Last night during a meeting with a book club — fast becoming my favorite book-related activity — a woman asked me the following question: “What did you think of first in the book?”
I’d never thought of it before. The answer, of course, was clear and easy: the character. Always, always the character. We chatted some about Edward Stanton, the protagonist of 600 Hours of Edward, and the process of giving him a personality and a point of view. That was fun. Long after the meeting, though, the question stayed with me, and I wondered how other writers come to a new story. Though I’d never contemplated it before, it seemed plausible that some might first imagine a conflict or a setting, then begin populating that vision with the people who will carry it forth. I don’t read a lot of whodunits or suspense novels, but it seems to me that the crime or the menace is, in essence, a character unto itself. Viewed through that lens, it certainly makes sense that a writer might first flesh out those aspects of a story, at least in his/her own mind, before moving on to the human elements.
My pleasure reading is mostly fiction with a literary bent, and thus character tends to drive most of the narrative. The question of what constitutes literary fiction can be difficult to answer (though my friend Richard Wheeler does an excellent job of it here). For purposes of casual conversation, let’s just say that it emphasizes character more than plot. That being the case, it’s rather difficult to imagine a literary writer — an Ivan Doig or a Mark Spragg — not spending the bulk of his effort on giving those characters a richness and depth not necessarily demanded by genre fiction. (A quick aside: In plenty of literary fiction, the landscape is the star of the story, and the deep characterization occurs there.)
And, of course, the stories that speak to both constituencies — those who want a literary experience and a crackling good read — are often the most satisfying. I find myself nodding vigorously in agreement with Michael Chabon, an undeniably literary writer who has been direct in his desire to see more genre elements in serious fiction.
From the interview:
Q: Where did this bias against work created for a popular audience come from?
A: In all fairness, it came from the fact that the vast preponderance of art created for a mass audience is crap. It’s impossible to ignore that. But the vast preponderance of work written as literary art is high-toned crap. The proportion may settle down in the neighborhood of 90/10 — Sturgeon’s Law said that 90% of everything is crud.
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August 4, 2010 at 10:34 am
Ty
Creggers = genius (mnidwd)
August 4, 2010 at 1:24 pm
Jim Thomsen
My genre novel-in-progress started with two characters and the inherent tension between them (newsroom colleagues who dated years ago, broke up badly, and now share an open animosity even as they can’t quite seem to leave the other alone). I knew I wanted to write a mystery, and the story arc came along slowly in their wake. And initially I wanted to set the novel in my backyard (Kitsap County, Washington) but found that a fictional Puget Sound amalgam of several waterfront towns I’ve lived in over the years started to emerge organically out of my imagination. I’m walking a fine line, and a difficult one, in trying to write a genre book that puts character at least a little bit ahead of plot. It’s damned hard, but that’s the story that seems to want to be written.
August 4, 2010 at 2:14 pm
N. R. Williams
I began writing to heal my personal wounds and found that I could explore different conflicts that all of us face with friends, family, co-workers and acquaintances. My original story developed as I wrote into something unexpected. I write fantasy because I love that genre, but it is definitely character driven.
Nancy
N. R. Williams, fantasy author
August 4, 2010 at 2:21 pm
craiglancaster
Thanks for the perspectives, Jim and Nancy. The more I thought about this subject, the more I realized that it’s hard to put any kind of writing into a box that says “This Is How it Happens.” Each new story is its own adventure.
August 5, 2010 at 10:49 am
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