Ben’s answer to “?Just wanted to say I, as a Brazilian, love your portrayal of São Paulo in The Painting of Porcupin…” > Likes and Comments
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I haven't read this one yet but as an aspiring novelist whose characters stubbornly insist on being from places I've only visited briefly, I would love to know how you researched this work since a native of the place is saying you nailed it. Thanks!
I basically immersed myself in as much Brazilian media as I could -- books, movies, TV, music, art. I looked at maps, researched neighborhoods, "walked" down streets with Google Street View. I gathered facts and observations. You can create a lot of atmosphere in the setting with visual details -- objective things like, for example, the fact that helicopters are common in São Paulo. Immerse your characters in a sea of those details and don't worry about making the characters (in my case) "Brazilian." I steered clear of anything that felt like I was reporting or explaining or generalizing about Brazil, things I'm not qualified to do. I think it's a mistake to try to make your characters (again, in my case) "Brazilian": make them a person in a Brazilian landscape. People are just people, after all. So yeah. Pay attention to details. Good luck!
That makes sense. I was lucky enough to spend a day or so in each of the three places I'm trying to write about, so I should be able to do that (and I did use Street View too, great tip!). I've also been trying to find people on SM in these places who might be willing to provide some critique.
Cultural critique absolutely helps! I was lucky enough to have a couple Brazilian friends to look over my stuff -- they made some changes and kept me from embarrassing myself too much. :-)
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Shifty
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Jul 27, 2020 09:12AM
I haven't read this one yet but as an aspiring novelist whose characters stubbornly insist on being from places I've only visited briefly, I would love to know how you researched this work since a native of the place is saying you nailed it. Thanks!
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I basically immersed myself in as much Brazilian media as I could -- books, movies, TV, music, art. I looked at maps, researched neighborhoods, "walked" down streets with Google Street View. I gathered facts and observations. You can create a lot of atmosphere in the setting with visual details -- objective things like, for example, the fact that helicopters are common in São Paulo. Immerse your characters in a sea of those details and don't worry about making the characters (in my case) "Brazilian." I steered clear of anything that felt like I was reporting or explaining or generalizing about Brazil, things I'm not qualified to do. I think it's a mistake to try to make your characters (again, in my case) "Brazilian": make them a person in a Brazilian landscape. People are just people, after all. So yeah. Pay attention to details. Good luck!
That makes sense. I was lucky enough to spend a day or so in each of the three places I'm trying to write about, so I should be able to do that (and I did use Street View too, great tip!). I've also been trying to find people on SM in these places who might be willing to provide some critique.
Cultural critique absolutely helps! I was lucky enough to have a couple Brazilian friends to look over my stuff -- they made some changes and kept me from embarrassing myself too much. :-)
