Judith Cranswick's Blog - Posts Tagged "characterisation"
What Does Your Fiction Say About You?
Readers often identify the main protagonist in a novel with the author, especially if it is a series character.
I’m guilty of that myself. One of my favourite writers is Zoe Sharp. Her main character, ex-Special Forces Charlie Fox appears in the first novel Killer Instinct teaching self-defence but in the later novels she works as a bodyguard. Ever since I first met Zoe, as I read the novels I can’t help picturing Charlie as Zoe. The two have much in common. Charlie is a gun-toting maverick always jumping on her powerful motor bike. Amongst her hobbies Zoe cites “fast cars (and faster motorbikes) and target shooting.” I’m not sure about the maverick bit, but she and her husband did build their own house in the Lake District. At one of her talks, she mentioned that in the process she managed she cut off the top of her finger. When her husband rushed over she put out a hand to stop him with the command, ‘Let me see how the blood drips.’ The things people do for their art! If you’ve never read a Zoe Sharp novel try Roadkill and you’ll see what I mean about bikes!
It’s a well-known claim that the first novel of a great many writers is autobiographical. Up to a point, it’s easy to see why. The protagonist tends to react to situations in the same way that the author would. The character tends to have the same interests, to share similar experiences and use the same vocabulary. It’s inevitable. We write what we know.
Thinking about the main character in my novels, Sarah, in my first published novel All in the Mind and I, undoubtedly share a great deal; our strong faith for one. The things that are important to her are to me and although I was not a college principal, I was a head teacher with first-hand experience of difficult faculty and governor meetings. To a much lesser extent than Sarah, I too know the struggle of trying to make my mark in a male dominated environment. The problem that I faced was that my readers assumed it was considerably more autobiographical than it was. I was constantly having to explain that Nathan was nothing like my husband and that I was very happily married, I get on very well with my two brothers and that my parents had nothing in common with Sarah’s.
To a greater or lesser extent, all writers pepper their novels with things they have experienced. As you might expect, I have spent a holiday, more often than not as a coach tour, covering the same territory as in each of my Fiona Mason Mysteries. It’s impossible to write convincingly about areas I’ve never visited. The same goes for the Galapagos Islands and the Amazon Eco lodge in A Death too Far. However, it’s the little things that happen on those holidays that find their way into the novels that help to add a touch of realism. For example on our coach trip to the Rhine Valley that forms the setting for Blood in the Wine, like one of my characters, I did slip down the last two steps of the fire escape stairs and rick my ankle. As I was writing the book, I realised that the incident would be an excellent way of achieving something that I needed to happen later in the plot. Those of you who have read the book will know what I’m talking about. There is a danger of attempting to include all sorts of minor if interesting occurrences but, as all writers know, nothing can be included that is not relevant to the plot.
Writers are often castigated for the views held by their characters particularly those of the protagonist as though they express the views of the author her- or himself. However illogical, the instinct of the reader is marry the two. In these days of social media when there are pictures of the writer on their Facebook page, website and blog etc, one can see why. If a main character is the same sex and similar age, the reader tends to picture the author as they read. I do it myself.
As we write, we see the situation through the eyes of our character – that’s what makes good writing – but how much do we as writers identify with our creations? Are we conscious of it as we write? To what extent does it affect us as writers? It was while I was writing Watcher in the Shadows that one day when I was walking down the High Street in Old Town, I caught sight of myself in the plate-glass window of a shop I was passing. I was walking like my psychopathic Watcher! I glanced guiltily around but I don’t think anyone else had noticed!
If not like us, are our characters people we would like to be? Do they achieve things, have experiences we aspire to? More importantly, do we ever let our protagonist do something we would never do not because we haven’t the courage but because it would go against the things we hold dear?
If I’m honest, in my case, the answer is probably, no.
For an illustrated version of this post, see my website - www.judithcranswick.co.uk
I’m guilty of that myself. One of my favourite writers is Zoe Sharp. Her main character, ex-Special Forces Charlie Fox appears in the first novel Killer Instinct teaching self-defence but in the later novels she works as a bodyguard. Ever since I first met Zoe, as I read the novels I can’t help picturing Charlie as Zoe. The two have much in common. Charlie is a gun-toting maverick always jumping on her powerful motor bike. Amongst her hobbies Zoe cites “fast cars (and faster motorbikes) and target shooting.” I’m not sure about the maverick bit, but she and her husband did build their own house in the Lake District. At one of her talks, she mentioned that in the process she managed she cut off the top of her finger. When her husband rushed over she put out a hand to stop him with the command, ‘Let me see how the blood drips.’ The things people do for their art! If you’ve never read a Zoe Sharp novel try Roadkill and you’ll see what I mean about bikes!
It’s a well-known claim that the first novel of a great many writers is autobiographical. Up to a point, it’s easy to see why. The protagonist tends to react to situations in the same way that the author would. The character tends to have the same interests, to share similar experiences and use the same vocabulary. It’s inevitable. We write what we know.
Thinking about the main character in my novels, Sarah, in my first published novel All in the Mind and I, undoubtedly share a great deal; our strong faith for one. The things that are important to her are to me and although I was not a college principal, I was a head teacher with first-hand experience of difficult faculty and governor meetings. To a much lesser extent than Sarah, I too know the struggle of trying to make my mark in a male dominated environment. The problem that I faced was that my readers assumed it was considerably more autobiographical than it was. I was constantly having to explain that Nathan was nothing like my husband and that I was very happily married, I get on very well with my two brothers and that my parents had nothing in common with Sarah’s.
To a greater or lesser extent, all writers pepper their novels with things they have experienced. As you might expect, I have spent a holiday, more often than not as a coach tour, covering the same territory as in each of my Fiona Mason Mysteries. It’s impossible to write convincingly about areas I’ve never visited. The same goes for the Galapagos Islands and the Amazon Eco lodge in A Death too Far. However, it’s the little things that happen on those holidays that find their way into the novels that help to add a touch of realism. For example on our coach trip to the Rhine Valley that forms the setting for Blood in the Wine, like one of my characters, I did slip down the last two steps of the fire escape stairs and rick my ankle. As I was writing the book, I realised that the incident would be an excellent way of achieving something that I needed to happen later in the plot. Those of you who have read the book will know what I’m talking about. There is a danger of attempting to include all sorts of minor if interesting occurrences but, as all writers know, nothing can be included that is not relevant to the plot.
Writers are often castigated for the views held by their characters particularly those of the protagonist as though they express the views of the author her- or himself. However illogical, the instinct of the reader is marry the two. In these days of social media when there are pictures of the writer on their Facebook page, website and blog etc, one can see why. If a main character is the same sex and similar age, the reader tends to picture the author as they read. I do it myself.
As we write, we see the situation through the eyes of our character – that’s what makes good writing – but how much do we as writers identify with our creations? Are we conscious of it as we write? To what extent does it affect us as writers? It was while I was writing Watcher in the Shadows that one day when I was walking down the High Street in Old Town, I caught sight of myself in the plate-glass window of a shop I was passing. I was walking like my psychopathic Watcher! I glanced guiltily around but I don’t think anyone else had noticed!
If not like us, are our characters people we would like to be? Do they achieve things, have experiences we aspire to? More importantly, do we ever let our protagonist do something we would never do not because we haven’t the courage but because it would go against the things we hold dear?
If I’m honest, in my case, the answer is probably, no.
For an illustrated version of this post, see my website - www.judithcranswick.co.uk
