at least, traits that can be added to good characters - in wrestling, it could be a hero who is heroic, but sometimes a bit too proud of his own accomplishments. -coughchrisjerichocough- What? FP E-fed equivalent? -coughkaorinightcough-
Chapter 29 - Making Heroes Flawed
In Aspects of the Novel, E.M. Forster wrote that "all actors in a story are, or pretend to be, human beings. Since the [fiction writer] is also a human being, there is an affinity between him and his subject matter which is absent in many other forms of art." If we think of this natural affinity as a tool to employ - one human being (the writer) identifying with another human being (his or her character) - then we can begin to understand the responsibility a writer has to create characters with complex personalities and contradictory make-ups. This complexity is especially important in creating protagonists, the heroes of the story, the character we want our readers to root for.
While it's true that the most richly rewarding stories are populated with protagonists, or heroes, whose efforts and intentions are admirable, no credible fictional character is entirely admirable, purely heroic. This becomes obvious when, remembering Forster, we think of our fictional creations as human. The most virtuous of human beings is flawed. That's what it means to be human. So, too, with our protagonist heroes.
The Exercise
Here's one way to consider creating heroic characters, employing that affinity Forster described, which helps to guard against making them impossibly good. Think of this exercise as your credit-and-debit sheet.
First, write a brief synopsis of your hero's personality, highlighting his or her best qualities. Then make a list of those highlighted qualities: for example, fairness, integrity, charitable impules, modesty, etc.
Next, imagine a not so admirable, offsetting personality trait that your hero has to struggle to control, and match it with the admirable trait. He may or may not be conscious of that struggle. If you listed "fairness," for instance, you might place next to it something like, "pride." If you listed "integrity," you might list, on the debit side, "intolerance." And so on.
Finally, mix the good and the bad, so that, in the first case, you have a hero who is, indeed, fair in the end, but who occasionally self-servingly makes clear to one and all that he is one who has to suppress the impulse to do so. Perhaps he boasts, if only to himself, about some objectively scrupulous action he's taken. He's fair, but he's sometimes a bit pleased with himself.
Or, if your hero resists the temptation to cheat and thereby profit in the process, perhaps she harbors a suspicion that her business partner isn't behaving quite so honorably, interpreting her actions as suspect, even if there's no clear evidence. She's honest as the day is long, but is apt to define that quality too strictly.
The Objective
The key is to make the admire aspect the dominant of the two, but also to remember, as you set your protagonist heroes free to determine the outcome of the story, that they have the negative component lurking in their personalities as well. Maybe the hero is aware of his flaws and consciously fights back their emergence. Maybe someone else in the story perceives the hero's flaws. In any case, by mixing the two ingredients, one from the credit and one from the debit side of the ledger, you'll be helped to resist creating the unconvincing and - equally damning - uninteresting saintly hero.
Hate the sin but love the sinner. - St. Augustine