Character or Story?
Janet Reid ran an interesting contest yesterday. As you can see if you visit her blog, she posted pictures of two guys from the recent BEA conference, and asked people to write 50 words (or fewer) of dialog to show (not tell) their characters. I can’t resist a good writing challenge, and Janet’s contests are usually fun and challenging, so I entered. I didn’t actually submit my entry until yesterday evening, partly because it took me that long to come up with something. Why did it take me so long? Because every time I had an idea, I realized I was thinking of stories, like a flash fiction contest, and not concentrating on character. For example:
Joe jumped onto Mike and they both hit the floor.
“Take it back!” Joe said pinning down Mike’s arms.
“Never!” Mike tried to wrestle Joe off. Joe brought his knee up to Mike’s groin.
“Take it back!”
Mike winced.
“Okay, okay!” he said. “I’m sorry I insulted Hemmingway.”
That story may tell you something about Joe and Mike, but it’s clearly more about what they do than who they are. The challenge was to focus less on what the characters do, and let their dialog tell us about them. And I found it a real challenge, especially when it dawned on me how much I rely upon story to define character. Now, let me say that I don’t think that’s wrong. Indeed, it might even have been Stephen King who said that character is defined and brought out in the midst of the story–and he’s created some interesting characters in his time! However, I think this is a good exercise to help us think more about dialog. If you were to lift a piece of dialog out of your novel and present it to a complete stranger, what would they learn about your character? Anything? How carefully are we listening to the character’s voice? It certainly made me think.
Which comes naturally to you, character or story? Or to put it another way, do you create your characters and then put them in situations, or do you come up with situations (what-ifs) and let the characters emerge from the story? Or something else?
What a great exercise, but man, that would be tough! I might have to give this a whirl sometime just for practice and as a reminder to make my dialogue reveal things about character without ‘telling’. I’m not sure which comes more naturally to me, character or story. I think maybe character, but I can’t say for sure. My CPs might be able to answer that better than me. 🙂
The story-vs-character question is probably not that clear-cut. I have written some things that are based around characters, but I think my tendency is to create scenarios. Even when I create characters first, I will think of a “what-if” situation to put them in to develop the story. It’s like I need a situation for the character in order to have a story. I can’t just put the character into a room and “see what happens.”
It’s definitely worth thinking about, though.
Actually, come to think of it, you’re onto something with this “what-if” scenario thing. At least two of the stories I’ve been working on arose from “what-if” situations. So I guess I kind of need that first and then the characters kind of crop up within that situation.
Hmm…interesting thought! I think I tend to create the what-if situations first, and once the character begins to emerge, then it flips and I start working with the character instead. I’ve always enjoyed trying to create distinct dialogue, but it can be hard!
One thing about presenting dialogue to a third party, though, is that he/she can interpret it very differently than you intended. For example, exclamation points can be misinterpreted easily–an author might try to create an excitable character that comes across as angry or shouting, you know?
At any rate, that’s awesome that you did the contest. I need to get over there and read the entries.
You’re right–a 3rd party might indeed misinterpret context-less dialog. And not every line of dialog is going to be dripping with character. But this certainly alerted me to the fact that if the dialog can say something about the character, it probably should. Take something as simple as a character at a dinner table asking for salt:
“Pass the salt,” said Joe.
Notice that he didn’t say “please,” and he didn’t address anyone in particular. Would Joe be that abrupt? If he is upset, or in a bad mood, would he want it to show to everyone in this way? Or is it his upbringing to be this direct? That line of dialog may not answer any of these questions, but I think the fact that we think about these things can only improve our writing.
Janet’s contests are usually great fun to enter. There are normally prizes, but I truly care more about the challenge than the accolades. And I don’t say that because I’ve never won. In fact, I did win one last January. And I’ve been a runner-up in a couple. 🙂
Great exercise! I’ll have to try this out on my drafts and see where I’ve done more telling than showing. =D
It is a great exercise–it clearly got me thinking! Anything that helps us tell better stories and create deeper characters has got to be worth the effort. 🙂
That is a great exercise. Hmmm… now that I’m on the spot I can’t say for certain. Most of my stories are characters first, world later… but not always. Depends on the book, I suppose!
Thanks for sharing. I may have to try that out for myself…
I don’t think it’s clear cut, but I think some writers are more comfortable creating their characters and building their stories around them, while others prefer to come up with story ideas into which they put their characters (or out of which their characters form). I tend toward the latter.
You’re welcome Cole! This is a good exercise, if only to make writers more conscious of dialog. 🙂
First, this is interesting, because when I have written flash-fiction I have for some reason approached it from much more of a character-based angle than a plot-based one. I’m not sure I could pin down either character or story as a dominant starting point for my longer work, though… It’s kind of hard for me to think about them separately, actually.
Secondly, I think revealing character through dialogue is one of those REALLY important things that you really can’t think about enough. So I’m glad you mentioned it. 🙂
You’re welcome, Susan! Character-through-dialog is very challenging, but, I think, necessary. It helps prevent the story getting bogged down in exposition and description. It also is more true-to-life.