tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9088473527308746266.post6403459090341771407..comments2023-10-15T11:23:35.339+01:00Comments on Hawkins Bizarre: Characters becoming...Alishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18406189984167289987noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9088473527308746266.post-45783403250239138132009-06-09T10:50:52.202+01:002009-06-09T10:50:52.202+01:00Hi Frances - I disliked the character of Engleby m...Hi Frances - I disliked the character of Engleby massively but thought the book was absolutely brilliant - partly because, despite the central character's intense unlikeability, McEwan sucked me in. But Beatrix Potter - never like her!!<br /><br />Hi Akasha - great to hear that your wip is in the last stages - go for it!Alishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18406189984167289987noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9088473527308746266.post-62994340646548764082009-06-08T22:06:10.656+01:002009-06-08T22:06:10.656+01:00My stories all start with the 'event' (the...My stories all start with the 'event' (the plot), once I have that firmly placed in my mind I then move on to discovering my people. I do not make lists, in any shape or form. My characters develop as I am writing. But once they have come alive, they don't leave me alone, and often start to take over the story, leading it down a completely different road from the one I was taking.<br />Alis, as too my wip, I am on my fourth, and hopefully final draft, I am going all out so I can send it to MNW at the beginning of next year....feeling a little bit scared now!!Akasha Savage.https://www.blogger.com/profile/13482147165827577180noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9088473527308746266.post-72073943767472692752009-06-08T09:40:50.885+01:002009-06-08T09:40:50.885+01:00I think you may be right, Alis, but I really hope ...I think you may be right, Alis, but I really hope there isn't any Engleby in Ian McEwan. I absolutely hated that book (and usually like McEwan)! I wonder whether there was a naughty streak in Beatrix Potter (as in Peter Rabbit)...Frances Garroodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10614916006798375706noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9088473527308746266.post-20677834794659709922009-06-07T19:10:23.964+01:002009-06-07T19:10:23.964+01:00Ian McEwan said, after writing Engleby, that he fe...Ian McEwan said, after writing Engleby, that he felt that the main character must be one of his own alternative personalities. Maybe that's one of the things that distinguishes novelists from other people - we all have a greater number of alternative personalities... or possibly we're just a lot less stable than other people...Alishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18406189984167289987noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9088473527308746266.post-29387096496111012532009-06-07T09:39:17.683+01:002009-06-07T09:39:17.683+01:00I've just realised that I have days when, in m...I've just realised that I have days when, in my heart, I'm a man. Cool!nohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00398443646324855212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9088473527308746266.post-54674084383091083322009-06-07T09:34:22.750+01:002009-06-07T09:34:22.750+01:00All my character are me, so that makes life easy. ...All my character are me, so that makes life easy. Rude me, nice me, frustrated me, happy me, me having a fat day, me having a sexy day...nohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00398443646324855212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9088473527308746266.post-71900795111090116372009-06-04T11:47:38.304+01:002009-06-04T11:47:38.304+01:00A reader once mentioned to me that I never describ...A reader once mentioned to me that I never described my characters. It had never occurred to me before.<br /><br />Now I put in a bare minimum but it's an area where less is more. The reader's imagination will provide as much, or as little, detail as required.<br /><br />I sometimes vary this where heroines are concerned. My protagonist will almost always be male and invariably superficial where woman are concerned - so he will dwell on the appearance of his potential amour.Tim Strettonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08598897603628943741noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9088473527308746266.post-89736254873482743012009-06-04T11:30:10.864+01:002009-06-04T11:30:10.864+01:00Hi all - isn't it strange - all this advice in...Hi all - isn't it strange - all this advice in 'how to' books and yet no published author I've ever spoken to on this subject ever constructs their characters in that way.<br /><br />Tim - as far as appearance is concerned, I almost never know until I'm obliged by the circumstances of a particular scene to give some indication but I don't think I ever describe people without some degree of necessity arising.<br /><br />I can feel another post on this subject coming on...Alishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18406189984167289987noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9088473527308746266.post-50441208544967087912009-06-04T10:47:25.022+01:002009-06-04T10:47:25.022+01:00I'm with Frances on this one. My characters d...I'm with Frances on this one. My characters develop as the story unfolds, particularly the secondary ones. I'll have a broad idea of the major characters before I start, but often they change as I go along. And that has to be good - if my characters don't surprise me, they're unlikely to surprise the reader.<br /><br />Beyond the sketchiest details, I very rarely know what my characters even look like. Am I alone in that?Tim Strettonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08598897603628943741noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9088473527308746266.post-18584524853647550312009-06-03T21:07:55.934+01:002009-06-03T21:07:55.934+01:00I start out with only the vaguest idea of what my ...I start out with only the vaguest idea of what my characters will be like, and they seem to develop of their own accord as they go along. I really enjoy this, as the process is full of surprises. I never set out to do it this way; it's just the way it happened (but it's probably just as well, as I'm far to lazy to make all those lists about birthdays and hobbies and colours of grandmother's eyes. Life is just too short).Frances Garroodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10614916006798375706noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9088473527308746266.post-81526455565563789372009-06-03T18:58:56.509+01:002009-06-03T18:58:56.509+01:00"We are encouraged to know our characters ins..."We are encouraged to know our characters inside out. But I think that this technique is actually trying to construct your characters rather than to know them..."<br /><br />Perfectly put, and I couldn't agree more.<br /><br />I gather that Dickens used to "act out" his characters, and I can understand the urge.David Isaakhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04928598446742324391noreply@blogger.com