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Post by Denithar on Nov 23, 2006 13:40:11 GMT -5
How can you integrate your friends into your characters, and is that a good idea?
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Post by Chris on Nov 28, 2006 12:02:33 GMT -5
While I wouldn't advise doing it all the time, making people close to you into characters into your story is a great idea, in my opinion, because it allows you to draw from the traits of real people to aid in character development. Using the people around you as the framework for your characters will lend a hand in keeping your characters plausible, in that they will say and do things just as real people do.
Now, the actual integration is rather difficult. I don't do it very often, so I don't know if I'm the best person to advise on this, but if I did ... I'd think about what it is that my friend says or does that makes me want him in my story (E.G. If I ever put my little brother in a story of mine, I'd want to do it because despite all of his physical disabilities, he is so zesty and unabashedly, randomly affectionate) and what about the way he/she says or does it sets her apart from everyone else (e.g. he'll thrash and bob around screaming "Yes!" when his favorite show comes on TV, and he'll suddenly stop in the middle of conversations to tell the person he's talking to that he loves them). Focusing on these things will keep you open to your aim and make you more able to exemplify what it is about your model that inspired you to put them into your story.
When you know just what you want to capture about the person and why, the next step is the integration by finding the right words to do so. I recommend that you remember that descriptions work best when the audience is shown, not told. Using actual words and actions of the person will be a great help here, and so will being as specific and true to life as you can. What I've found to be helpful is examining what impact the person's actions and words have on me and the people around him/her, and then trying to incorporate that to give some perspective (e.g. Whenever my brother stops to tell me he loves me, he's the embodiment of earnesty. He'll turn off the TV, he'll look me in the eye and just blurt it out, and it always makes me wonder if he knows something about his life (or lifespan, for that matter) that makes him want to constantly reassure the people around him about how he feels about them).
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Post by jollymcjollyson on Nov 30, 2006 20:53:30 GMT -5
How can you integrate your friends into your characters, and is that a good idea? Integrating ones friends, family, and self into his characters is a pretty common exercise, actually, but I hate to call anything like that "good" or "bad." Some writers, James Joyce for instance, draw their work almost entirely from their personal life in order to comment on the writing process, which is called "metafiction." Others, like Ernest Hemingway (whom I hate stylistically, but accept as an important writer), simply create characters that exhibit traits similar to themselves (see: Nick Adams). Personally I think integrating what you know into your writing will ultimately help you describe it.
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Post by Chris on Nov 30, 2006 21:05:36 GMT -5
So that's what metafiction means. lol. See, I heard Cy use the word, and I tried to figure out what it meant by looking at how it was used contextually. I figured it had something to do with the fourth wall, lol. I learned something new today. Exalt for you.
So, got any ideas in respect of the actual methodology of incorporating your friends, family, etc.?
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Post by jollymcjollyson on Nov 30, 2006 21:10:49 GMT -5
So, got any ideas in respect of the actual methodology of incorporating your friends, family, etc.? I don't have the time or the resources to go through the various examples from Joyce, but I can do one from my own writing. This beggar wasn't a friend or family member, just someone I saw one day. The image stuck with me, so I wrote it into the story (I am not Thomas, by the way): Legless beggar. Toothless, drooling, blackgaping hole wetting his beard. Incoherent babble-moaning sirened from his mouth, the halfworded sputterings of an age-made mute. Long, knotted, grey hair fell about the man’s misshapen face, and his head wobbling from side to side as he made his horrible, drycracking wail of a moan. Waking once again from its fitful, uneasy sleep, the vacuous anger returned, and bubbling, sour snake-venom stung Thomas’ mouth as he shakily digested the image, like beggar like sun. Disgust and horror lumped cancerous in his throat—malignant—and his intestines shriveled into dusty nausea. Legless, rolling himself around on a four-wheeled, plywood board, the beggar made his way up the car. Made his way toward Thomas, who, wishing beyond wanting, beyond even needing, to escape before the filth-ridden man could reach him, tried desperately to think about the order of stops before his own. Here’s the stop before mine. I’ll make it. Still-looking back towards the beggar, Thomas began sweating again, wringing his hands in nervous terror. *end snippet* So really I'd say memory can be a great tool, and it ultimately makes your characters' attributes more realistic. Grounding things in reality makes a story to which the reader can feel closer.
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Post by Chris on Nov 30, 2006 21:19:30 GMT -5
That's sort of what I was trying to say: be real, be true, be specific. Although you did it much more eloquently than I could have, I'll give you that.
By the way, I hope you're posting that story in the near future, because I've got to read it.
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Post by jollymcjollyson on Nov 30, 2006 21:20:58 GMT -5
That's sort of what I was trying to say: be real, be true, be specific. Although you did it much more eloquently than I could have, I'll give you that. By the way, I hope you're posting that story in the near future, because I've got to read it. It's already up in the fiction section.
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Post by Chris on Nov 30, 2006 21:23:45 GMT -5
Sweet. Expect a review in the near future.
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Post by jollymcjollyson on Nov 30, 2006 21:25:20 GMT -5
Sweet. Expect a review in the near future. To warn you, the second section still isn't finished, but you'll hopefully like the first section.
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Post by Chris on Nov 30, 2006 21:41:23 GMT -5
Like I said, I've read a little of it, and I do like what I've read so far. I do try not to make in-depth reviews unless the author completes it, or unless they decide to discontinue moving forward with the piece.
I'll get to reviewing your work tomorrow though, 'cause it's late, and I tend to take hours before finishing my reviews. Not that they're long, I just overthink them.
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Post by jollymcjollyson on Nov 30, 2006 21:42:30 GMT -5
Like I said, I've read a little of it, and I do like what I've read so far. I do try not to make in-depth reviews unless the author completes it, or unless they decide to discontinue moving forward with the piece. Yes, but ultimately other eyes help complete a piece, even in its inception.
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Post by jollymcjollyson on Dec 1, 2006 3:44:40 GMT -5
Like I said, I've read a little of it, and I do like what I've read so far. I do try not to make in-depth reviews unless the author completes it, or unless they decide to discontinue moving forward with the piece. I'll get to reviewing your work tomorrow though, 'cause it's late, and I tend to take hours before finishing my reviews. Not that they're long, I just overthink them. I will give you twenty dollars if you manage to overthink the story I have up.
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Post by Chris on Dec 1, 2006 18:11:33 GMT -5
Since you're the new guy, and it's Friday, hows about you suggest the new topic of discussion this week? We generally try to pick topics relating to application of different facets of writing.
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Post by jollymcjollyson on Dec 1, 2006 18:24:27 GMT -5
Does anyone have a preferred theme or symbol to which he often reverts? And what do you think of encoding symbolism in a work?
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Post by Denithar on Dec 7, 2006 19:19:08 GMT -5
I'm not exactly sure what you mean by symbolism. But no, I haven't yet written something with a hidden meaning. I just write for the fun of it. I do very much plan to do that someday, but not yet.
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