Those characters, the basic building blocks of the entire novel, creating them, painting a picture of them with words, making them your own and putting them in the heads of the readers, it's all important. Without the brilliant description the character is lifeless, dormant, there's little point in them being there at all without creating a vivid picture of who they are in the readers mind.
I've been doing my damndest, there's actually been very few to draw in the first five chapters, and the way the book is written and the way things are going, I'll probably only have to do another ten or so in the closing six. We'll see though, as always, things can get out of hand and may need reigning in. One of my favourites so far is a uturistic vision of a great man, powerful and old, he is absolutely pivotal to the entire plot of the book. So with that in mind, he needed to stand out, really grab you.
This is one of a few paragraphs that helps draw him in your mind.
"Only his head and hands were visible and veins ridged both of them adding hints of purple and lilac to his temple area and the back of his palms. Keen and upright on his shoulders his neck was thinning but strong, holding his head straight, firm and without fault. His hands were steady, almost scaled with age they were leathery, hard to puncture or split yet soft to the touch. Gripping the podium strongly he had neither weakened nor lost any of his intensity with age. Eyes fired like burning furnaces in Dante’s deepest level of hell combined with pulsating forearms hidden by his robe and baron of hair through age, veins erupting from his skin’s surface and adding to his majestic distinction. He stood proudly, almost shouting at the small yet mesmerized crowd, in the vast hall that echoed with valor, he continued his speech."
As always let me know what you think, let me know of any tips you have for creating a human with words, extremely interested in this one.
Todays Aspiriers Mark goes to Kay Sexton of Writing Neuroses, I'm not entirely sure if she has previously been published, I've just come across her blog, but after some scanning it seems she is going through last revisions to her current novel (I'm in a rush tonight). Also there's an interesting selection of tips and other writing related reading so definitely worth a click. Best of luck to her with her revisions.
3 Comments
1 Kay Sexton wrote:
Thank you Richard! Published yes, but novel-published no. The revisions are now sitting on the agent's desk and the luck you've wished me is very welcome indeed.
As for writing characters, my experience tells me that you have to find them fascinating yourself, and if you do, you can generally make them fascinating to others - it's the characters we need to be there for plot purposes, but don't feel much for, that are the truly difficult ones to write. Good luck back to you ... may we both succeed!
2 Angela wrote:
Generally good. I have noticed you've used the phrase "with age" a lot. I don't think it's necessary to use so much repetition of that because you set it up quite well in the first few sentences. "His hands were steady, almost scaled with age" is good.
The next time you use it "he had neither weakened nor lost any of his intensity with age" - you don't need the with age. The sentence sounds stronger without it, and still carries the same meaning. Also "barren of hair through age" doesn't require the "through age" part.
(Hint: Also, it's "barren" not "baron" - I'm not trying to be critical if that's how it's coming across. It's constructive, I swear!)
If you repeat a phrase too often in the same section, the phrase starts to jump out more and more and it ends up detracting from what you've actually written. It makes sense even when you remove the later phrases - and otherwise it sounds really good!
I'm interested to know about the character!
3 Richard Galbraith wrote:
Hey Ange! thanks for the comment, very much appreciated, you're completely right on the repetitive front, thanks for the insight, some editing there and possibly in a few other places, hope you're well :)