Characters

[scriptordelecto]

This works and works well.

But what i find with new readers is that they are more influenced by the visual media. The character is up there on the screen for you to study. Wardrobe has done its job, the background and foreground are carefully staged. Detail's, details, and more details.

New writer get bogged down in trying to do the same thing with words. I think that is why new writers seem to use so much intro, blocks and blocks of it when a little of the right stuff goes a long ways.

So, what is the right stuff? We have some good examples to pick and choice through.

Agreed. Harder to define "the right stuff" I think, than the wrong stuff. How many times have we clicked in to a story only to be confronted with the character's measurements in the first paragraph.

ex.

Lacey was a gorgeous blonde with 38DD breasts and a 24" waist.



Would the person observing this character really be able to fit her for a dress?

I see this a lot with new authors.

 

[TxRad]

Agreed. Harder to define "the right stuff" I think, than the wrong stuff. How many times have we clicked in to a story only to be confronted with the character's measurements in the first paragraph.

ex.

Lacey was a gorgeous blonde with 38DD breasts and a 24" waist.



Would the person observing this character really be able to fit her for a dress?

I see this a lot with new authors.

More a question of could she move without breaking in half or toppling over.

 

[scriptordelecto]

More a question of could she move without breaking in half or toppling over.

I you!

 

[Weird Harold]

Would the person observing this character really be able to fit her for a dress?

Some of my favorite authors are very good at filtering everything through the perceptions of a POV character. That sometimes results in conflicting descriptions of other characters"

"Ooh, that Jeremy! I'm so going to rip those luscious, flowing, dreamy blond locks right out. I'm going the beat on his hard, perfect pecs until I hurt him as much as his infidelity hurt me!"

I let Jessica rant on and went to answer the doorbell. A somewhat scrawny young man with lank, dishwater blond hair looked up at me apprehensively..

"Yes, Can I help you young man?"

I'm Jeremy, ma'am. I'm here to pick up Jessica for our study date?"


So. Who to believe, the obviously love-struck Jessica, or the somewhat cynical house-mother?

 

[TxRad]

Some of my favorite authors are very good at filtering everything through the perceptions of a POV character. That sometimes results in conflicting descriptions of other characters"

"Ooh, that Jeremy! I'm so going to rip those luscious, flowing, dreamy blond locks right out. I'm going the beat on his hard, perfect pecs until I hurt him as much as his infidelity hurt me!"

I let Jessica rant on and went to answer the doorbell. A somewhat scrawny young man with lank, dishwater blond hair looked up at me apprehensively..

"Yes, Can I help you young man?"

I'm Jeremy, ma'am. I'm here to pick up Jessica for our study date?"


So. Who to believe, the obviously love-struck Jessica, or the somewhat cynical house-mother?

Now, this I like.

 

[Weird Harold]

Now, this I like.

It obviously won't work for every character or every story, but it does make for a story you have to pay attention to and form your own opinions about.

 

[JackLuis]

How about this?

I quickly went in to the snack shop and asked Raule if there had been anyone asking for me. Raule smiled and pointed to the corner table. There she sat sipping a beer and staring into space, She was gorgeous, a flaxen haired Goddess, tall and solidly constructed, she made her robe bulge in all the right places. Long legs and shapely caves topped by a body that would make any man drool. She turned her head and smiled at me. Her dark green eyes lit up, she stood up and came to me.

"There you are Josh," She said in a voice that seemed an octave too low for a woman. "I've been looking for you."

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Read some Raymond Chandler.

John LeCarre opens his 1st novel, A CALL FOR THE DEAD with a chapter titled, A BRIEF HISTORY OF GEORGE SMILEY, and reveals all the reader needs to know about George Smiley. Its a good place to learn about characterization. George Smiley is presented as such a gravy-stained loser you must read more to learn how he manages to survive in a world of spies and constant treachery.