Keeping It Real: Character
I have just written a guest editorial for AU/NZ publisher Orbit’s Oz newsletter (my USA publisher is Eos/HarperCollins) on the release of The Heir of Night. Being a good Kiwi (NZ) gal, I am a little shy of bragging about the merits of my books “my ownself” (as Cap’n Mal Reynolds would put it, in Firefly.) I much prefer to fall back on what someone else has said, like the cover quote by Robin Hobb, but my Oz publicist, Nicola, said no, I had to tell people about the book “in my own words.”
Now I do actually have an elevator pitch (I read the “newbie writer’s handbook!”) but in this case, what I said came more from what I’ve been thinking about lately as I’ve put together a whole heap of guest posts (you’ll find the links to some of these on the News page of my website.) And here it is: “if you like your fantasy epic, and with more than a touch of mythic darkness (plus a dash of scifi thrown in); and with equal emphasis on character development as well as action, adventure and magic in the plot, then The Heir of Night could be just the book for you!”
As those of you who’ve been following ” … on Anything, Really” know, in between co-ordinating the Fantasy-SciFi Guest Author Series, I am currently hard at work finishing The Wall of Night Book Two (working title: The Gathering of the Lost)—which is where the phrase “equal emphasis on character development” sprang from.
Firstly, it’s true. As a Fantasy-SciFi writer, the world building and action of The Heir of Night story are really important to me, but the authenticity of the characters is also critical. I put a lot of work into this aspect of Heir, sometimes writing pages of backstory (that will almost certainly never make it into the actual series) just to get a better feel for what really made a particular character tick—and to make sure that their repsonse to situation/events “rang true.” But of course, when you have a story that you know runs to four books—because you’ve plotted it out—you also have a vision of both the story arc and the “stations” along that arc that are coming up. But where there’s track there is also scope for adventures to happen: switching tracks, being shunted into sidings, even derailment.
Fortunately, there’s been no derailment yet for The Wall of Night series. But when authenticity is vital to your story, then the characters cannot just go and do something against their nature, as established in the story thus far, simply to advance the next element in the plot. Not if you’re “keeping it real” as a writer.
This is what has come up for me in The Wall of Night: Book Two. I am very close to a major station on the story track right now, one I have intended reaching since I commenced writing the series. There’s just one hitch—the character around which the plot action is centered just wouldn’t behave in the way required to make the plot (as originally conceived) work. In fact, such behavior would be totally “out-of-character” in terms of how this individual has evolved.
So in order to remain true to the character, the plot has to change. A stopper? Again fortunately, not in this case. The change required is more of an adjustment: the same station is still right ahead on the story track , but the roofline has changed—there’s more cupolas now, and fewer spires (just to extend the metaphor!)
Do I have to remain true to the character? I think so, otherwise I would stop being convinced by the story—and so, I suspect, would you. The great thing though, is that stories, although they can be like railway lines, also have a habit of transforming into rivers in the twinkling of an eye. And although rivers may flow within banks, their currents are constantly shifting and reforming within those broad confines: the sandbank that appears one day may have disappeared by the next; if the water finds a blockage in one place, then it flows around or through it. So, too, with story—a character develops in a certain way and the current of the story shifts to accommodate the change.
A ride? Sometimes. But the real deal, for me, lies in allowing the interaction between character and plot to happen and being willing to ride any rapids that follow. And rapids can be wild—but they’re also exhilarating.
I have read book or seen movies where a character acts “out” of character and it really bothers me! I think it is cool (cause I am not the one trying write the story) when an author says the character wouldn’t let them do this or that . Can’t wait to find out where your adventure takes me:)
Sharon, “I know”—it drives me crazy, both in books and movies. Consistency and continuity are so important, both for character and plot.