Fiction is fantasy, a story and characters conjured up out
of imagination to live and breathe on the page. In the era of fandom, they worm
their way into peoples’ lives as if they were real, like an extended family
member or new best friends. ‘You have to like
your characters,’ an old writing tutor said, ‘even the nasty ones. If you can’t
engage with them, your readers won’t either.’ 
Truthfully the bad ‘uns are often
more fun to work with, have a buzz about them. But unless the anti-hero is
centre of the action, there can be a problem with fleshing out the good guys
and gals. TV crime series especially the Scandi noirs get around it by making
the main actors for justice idiosyncratic or warped in some way – depression,
Aspergers, alcoholism etc. That gets samey after a while and feels
manufactured.
A well-reviewed
novel I read recently, which shall remain nameless, bored me rigid. Dull,
two-dimensional, unbelievable characters. Nothing they did seemed credible. OK
novels are all a question of individual taste and what grabs me isn’t the gold
standard for deciding merit. But it got me thinking about one of my characters
I have struggled mightily with. Enigmatic is fine but can too easily turn into
bland. Adding eccentric mannerisms smacks of lipstick on a pig, a cosmetic
manipulation that doesn’t sort the core problem.
Most novels aren’t
autobiographical but being a psych-addict, I start from the assumption that the
fictional cast all spring from the author’s unconscious – from the heroic (I
wish) to the monstrous (the shadow). Nearing the end of
the first draft of my new novel I took ten days out to explore - on paper, where else? – what was blocking
this character’s authenticity. Down into
the core to understand what made her tick, even if she was blind to much of it.
In Gestalt therapy
there’s an Empty Chair technique, designed to shift attitudes to a troublesome
partner or an aspect of the personality that is causing concern. Plonk them or it across from you and strike
up a conversation. Sounds odd talking to an empty space, especially to part of
yourself or your character, but it works; and even better, can be done by
writing down insights that come up without an audience.
It was an
invaluable exercise which made me understand myself better, never mind my
heroine. And it could be a helpful approach to cracking writer’s block. Sit the
ogre that is strangling your muse, deadening your inspiration, killing your
confidence across from you and ask what their game is.
In writing circles
there is the eternal argument about what comes first, plot or character? Some
novelists start with a sliver of a scenario out of which the plot emerges and
add the personae to drive the narrative along. The truth is both. You can’t
have one without the other. Think of novels you’ve read. What lives on in
memory? Not the intricate details of the narrative but the people. Micawber,
Poirot, Jack Reacher, Jackson Lamb, Henry Porter’s heart-rending Firefly,
Robert Harris’s water-engineer in Pompeii. If the characters
aren’t engaging then the most inventive plot won’t be enough - like taking an
exciting bus ride with cardboard cut-out companions. 
I have enormous
respect for authors who take dull characters and make them compelling - Rachel
Joyce’s The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and John Williams’ Stoner come to
mind. Humdrum people with no particular quirks, who’d be the least inspiring
dinner companions imaginable. Yet they come to life on the page and linger on
for years in recollection. Not my scene since I’ve never understood ordinary
people, but an admirable talent.
Now armed with a
warmer grasp of my character, all I have to do is finish the first draft - that
which no one ever sees - and start the long haul of the first rewrite over the
winter, when the barbecuing meteo switches down the heat. For the first time I’m actually looking
forward to tackling a revitalizing overhaul. And fixing multiple plot knots and
glitches.
Follow me on:
BUY my new crime thriller BY the LIGHT of a LIE at:
www.marjorieorr.com
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