Reading & Writing Lounge

Peopling the Yarn: Characterization in Fiction

A Look at Life
During a session of our creative writing class, the teacher asked students to take a walk in the university campus and observe. Hesitantly, reluctantly, we did. Took a walk, that is, and observed people. We saw students of the Fine Arts faculty chiseling away at stone busts, their eyes focused on the shape before them, their fingers moving with an energy of their own; a man sat on the garden wall picking his nose with apparently no distraction to pull the digging finger away; a couple engrossed in a love fight by the pond that buzzed with afternoon flies. We watched how the boy held on to the girl’s hand as she tried to strike that eternal miffed-lover-pose in that dense afternoon warmth. By the end of our walk, we had a wealth of notes on people’s mannerisms, gait, smells and odors, behavior, the works.
We compared notes in class and tried to give a story to each character we had observed; what we had before us were real people heightened and made exciting with the help of our imagination.

Real and Imaginary
A fictional character is some amount of reality combined with a strong dash of invention. Think of Huckleberry Finn or the comic book character Tintin, or on a totally different plane, the people in Gabriel Garcia Marquez’ books. The fantastic merges with the real in a stimulating narrative of people, places, and events. We remember the characters long after we put aside the book.
So for starters, as we create characters for our books, we have to observe people, make notes, and then begin to play around. Those people we watch on the road, in the café, at the bus depot, in class, or at the quarry are grist for our stories. They come alive as characters, dynamic, organic, vibrant, our own creation from the life we see around.

A Matter of Choice
So what’s the hitch? Selection. How do we select those characteristics that help us create convincing people? While real is important, what creates great characters is the selection of those traits that can be made dramatic for effect and relevance. The most mundane trait can be heightened to make it dramatic, but it should have the potential for drama. A harmless quirk could be the gateway to a wonderful and fantastic character. Imagine a man who cannot stop tweaking his moustache or a woman who believes only fat men. The idiosyncrasy opens up a window, provides a clue to creating the persona but cannot be used as a support system for the entire character. The crux is judicious selection.
What’s at stake in this selection is the character’s credibility. The quirk should fit the structure of the character, not jar as a loose overhanging piece that cannot be accounted for. Imagine Anna Karenina with a twitch that renders her comic and undignified in bits and parts of the novel. Doesn’t fit, does it?
Credibility could make or mar a character, so we have to keep an eye on that detail that fits the rest of the picture and takes it ahead. Detail is the key, and observation never harmed any writer.

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