 Drama: July 02, 2014 Issue [#6412] |
  Drama
This week: The Importance of Depth and Detail Edited by: NaNoKit  
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The most memorable characters are those we feel we know. Whether we like them or dislike them, we have a reason to do so... and it's up to their creator to offer us that reason.
This week's Drama Newsletter, then, is all about depth, detail, and motivation.
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A good character needs depth. Every writer knows this. For the reader to be able to relate to your heroes and your heroines, you must offer them something to relate to. That is why good writers hand their readers a key to unlock their characters – a key in the form of little details and insights that, taken together, unravel the mystery behind their motivations.
It can be tricky to insert these details. Too obvious an insertion is akin to revealing a character's looks by placing them in front of a mirror and describing what they see. It's been done, over and over again, and should, if at all possible, be avoided. Clichéd glimpses include the dream at the beginning of a chapter, which has the character wake up all sweaty and panicked, or unnatural sounding dialogue meant to offer insight into a character's history. Two friends wouldn't discuss shared experiences in painstaking detail, as they were there, so they know what happened. And one wouldn't offload one's life history, or a good chunk of it, to a stranger. Why would you share that much with someone you don't know? Why would they be interested? The patient barman isn't the answer here, either - he's another cliché.
Dreams can be helpful, but only when used well. So can recollections of life-changing events. Bits and pieces that pop into a character's mind and are joined together over multiple chapters can hold a reader's interest – so long as the same thought isn't repeated too many times, because that carries the risk of irritating your audience.
As always, it's about balance. Great stories have depth and a solid foundation. A historical foundation is especially important when you have created a new world for your readers to explore – a world's past will affect its future, and its myths and legends and religious faiths will no doubt affect your characters, whether directly or indirectly. Revealing those aspects in great, big chunks will hinder the momentum of the story and may alienate all but the most dedicated fans of your work. Weaving them through the narrative can be hard work, and take several edits to get right, but you will be doing your readers a favour and, therefore, yourself. The same goes for your characters' pasts.
What, then, are the basics you should include to make your characters memorable and three-dimensional? The answer to this can be found in your own life. What makes you the person you are?
Our family shapes us, so you could explore the relationships your character has with his or her parents, siblings, grandparents and other relevant people. Is your character religious? What do they believe? Perhaps they used to be religious, but have given up on their faith. If so, why? Has anything wonderful happened in their past? Or something traumatic? How does this affect them now? And what about romantic interests? Have they found the love of their life? Were they spurned? Betrayed? What happened? How did it make them feel?
Friends, pets, hopes, dreams, prayers, wishes, fears... they can all be explored. If your character is mainly interested in making money, why is this? If someone's turned their back on love, what's caused it? Will anything happen to change their minds, or are they set in their ways? Is this the right choice for them?
You'll notice a lot of question marks in the above paragraphs. Asking yourself questions about your creations is important, because that's exactly what your readers will be doing whilst getting to know their new friends.
The amount of detail you can reveal will, of course, depend on the length of your story. In a short story, you'll be working on a need-to-know basis – just enough for the tale to make sense and for there to be enough character development. In a standalone novel, you can dig deeper. In a series of novels, you can explore your characters as much as the format of your series allows – the more characters there are, the more you'll need to balance, and a first-person narrative will often allow for more soul-searching than a third-person perspective.
As with real people, characters tend to reveal themselves to their creators over time, and should be revealed to the reader in the same manner. It's a gradual process, and a rewarding one for everyone involved. If you are in doubt about your own approach, have a look at your favourite authors. How do they create depth and detail? Do they employ techniques that you can use? If not, can you tweak them to suit your own story?
You'll soon learn to develop your own style, and you never know, others might look at your work in the future to find inspiration. In the meanwhile, I hope you'll have fun exploring all that your imagination has to offer.
kittiara
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The Drama Newsletter Team welcomes any and all questions, suggestions, thoughts and feedback, so please don't hesitate to write in! 
Turkey DrumStik  - Fantasy is not often associated with drama, but it should be.
Now that's a line open for contention if I ever saw one. I have no qualms about admitting I'm a bit of a snob when it comes to drama. I gravitate towards it since I've always been very realism-oriented. Fantasy? Not so much. I understand how fantasy stories do have to involve some concepts (even just on a emotional level) that we encounter in real life to make it relatable. That said, I think fantasy stereotypes are more prevalent than ever, and lumping it with drama distracts readers AND writers from the possibilities of developing stories closer to reality as we know it. Even if we veer from the stereotypes, we readers and writers can run into trouble. Some people will wonder if the story is meant to be fantasy or drama. It's something I've wondered about with a novella of mine that's set in the later part of this century. It's not completely sci-fi (or even fantasy), partly because I include significant delays in technology development as a way to develop the heavy pro-natalism permeating the story's society. In a marketing-heavy society (from movies to publication), veering from genre expectations is incredibly risky. This can be a lose-lose situation for drama and fantasy writers. As a fan of realism-oriented drama, I'm not so sure I can get on board with fantasy in any incarnation anytime soon.
I definitely understand your concern about veering from genre expectations in a marketing-heavy society. It is risky.
I do think, though, that if we, as writers, keep on sticking to these genre expectations in the hope of getting published, we're setting unnecessary boundaries for ourselves. The market is currently filled with stereotypes and clichés, and it's difficult to find anything new and refreshing.
Fantasy needs drama. Drama doesn't necessarily need fantasy. There is plenty of room for realism-oriented drama as well as fantasy/sci-fi related drama, especially if fantasy writers find the courage to break away from set stereotypes and insert more realism into their stories.
Take the character of Brienne from A Song of Ice and Fire, for example. She's a physically unappealing woman in a world that favours men and beauty. All her life she has been subjected to cruelty, from men and women both. The love of her life - an unrequited love- dies in her presence. What kindness she receives tends to be false, and every mission she undertakes falls to pieces, despite her best intentions. What is that if not a drama story, despite being set in a fantasy world? It is realistic, too. Even in the Western world, the physically beautiful will find more open doors than those who are not. People can be cruel to those who are seen as different. Unrequited love is common. And good intentions don't always lead to positive outcomes.
I understand that fantasy isn't for everyone . And I am familiar with your work - you're an excellent writer. I don't think that, generally speaking, we should be too daunted by genre crossovers, though. They open up so many possibilities.
~~~
Wishing you a week filled with inspiration,
The Drama Newsletter Team
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