Wow--Talk about a Whack-a-doodle!

There is a reason for the term, stranger than fiction.

As a writer, you can't come up with these sorts of characters and get away with it. Nobody would believe them, but life pukes out some total whackadoodles sometimes.

In case you didn't realize it, I'm talking about Brandon Hantz from Survivor.

I'm not here to talk about the show, strategies, politics, or any of that stuff. I'm going to talk about characterization.

Think about it. Throw a bunch of people from every walk of life on to an island, dangle a million dollars in front of them, add in starvation, various challenges and temperamental weather, and film the results.

True characteristics will eventually come out--Brandon's real personality emerged to the detriment of his teammates.

It took a few seasons of Survivor before I even started watching it. I just wasn't interested, and then I discovered Jeff Probst's blue eyes and dimples--and yes, I've started watching his talk show when I'm able. I can oogle. He's married now--and his wife is totally hot, too. They make a very striking couple.

Jeff Probst

Anyhoo, back to Survivor. Brandon was obviously off his medication. That young man is seriously unstable. Every time he picked up the machete, it scared me. I wouldn't put it past him to hurt someone in the heat of the moment. He was a mess in his first Survivor, but this time instead of 'demonizing' some young woman, he butted heads with Phillip--another whackadoodle, but a subtle one.

I hope they fly him away from "the Ranch" (where voted off Survivors go to enjoy a little R & R, namely food, drink, and a real cot in a tent) for some psychological help. He needs someone in his corner. And when he comes back to the finale show and says it was just an 'act' . . . yeah, right. That young man has a screw loose, so don't believe him.

As a writer, when you develop characters, they have a backstory--things in their life that made them who they are. In other words, baggage, everyone has baggage, even younger characters. If you have a beautiful person with loads of money and things are peachy, then there had better be some depth to the character that would make a person want to continue watching or reading about them.

With Brandon, he's what they call 'good television'. I wouldn't call it that, but basically, you never knew what he would do next, which made people tune in to see what happened, i.e. a train wreck or a car accident on the freeway.

To tell you the truth, the favorites side will be a little more boring because he's gone. Maybe some other characters will step up--not on the diabolical side of things, but to actually let their personalities come out. Many of them are boring, simply a backdrop for the antics of Brandon and Phillip.

Anyhoo, if you are a writer and you want to develop a character--people watch--on TV, at the mall, or a coffee shop. Watch how they interact with others and develop your own backstory for them. Every character has a backstory, even the secondary characters and the walk-on characters. Their backstory is told in the way they act and relate to other characters.

It's not that hard to write. You just have to place yourself in their shoes for a little while.

Later, Peeps!  

Writing 101 -- Characterization

If you’ve been reading my blog or had me as a contest judge, you’ve heard me rant on and on about backstory as I urge writers to cut the backstory out of their novels. Readers don’t want to know how the character became who they are, unless you like memoirs, we simply want to read this story.

Characterization is backstory, but shown through a character’s dialogue and/or actions.

In other words, all the baggage that your character carries is backstory, BUT how he expresses it is CHARACTERIZATION.

In a nutshell, characterization is who your character is.

And I’m not just talking about the protagonist/antagonist, hero/heroine, or just the main characters. I’m talking about the secondary characters, minor characters and even walk-ons.

Why?

Because how each character reacts to a situation reveals something about . . . wait for it . . . their BACKSTORY. Yes, even minor characters need a little boost to their personalities sometimes.

So how do you take your characters and give them characterization?

Many writers will spend untold hours detailing their character’s personality through character sheets, which might contain everything from the physical attributes of a character to their school grades and subjects to their personal issues. While other writers might ‘interview’ the character to see how the character reacts to certain questions. And other writers (me) will simply write the story to see what happens.

What can I say? I enjoy surprises!

No matter how you figure out who your character is, it’s up to you as the writer to SHOW that to the reader.

For example:

Don’t tell the reader that your character is the quarterback of the football team, and when he goes home across the railroad tracks to the bad part of town  he finds his mother drunk on the sofa. Show the reader who this character is by his actions. It doesn’t have to be much.

Jake Franco unlocked the front door and turned the knob. When he walked through the opening, the sickly sweet smell of bourbon hit him harder than the 300-pounder on Shelbyville’s defense when he was sacked in his very first game of the season.

His mother was drunk . . . again.

Anger shot through him as he ground his teeth together. He forced himself to relax and take a deep breath before quietly shutting the door behind him. Dropping his book bag on the dinette table, he crept to the sofa where she lay sprawled.

As gently as he could he laid his hand on her shoulder and shook her awake.  Her bones seemed even more prominent this afternoon than they had been when he left for school this morning. He was afraid he might break one if he touched her too hard. “Mom? Are you awake?”

She was still alive. He had seen her chest rising and falling. One more day. She’d survived one more day of pain.

Her eyes opened, unfocused. She frowned, as if she tried to remember where she was as the alcohol dulled more than just her pain. Her brow cleared as her gaze met his. A weak smile played on her lips. She raised her hand to lightly stroke his cheek. “Jake?”

“Yeah, Mom. I’m home. Bad day today?”

She took a deep breath and tried to sit up, but a coughing spasm racked her body.  Jake helped her sit upright and handed her a tissue as she continued coughing. Finally, the spasms stopped and she shakily handed the tissue back to Jake.

There was more blood on it today.

The cancer was winning.    

Show your characterization by the character’s actions and reactions to a scene.

 So what is Jake’s backstory? And, yes, I'm making this up as I go along, including Jake's scene. 

His mother raised him to the best of her ability. His father abandoned him. He’s in high school. He’s a football player; probably quarterback (if he’s the one getting sacked). He’s angry, but not for the reason the reader is led to believe at first. They are dirt poor. His mother has no insurance, job, family, or even much of an education. She drinks to dull the pain of the metastasized cancer. Jake is doing the best that he can, but he’s just a teenager forced to grow up too soon. The reader understands that he’s taking care of his mother--he’s sensitive and responsible. He’s also angry, because he can’t do anything to help her.

Yes, there are places one can go for help, but would a teenager know about them? Doubtful, especially if the mother kept him in the dark about her condition. All she wants to do is to protect him for the harsh realities of life--too bad it isn’t working.   

Here’s another scene: Let’s say the same football player was with a group of his football buddies at a coffee shop. They are making fun of a homeless man trying to get his cart up the curb, but he’s too thin and rickety to lift the cart that is heavy with all his belongings, therefore blocking traffic. Drivers are getting impatient and honk their horns.

So, how does your character act? How does he react to their comments?

Does he get quiet? Hang his head? Or does he get in their faces? Does he defend the old man? Go to help him? Or does he join in, ridiculing the old man right along with them?

This is how you show the reader who your character is.

Let’s play this game with a minor character.

What about the waitress? Does she love her job or hate it? Does she flirt with the boys? Chew gum? Throw the bill down?  Does she say something about their rude comments?

There is a purpose to everything your characters say and do.  It’s your job as a writer to show characterization to your reader through the words you choose and how you use them.

 
What can you do to your story to improve your character’s characterization?

Something to think about.  

Subtext and Characterization

I know I've spoken about subtext sometime in the past, but I've slept since then and can't remember much of that particular blog. The blog on Monday made me realize how much subtext plays into characterization.  Here is the definition of subtext and one of characterization:

sub·text  (sbtkst)

n.

1. The implicit meaning or theme of a literary text.

2. The underlying personality of a dramatic character as implied or indicated by a script or text and interpreted by an actor in performance.

char·ac·ter·i·za·tion  (krk-tr--zshn) n. 1. The act or an instance of characterizing. 2. A description of qualities or peculiarities: a list of places of interest, with brief characterizations of each. 3. Representation of a character or characters on the stage or in writing, especially by imitating or describing actions, gestures, or speeches.

So how do subtext and characterization collide?

Subtext aids characterization.  There is nothing more boring to read than a list of a character's traits, physical. emotional, or whatever.  After The DaVinci Code became HUGE, I picked up the book to see what all the hubbub was about, and promptly threw it across the room when the main character described himself when he was shaving (somewhere around pg. 6).  That's lazy, amateurish writing, IMO.

There are so many more ways to draw the reader into caring for the character without describing the character TO the reader. Subtext is part of it.  Subtext defines a character by how they react to a situation, or their thoughts while observing a scene, or the way they string their words together in dialogue or in there internal narrative.

Many times an avid reader can tell which character is speaking without a dialogue tag simply because of the way that particular character speaks.

Start the story with THIS story, but meld the characterization within the subtext of the first sentence. Here's an except from a book sitting on my desk, waiting to be read.

For example:

The two-block walk from the bus stop on Broadway to her apartment was a terrifying ordeal late at night.

The reader doesn't even know the character's name, but they already know something about the character from this first sentence.

• it's a female (her apartment)
• she doesn't have a lot of money if she's riding the bus
• it's a creepy part of town, maybe rife with dubious characters--from winos to gang bangers to addicts or dealers.
• she probably works a swing shift if she's coming home this late OR could have been at a library studying

Reluctantly she left the small island of light cast by the streetlamp and started the treacherous journey into the darkness.

• the second sentence enhances the atmosphere--upping the tension.  the reader knows something will happen, but what??

At least it had stopped raining.

• rain-slick street--slippery, can cause a distortion or double image on the pavement
• provides atmosphere

She clamped her purse tightly to her side and clutched her keys the way she had been taught in the two-hour self-defense class the hospital offered to its staff.

• she works in a hospital--could be any type of job from nurse aide to cafeteria worker to respiratory therapist to lab tech. Hospitals don't shut down. typical shifts: 3-11 or 4-12
• time--probably around midnight, give or take an hour
• she knew a few self-defense moves and was prepared to use them though she was frightened out of her wits

The small jagged bits of metal protruded between her fingers like claws.

• adding 'color' to the paragraph.
• she would jab/scratch like nobody's business, though terrified--increased tension.

The reader has a ton of information about this character from this first paragraph, without knowing her name, her height, background, or color of her eyes or hair. At this point in the story, it isn't needed. The reader is immediately immersed in the story--AND cares about the character--as the writer sets the stage, amps up the tension and sets it loose.
This is what subtext and characterization are all about.

Oh, the writer and story?

Jayne Ann Krentz's FIRED UP

Later, Peeps!