 Drama: November 11, 2015 Issue [#7300] |
  Drama
This week: Action and Narration to Reveal Character Edited by: Joy  
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“The writer's characters must stand before us with a wonderful clarity, such continuous clarity that nothing they do strikes us as improbable behavior for just that character, even when the character's action is, as sometimes happens, something that came as a surprise to the writer himself. We must understand, and the writer before us must understand, more than we know about the character; otherwise neither the writer nor the reader after him could feel confident of the character's behavior when the character acts freely.”
John Gardner, The Art of Fiction: Notes on Craft for Young Writers
“I'm looking for incongruity. Ask yourself why this character cannot fill the role in the plot that they are expected to fulfill. Ask yourself who would be perfect for this role. I'm not going to use that person.”
Brandon Sanderson
“The person you are (in total, at that moment in time) is what creates the story you're writing. It's infused in every piece of punctuation, in the plot, in the most minor character who crosses the page. It's all your voice.”
Victor LaValle
Hello, I am Joy , this week's drama editor. This issue is about the use of action and narration to show character.
Thank you for reading our newsletters and for supplying the editors with feedback and encouragement.
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Welcome to the Drama newsletter
Around the time when you will be reading this newsletter, some of us will be on our paths through NaNo while the rest of us will be working on other fiction and contests in WdC. Since in all writing but especially in dramatic fiction characterization is so important, today we’ll be looking at action versus narration or the combination of the two in relation to character portrayal.
Any part of a novel, novella, or story where characters are moving and talking is action. Actions happen in scenes, and scenes are where the readers especially begin to love, hate, or understand the dimensions of the major characters.
Not every side of a character can be told through action, however. To bridge the scenes and not to make a story too long, some narration can be used to show a character’s many aspects. Narration is the description of the events in a time period of little importance in a story to shorten the distance between the vital scenes or information that needs to be conveyed in the fastest form possible. A rule of thumb is: The shorter the narration, the more exciting becomes the story.
Assuming the writer of a story has filled character sheets or has a distinct idea of who his characters are, a few ways of showing a character, hopefully with little or no telling, can be:
 Action uncovers true character. In addition, prior to action, the mental and emotional readiness of the character to any specific action is also important. This is possibly the most significant method of revealing character. In Shakespeare, we are always introduced to the mental and emotional states of the characters before they take an action. In novel and story writing, the depiction of such mental and emotional states can be told through very short narrations inserted into scenes also, since showing through action the tediously complicated psychology of a character can elongate the storytelling and bore the reader.
Additionally, while or after character is revealed through action, if that person--be it a protagonist, antagonist, or secondary character—has the capability to judge himself, more depth in character revelation is reached. Examples to this could be in Les Miserables with both Jean Valjean’s and Javert’s characters.
Conflict with environment exposes character. In other words, when a character clashes with his environment, who he is becomes evident. Environments are more than neutral backdrops for characters’ actions; they are the breeding grounds that provide the conflict. They encompass the setting, events, other characters and specifics of the story world. All actions the character does to reach his goal while battling against such conditions or people who oppose him or hinder his attempts reveal something about his character traits and psychological make-up. For example, in Alice in Wonderland, Alice's fixed sense of order creates the conflict with the craziness she encounters in Wonderland. Through her dealings with that environment, the readers get to know Alice better.
When a character is a doer and is clearly motivated in taking or influencing the action, that element of being motivated also reveals character. In the Arthur Laurents’ 1962 musical comedy-drama movie, titled Gypsy, the protagonist Gypsy Rose Lee is such a character.
To wrap it up, when physical, emotional, and personal traits and quirks in relation to the conflict are used skillfully, your story or novel will shine. As human behavior interests people the most, you the writer can use action, narration, exposition, and description in varying doses and intermixed with one another, to reveal character and make your story a success.
Wishing you the best with NaNo and all your other challenges…
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An interview with a client who isn't all as she seems.
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A prisoner on death row is certain of his innocence. What a Character June '15
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 This Issue's Tip: Put your characters in crisis and keep them there for most of the time, possibly easing it on them a bit every now and then. While doing that, report his thoughts and feelings by going into his head.
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Feedback for "The Flair of Writing Historical Fiction"
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Vivian 
Thank you for including my historical short story "Once Upon a Christmas" in your recommended readings. I enjoy reading and writing historical fiction, but, as you state, research is a must.
My pleasure and I thank you, too, for the feedback. Yes, research is always important and even more so in historical fiction.
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