The Lazy Man’s Guide To Great Characterization
Posted by Essay Help on April 10, 2009One case arising whenever writers gather to discuss their craft is the mining of life itself for account material. Piece a animated and important model, it is important to remember that real human beings are impossibly complex, far also complicated to assist as account characters without major modification. The most complex character in all of western fiction (arguably), Hamlet, is allay only 1% as complex as a real human being.
One must remember that thither is a identity between character and plot: they are, in essence, cardinal sides of a single coin. Plot is what a character does in a given situation. A plot must empty a character out, give us everything we need to know about the lead, or the account situation hasn’t been cerebration finished alright.
In life, it is reasonable to accept the position that we are what we do. Accurate, this is not ALL that we are, but what we do is closer to this essence than what we “believe” we are, or what others define us as. Everyone knows that we judge each other on our actions, and it is childish to pretend otherwise.
We learn to characterize by formulating a hypothesis of human nature, and so investigation it against the people around us–our family and friends. You should be prepared to defend this hypothesis in conversation and literary debate. After all, thither are only cardinal basic questions being addressed in all of fiction:
1) What is it to be human?
2) What is the ethical artifact of the collection?
Whatsoever your own hypothesis is, you should believe it from every direction, and be able to apply it to believe your own strengths and weaknesses.
Look at the III major areas of human life: body, mind, and character. What does your body have about you? Believe me, it says worlds about your values, discipline, emotional health, habit patterns and more. What does your career have about you? Are you operating at full efficiency thither? Do you complain about money troubles, but not do anything about it? Do you dream, but not perform? Or are you employed at a job that you would continue to do even if you won the lottery? To me, this is a major clue of an active, healthy intellect–the ability to do for a living that which you would do for free.
What about your relationship with your husband/woman/big other? To me, this is where you reveal yourself most clearly. You ARE your partner, flipped upside-down and inside out. If you like what you accompany across the breakfast table from you, great. If not, you have activity to do. Remember: whoever you accompany over thither was the best you could do. If you could have gotten individual smarter, handsomer/prettier, emotionally healthier–you would have. So accept a hard look. Often, you can learn more from a person’s partner than you can from meeting the person.
Viewed in this artifact, thither is a lifetime of contemplate in apprehension the people around us, and in apprehension ourselves as advantageously. And a lifetime of potential stories in examining how people’s flaws and gaps keep them from achieving their full potential. It can be painful to look at this block, but the only abstraction even more painful is being terminally false to your own character. That, my friends, is a accurate tragedy. Better the pain of awareness than the agony of self-betrayal. By a long attempt.
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