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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I’ve got a pile of books in my bedside basket. There’s heavy history, exciting travel, scrumptious food writing, chocolaty chick it. There’s also a book of literary essays, and another on animal life in an English countryside. A couple of travel magazines share space with some women’s glossies. Ah! What an interesting mix. I pick the book that suits the moment – if I’m bored, then its humorous prose to perk me up; if I’m feeling empty and devoid of my grey cells, then the volume on history helps me feel esoteric and intelligent. When I need something light and interesting, then I reach for the chick lit.

Good chick lit is like chocolate – delicious, creamy, chocolaty. And like a bar of good chocolate, a chick lit book gets over quickly, leaving behind a trail of creamy sweetness.

Chick lit simply means literature for and by chicks…err…I mean books mainly written by and for women. While reading up on what Chick lit means, I came across an interesting description in a website about chick lit – “The books range from having main characters in their early 20’s to their late 60’s. There is usually a personal, light, and humorous tone to the books. Sometimes they are written in first-person narrative; other time they are written from multiple viewpoints. The plots usually consist of women experiencing usual life issues, such as love, marriage, dating, relationships, friendships, roommates, corporate environments, weight issues, addiction, and much more.

So how does that differ from regular women’s fiction, you might be wondering? Well, it’s all in the tone. Chick lit is told in a more confiding, personal tone. It’s like having a best friend tell you about her life. Humor is a strong point in chick lit, too. Nearly every chick lit book I have read has had some type of humor in it. THAT is what really separates chick lit from regular women’s fiction.”

As you read on, the protagonist almost becomes like your friend – you get to know her warts and all. And many-a-times, you can find yourself empathizing with her too. She can be a few pounds overweight, maybe just like you. She might have a problem hitching the right guy – does that seem familiar? She might have a massive crush on the hunk next door – ah! Quite like you? She might also be independent, smart, sassy – well, that’s gotta be you.

Even the situations and scenarios might seem very familiar – a single woman in a city; a workaholic trapped in a boring job; a girl who shuns marriage…the list is endless. Fun-to-read and quick-to-complete, a pile of good chick lit is just what many of us need to race through a dull day or a languid weekend. And…I even like the way the books look, complete with their cute and funky book covers.

I just read Swati Kaushal’s ‘Piece of Cake’ and intend to lap up some of the books mentioned here: Chick Lit Books.

You might also like to hop over to: Candy Covered Books.

My Name is Red: Orhan Pamuk
Reading My Name is Red is akin to meditation. Orhan Pamuk’s brilliant reflective novel brings to mind Eco’s The Name of the Rose. Pamuk weaves a rich tapestry of intrigue, human drama and emotion, religion, romance, sex, and the miniaturist’s world and philosophy. The book is choc-a-bloc with reflections on art, its meaning and purpose, and the artist’s view of the world vis-à-vis that of the omniscient. The dense chapters require complete attention to detail, with the kind of abandonment that the average reader has little time for today.

The reader gets caught between reality and fantasy and Orhan Pamuk twirls the strands with a deft, artistic hand. My Name is Red is a murder mystery; it is also a treatise on the nature of love per se—love as spiritual and sexual gratification, love as art, and love as sin. Through these paradigms, we get a glimpse into the contemporary cultural and religious philosophy, religious and artistic repression and the conflict between man’s subordination to God and the newer perspective of placing him at the center of the universe. Blasphemy has different connotations in this stirring story plotted like an exquisite architectural piece.
The novel speaks in many voices, including those of a dog, a tree, a corpse, the color Red, and the miniaturists and murder suspects Olive, Stork, and Butterfly. By the end, the last three seem to blend into one another such that it is neither possible to differentiate among them, nor important to do so. That the murders have taken place and the motive has been described in painful detail is the only fact, and the density of information does not arouse the reader’s curiosity.

The Sultan has commissioned Enishte Effendi to create an illustrated book celebrating his rule and power. The style is not conventional, using the perspective technique blasphemous to fanatics of the faith. And so starts a sequel of murder and death, annihilation and conspiracy, fear and uncertainty. The murderer’s identity can be ascertained only through the illustrations and a rigorous discourse on what comprises true art. This is where the book turns into a meditation. The many voices used comprise stories within stories and each works as a window frame, leading the reader a little more into the heart of the events and the narrative.

Pamuk is brilliant; so is My Name is Red. But read it when you have ample time and leisure, for this is one book that cannot be read in starts while waiting for the bus.

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