I recently finished reading the Ender saga novels by Orson Scott Card. However, apart from the powerful stories and themes in the novels themselves, what struck me the most was his philosophy and thoughts about writing, which he put into the preface of his books. Very thought-provoking insights into the nature of how to write a powerful story that can touch people profoundly.
One of the insights that he wrote and I am still absorbing is this: A character is not defined by who she is or what she does, but by his or her relationships with other characters, and their reactions to her and her actions. It is a very profound way of thinking, but when you examine it closely, it rings true. We are all shaped by our surroundings. Call someone an idiot often enough, and he believes it himself. When a reader reads a story, his perception of a character is determined by the judgements made by the other characters in the novel. It is their perceptions and thought processes that are the lens by which he views a characters actions in the story.
What does this mean, then, and how is it helpful?
What this means is, when I try to create characters for a new story, the most important thing to focus on is the relationship dynamics between characters, instead of just the personality traits that make them memorable to the audience. It is one thing to say “Amy is the character that always insults other people.” But that is not enough. That sort of personality trait is easy to write into a story, but it does not turn Amy into a living, breathing character. What makes her live is the reactions of the other characters towards her insults. Do they laugh at her, making her a pitiable object of impotent rage who only has her tongue as a weapon? Do they laugh with her, making her a merry and witty comedian who bestows affectionate insults and teasing in the name of good cheer and fun? Do they weep at her harsh insults, making her a despotic tyrant who likes to hurt people deliberately? Do they insult her back, turning her into a character trapped in a web of destructive relationships, unable to get free? Do different characters react differently? Can Amy be viewed as affectionately teasing by one character, but harsh and caustic by another?
Of course. That is what makes Amy alive in the mind of the reader.
But what this means is that, for every character I include in the story I write, I must think not only of their personality traits, but also of their relationships with all the other characters that already exist. Which means that the complexity of the story grows exponentially. So you can either have a small cast with a deep and complex web of relationships, or a large cast with many shallow characters that only serve one function and are defined by at most one or two relationships. Given the choice, I think I would prefer the former to the latter – it makes for more compelling stories – but it is also much more difficult to write.
The most basic configuration of relationships that can make good drama, I think, consists of three characters. Two of them should be in conflict, and the third serves as the judging function which determines who wins and who loses. That is the classic love triangle. Two suitors fighting over a girl who will choose which one of them to marry. But it can get more complex than that. What if there are multiple issues at stake, and the functions of the characters differ depending on the issue that is involved? With just three characters, you could have a whole potential multiplicity of complex relationships going on. For example, A and B are fighting for the romantic affections of C. However, at the same time, B and C are in conflict over the type of job that C wants to be employed in, and both want A to support one of them. And equally, A and C are in conflict over the treatment of a family member, and want B to judge between them. Triple-deadlock. One judgement may affect the decision of a party on a different issue. But that makes really good drama.
So, to sum up… characters are defined by relationships with other characters. The greater the depth and complexity of layers within the relationships, the greater the dramatic potential of a story. Multiple themes and issues can be overlaid upon each other, making different characters perform different functions for each layer or issue, thus providing a more complex relationship web. Boy, this is going to take some time to think through and put into practice. It is definitely not so easy as it seems.
No wonder some authors spend a year or so just on world-building and character-building before even starting to write a story.
Leave a Reply