Tuesday, November 25, 2008

The Believability Factor

Took a jump from David Cranmer's blog over to one called Razored Zen yesterday. Razored Zen is the blog of Charles Gramlich and he's written some very interesting posts about writing. The one that caught my eye was about creating characters that aren't stereotypes. Here's the url http://charlesgramlich.blogspot.com/2008/11/creating-characters-part-2-stereotypes.html And don't miss the discussion in the comments because it's very interesting stuff.

This was a timely post for me because I've been working on a character that could easily become a cliche, but what I want to do with him might not be all that believable. Now, Charles thinks it's okay to step away from the stereotypes by giving them an odd characteristic that doesn't go with the image, which is an excellent idea, but how far can you take it and still be believable?

My character is a six foot tall black man who does construction work by day and is a cross dressing street walker by night. The scene that introduces him, finds my protag, a female cop, rescuing him from a beating. She's just bought a old factory building that she's converting into a home and she takes him there to get him off the street for the night. She wakes up to find him dressed as a man, hammering away in the downstairs of the factory building.

What I want is for this guy to be able to take on the world as a man, but when he's dressed as a woman, he's as helpless as a baby. Which makes me wonder if a person's personality can be split like that and still be believable. Or is it all in the writing and I have to be able to make this character believable within the confines of the story?

What about you? Do you have trouble making your characters believable outside of what a reader expects from a character? And let's face it, readers expect particular types of characters to behave in a certain fashion. My cross dresser could easily become a silly cliche of a transvestite, so I'll have to write a fine line to keep him from tipping over the edge on either side.

6 comments:

pattinase (abbott) said...

It's the hardest thing, isn't it? And to make them palatable too.

sandra seamans said...

Making characters live on the page is one of the hardest things for me. I can put myself into their minds to give them a voice, but actually drawing a picture of them with description drives me up the wall. I don't really "see" them as much as I hear them.

Barbara Martin said...

Sandra, maybe your character has a split personality, or he's so into role playing that he believes a woman is helpless in a dangerous situation.

For my characters I slowly introduce their quirks, especially the ones that aren't all human. I can imagine my characters by using a collage board that I learned from Jennifer Crusie. The idea is to find photographs of actors or famous people who have a slight appearance of what your character looks like or has mannerisms similar to.

For specific characters I toy around with birthdates and prepare an astrological chart for them to find out likes, dislikes, quirks which are all there to be gleaned from. For example, a Capricorn can be a workaholic, a person striving to reach the pinnacle of their profession and make money. They are focused on their goals, have a decided opinion on every matter and if another person has a different opinon, the Capricorn doesn't always listen by being stubborn. Just like the sea-goat image portrayed for the sign.

David Cranmer said...

Sandra, Making my characters believable is always a challenge. I have started stories with great hope and then begin to think it's been done before, a cliche. I try to reassure myself there is nothing new under the sun and Shakespeare probably had similar problems.

sandra seamans said...

That's a good idea about the pictures, Barbara. I usually have all their quirks, age, and how they dress fixed in my mind, but for some reason, the color of their hair or eyes and how tall or fat just doesn't seem to matter to me. I always have to make a conscious effort to include that sort of detail, maybe because those are the parts I skip when reading.

I did discover with my B&I stories that everyone had their own picture of what they looked like. And the funny thing was, I always saw them as comic book figures when I wrote. I know one gentleman who saw Irma in Spandex, while I saw her in jeans and T's. I wonder if by not being so detailed, it allows the reader to fill the characters in with their own imaginations, making them more personal?

sandra seamans said...

There are just so many personality types in the world, David, which makes it difficult to be totally original in some way. But still we try and hope we don't go overboard, making them too silly or contrived to be real. And you're right, Shakespeare probably had the same problem, too.