I Love Everyone.
The end
Best blog post ever.
(credit goes to: Charlee )
Do you have you
have to love all your characters? Probably not, might be good to hate
some of them. I do think it's important to find them all interesting
though, and to feel passionate about them. If a character in something
I'm writing doesn't interest me or make me feel strongly I often find
those are the ones that should be revised and can easily be cut.
In an early draft
of What the Water Gave Us I cut out three fairly good sized secondary
characters, one of whom was playing a very important villain role. I
found that they all served a purpose in the plot, but that was mostly
it, they were one dimensional, and it was easy to pick them out because I
didn't love them, (or hate them) I didn't feel much of anything for
them. I cut them out and reassigned any important plot functions to
other stronger more passionate characters and the story is stronger
without them.
So if you find yourself not loving everyone maybe take a look and see if some characters need to be cut out.
Awww, you guys are sweet. ;)
ReplyDeleteCV
Awesome post and really nails the issue down. All the characters should be interesting, otherwise the story want be believable; there are no one-dimensional people in real life (no matter how much you think there are).
ReplyDeleteI would disagree. Certainly the *main* characters ought to interest you, since they're the ones we've got to spend the lion's share of the book with. But once you start getting into secondary, tertiary, and bit-part characters, the need for them to be interesting diminishes significantly. It's not their show; you might not be spending more than a couple of lines with them; they can afford to be boring. It doesn't necessarily mean that they *couldn't* be interesting, if you took the time to get to know them and follow their stories. It doesn't mean you shouldn't allow you extras to amuse themselves (and/or you) with their walk-on roles, if they wish. But if they're not that central to the story at hand, I wouldn't sweat it.
ReplyDeleteI do think it helps to create a believable word if all the characters are interesting, but I agree, it is not necessary. The details make the world real, though it would be hard to make every single character interesting.
ReplyDeleteInteresting point! It also depends on the genre I believe. Currently, I am writing Epic-Fantasy and introducing a truckload of characters and each one has to be memorable for the sake of not getting boring,besides all of them having some part to play in the story and who knows, maybe later, having an extended role in the series.
ReplyDeleteFor at least the top two tiers of characters I think it's important for the characters to have a discernible personality, sometimes in my own writing (before I edit it out hopefully haha) and in others as well I notice secondary characters that seem to be malleable, in that they bend to be what the plot needs them to be and aren't a real character with a personality that determines their actions and choices. Those characters are not interesting, so even if it's just a small role, they should be an actual character, not just a plot device. (In my opinion_ Sure they might not be super riveting, and stand out like a firework, but that's not what I meant by interesting.
ReplyDeleteBut yes, I agree if they are so small they have only one line, then they are practically background anyway, if they don't rise to the point of getting a name and then what I said in my post probably doesn't apply.