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| Showing Character Traits; Writing Guide Chapter 3 | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Mar 17 2009, 12:56 PM (321 Views) | |
| Xantar | Mar 17 2009, 12:56 PM Post #1 |
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Not Jeff Probst
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What’s your character like? Wise and confident? Vain yet exquisitely polite? Is she good at reading the moods of other people? Does he constantly have women on his mind? You’ve probably guessed the challenge. How to convey your character’s traits by showing but not telling? One of the easiest ways is the one employed by movies and TV shows: have the character confront a situation and handle it right when he or she is introduced. Think of Keanu Reeves in Speed who is chasing after a mad bomber who has taken his friend hostage. Reeves’ solution is to shoot his friend in the leg and then shoot at the bomber who is momentarily frozen in surprise. This conveys an awful lot about the Keanu Reeves character. He is very competent with a gun, he thinks fast and he solves a dilemma in the most efficient manner possible – never mind if it’s also kind of ethically dubious. Unfortunately, not every character can be introduced that way, and most of the time, such introductory scenes can seem unsubtle and overdone. Think of every time you've seen or read a story which introduces a brilliant scientist by having him solve an equation in his head (to show he's brilliant) or say something untoward to other characters because he's busy working out a problem (to show that he's socially inept). That sort of stuff is too much like a character development sledgehammer for my tastes because it turns the character into a cartoon instead of a fully realized, complex human being. So how do we show character traits subtly enough that it doesn't seem over the top and cartoonish? It's not that there's a problem with showing a character trait through their actions and behaviors. It's a matter of which actions and behaviors you use. The trick is to use quirks, gestures and little expressions to reveal the character. After all, that's how we come to know most of the people we meet. This is not easy, though. You have to be a very astute observer of human behavior to be able to pick up and convey these traits. So to get you started and to give you some ideas, these are some of my own personal observations and suggestions: When two people are recently in love, they will look at each other very often. If they have been married for a long time, they hardly look at each other at all. It is usually very hard for an outsider to tell, at first glance, whether a couple is happily or unhappily married. There are two types of people in the world: those who curse a lot and those who almost never do (and a very few people who just don't at all). The former will use a four letter word to punctuate a strong emotion. The latter will use strong language strategically: if such a person drops the F-bomb, it means he or she wants to get your attention. There's a very good chance that this person doesn't actually feel a strong emotion at that instant--he or she just wants to make a strong statement. An interesting corollary in my experience is that this group of people tends to be more emotionally reserved. Try adding some description to a character's smile. There's more to a person than just the fact that she smiles, after all. Some people flash very quick, bright smiles. Some people smile more slowly so that you can watch it spread across their face. Some people look down when they smile while others look you right in the eye when they smile. Some people will expound at great length on a particular subject and will expect you to pay close attention to every single word they say. Other people will use very few words and expect you to discern every meaning and implication in the few words they say. Your character's speaking habits will reveal a lot about his or her mode of thinking. Consider what your character looks like when he or she is thinking intently about something. A person who tenses up and adopts a posture that's uncomfortable over long periods of time is probably someone who thinks of deep thought as work. A person who lies back and relaxes considers thinking to be a pastime. People who are good at reading others will sometimes say something like, "I can tell you're thinking of going on a trip (or whatever)." And they will usually be right. But people who are really good at reading others will almost never say such a thing. They will just note it and then subtly use it to their advantage. It's been said that people who are lying on the spot will look upwards and to the left. I don't know how true that is, but you may want to read up on people's tells. Consider the way your character walks and particularly what they do with their hands while walking. Some people put their hands behind their backs. Some put their hands in their pocket. Some put one hand in a pocket and leave the other to swing. This kind of thing can convey whether they were raised to take formality and good manners very seriously. When people are distracted by a personal problem but they don't want anybody to know, they will often actually act more interested and engaged in what's going on and what you're saying to them. A lot of the time, they can actually fool most people, but a close friend may notice that this person appears a little tense and sits a little stiffly in a chair. Everybody has a habitual tick of some sort that they engage in when they think nobody is looking (or they don't care if anybody is). Some scratch themselves. Some pick at their beards. Some compulsively groom their hair. The point is not to say, "(character) had a habit of lightly biting her fingers when she was thinking." The point is to just have her biting her fingers every once in a while throughout your story when she's thinking. ---- That should be a good start. Feel free to post your own little observations below. |
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PureVideoGames — Made From Only the Finest Ingredients Launched September 12, 2004 Xantarcube: Dragon, I need you to render a thief. She should be a 15-year old girl with ninja-like abilities and a knife. Try to give her a badass pose, too. Dragon of DTT: Ok. How's this? http://www.purevideogames.net/images/Character_Art/thief_full.jpg Mortal Kombat: Dragon. Wins. L33tality! Dragon of DTT: Don't complain. Buy a hooker. Xantarcube: What am I going to do with a hooker? Dragon of DTT: Wii Sports. Shadyshark: but adrienne may be pregnant Shadyshark: or have cancer Shadyshark: she's hoping for cancer Seriously. Even I'm in my signature. Fix yours. | |
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