Characters Welcome
While stuck in bed with the flu, I had Bobby Goren to keep me company. Bobby, for those who don't know, is one of the characters on one of the multiple Law & Order shows. I can happily watch back-to-back Bobbys. Usually, that occurs on USA Network.
Anyway, around two a.m. last night, after the fifth time getting up from bed to rock a sick Demon Baby back to sleep, and despairing of ever sleeping again, USA had a commercial on. "Characters Welcome." Maybe you've seen it. Anyway, this commercial linked all their shows, so in one snippet Bobby Goren is talking to Jeff Goldblum (new Law & Order character), and then in the next scene the guy from Burn Notice is blowing something up, and then Monk comes along . . . and then the guys from Psych. And then the gal from In Plain Sight.
Now, from what I just wrote, you might think I know all those shows. But I don't. I know Bobby. That's it. The others, I know from commercials during my Law & Order reruns. But what dawned on me last night is how in every single case, what I need to know about a character to decide whether I want to watch one of those shows, whether those shows are interesting, is available to me in 30 seconds--the length of a commercial.
For example . . . Burn Notice. Spy . . . "burned" (meaning fired), left with no bank accounts, no identity, no work history, in Miami, hooking up with ex-girlfriend who likes to blow things up. He's determined to find out who "burned" him so he can get back to being a spy or at least having a life. His voice is sardonic. The music cool. The backdrop Miami. And Bruce Campbell as a secondary character to boot.
What I don't know, in the above, is his back story (though they sometimes show his wacky mother in commercials). How did he become a spy? Why? What's his motivation? I simply don't know.
What I DO know is the premise alone has to grab in 30 seconds. Which is something every single writer can learn from, I think.
For the most part, selling today . . . subtle isn't going to cut it. If you are writing about a detective, and there are some finely developed points about your detective . . . but in the end, he's basically like every other detective, with just your writing to hopefully hang your hat on, I don't think it flies. Think about it . . . there are hundreds of pitches for spy shows. How many about a "burned" spy--a fired spy stuck in limbo? ONE. The one on the air.
You can love or hate any of the shows mentioned. The point is really about nailing a memorable character. If you don't have that . . . .
And I don't think it can be memorable AFTER someone has spent 350 pages with them. What's in your pitch? Your synopsis? Memorable from the starting gate. I think that's what's needed.
I'm going to look at my works in progress today and decide, for sure . . . do I have memorable characters or not? What about in a 20-word version, not a long, involved backstory-laden version? What's the snap version?
Thoughts? Are your characters welcome?
28 comments:
You and I really have to stop doing this mind meld thing, okay?
Last night, while contemplating several of my partial manuscripts, was trying to figure out what might spin my propeller and I kept coming back to the police procedural I've been working on a bit for the last couple years without it going anywhere. And I thought... what if this isn't a police procedural, but have a true crime writer who's been following these types of cases thinking it's a serial killer at work. Then instead of plotting, I started thinking about this guy and I really thought, let's not make him the typical angsty character. And, maybe because it was Valentine's Day-- :)--I thought, we could introduce him with a really kinky sex scene and she's either his girl friend or he's a little older guy that hangs out around a college town and has short-term sexual relationships with college students, typically tattooed goth chicks, and then we can try to figure out why he's like that, and...
We'll see, but it took two things to get me interested again (aside from the sex scene) and that was to look at the story from a completely different angle, and to think about the character first.
I LOVE this post! Being in love with your characters, or hating them, or being very curious about them are all good things. If they can bring out strong emotions in you as the writer, they will more than likely do the same for the reader. And, yes, making them "unique" is vitally important. In my new WIP (women's fiction/humor murder mystery) one of the mc's is a gorgeous, female, red-headed, bi-sexual assistant DA. Have I got your interest?;-)
That's such a great way to look at them. I've seen those same commercials for Burn Notice and have been curious to watch the show because of the way he's portrayed. (even though he IS Vance from Hitch, ugh.)
Now I have one more thing to think about with my character development...
I veered off my WIP to work on a screenplay with a friend. But my former MC was a young wise cracking shrink in a small town in PA. Quite the leap of creative genius, eh?
I just got back from vacation and I downloaded The Unit and Gossip Girl onto my ipod, and watched 3 -4 episodes before bed, while Adam snored next to me and murmured, "Hide the light!" every so often. Both shows were amazing.
It's all about the characters for me, and I work hard on making the characters in my wip unique. I have to say that instead of enticing me to watch BURN NOTICE, the commercial makes me want to never watch it. When the woman member of the team says, "Nothing turns a woman on more than when things go book," I think, Sure, a PSYCHO woman.
I meant "when things go boom" not book.
Burn Notice OHMIGAWD ROCKS! I thought the actor looked really dorky and annoying, but it only took me two or three episodes to get past his dorkiness and completely fall in love with him. It's my favorite show now. It can't air fast enough. Those are the ONLY 4 hours of TV I've watched since Jan. 1.
(I swear this bias isn't coming from my username, LOL.)
I'm sorry to mention him, LOL, but even though I stopped reading horror about fifteen years ago, I often read the first pages of Stephen King's books for inspiration. He can draw a (practically) fully-fleshed, vivid character in one sentence. It's fantastic. And then he keeps going deeper!
Mark:
Ah yes, the Orloff-Terry Mind Meld.
And I totally agree . . . starting with the character first I think let's you know . . . Do I have something here? DOn't you sort of feel like if you had an awesome character, you could invent a mystery for him or her?
E
Debra:
Laura Caldwell has a new red-headed DA or private eye series starting with Mira. She's a very good writer . . . AND a redhead herself. You should check her out.
E
Melanie:
I don't have a ton of time for TV. Sorereuns allow me to watch a show like Law & Order, but it's immaterial what order I see them in, so if I go a whole month and see none . . . no big deal. My daughter got me into HOUSE. That, too . . . for me is all about the character.
I've seen one episode, or about a half an episode of Burn Notice. I do like his character. Good voiceover.
E
Robin:
I don't watch either of those shows . . . but I do believe that while it's easy to dismiss the "wasteland of TV" there are lessons in there, in the better shows. Most especially about characters right off the bat. In today's markets, they don't give viewers time to develop affection for shows. They have to love 'em in one to two episodes, max. So how do those shows do it? We writers have the SAME problem. Interest an editor in 10 pages or less.
E
Edie:
I adore that actress, though. So . . . actually, when I see her be all psycho like that, it amuses me. The same way I feel about the new LEVERAGE show. The appeal of a lot of them IS the psycho in the midst of the team. And actually, if I look at a lot of my darker stuff, or my Billie Quinn series, SHE'S the normal one and having to deal with all the mob psychos she happens to be related to.
E
Spy:
I don't read King because I don't read horror . . . but I will check him out from that perspective. I think anyone who does that . . . we all need to learn from.
E
I work to create characters that resonate with different parts of me, and hopefully with readers -- where they see a smidgen of themselves in one or two, and nothing of themselves in others. I like characters who come up with ideas and solutions that I never would - both on TV and in books. When I watch TV, as I do more often that I've ever admit, I love knowing and understanding the backstory that provides the motivation for the character. That's why I know it's imperative to weave it throughout a novel (without dumping) so that a reader "gets" a character, so that he or she is as real as can be.
For me I've had to add a little more self-doubt into an otherwise strong mc. I didn't realize she needed her weaknesses to be obvious to the reader even if they were something she denied. I believe vulnerability that we sometimes see as voyeurs to tv characters' worlds is what allows them into our hearts. And that's what I need for my book too.
Our Fast Food/Microwave Nation demands quick sketch, quick attention grabbing, short and sweet character bio.
Nicely put. And a very nice thing to think about - a commercial for the show. What would be in my movie/book trailer?
Amy:
I've had to work to put weaknesses in some of mine, too. Otherwise, my editor felt that if she had all the answers already, there'd be no suspense as to whether it all works out in the end.
E
Hi Sarah:
I think in commercial fiction, a lot of people are looking for that character they can grab onto. I like the idea of "casting" my book or picturing a commercial. Can I define it in that short arc?
E
I'm a L&O junkie, too, the original version and SVU. Whenever I watch, I never find myself saying, "Yeah, like that's ever gonna happen." They keep it real, and keep me interested.
Yet, as far as my characters go, I've been trying to add quirks just so I stay interested in writing with them, lol.
Talk about interesting...right now I'm reading this book, "The Roofer",(maybe you've heard of it), and WOW, those characters really keep me in the story. I keep saying to myself, "Man, these poor kids are really f'd up." No wonder I like hanging out with them. ;)
Kath:
LOL! I think I've heard of that book. And yeah . . . the kids are kind of screwed.
E
I love that commercial!
And I love people who are really characters. You know, the ones who just are. They don't have pretense, they don't hold back and they make you smile. Okay, most of them make you smile. There are a few characters I know that scare the hell out of me.
:)
I'd like to think my characters are memorable/welcome.
I never put it into this verbal kind of perspective the way you have, but for me, I guess it's sort of an instinctive thing, like maybe it's been built in all along. I dunno. I just think of somebody I'd really love to know more about and would think, "Oh wouldn't that be craptastic if so-and-so was this, and this one right here was that", and so on and so forth. The part about snagging your audience in 30 seconds or less though? So right on. Again, something that never occurred to me as important, but very much food for thought. I heart you.
Oh, and btw...yer book came. I almost peed myself with joy. Hope you're doing better. I don't know how in the hell you manage to come to the board with such positivity knowing that you've got 2 others with strep and poor Demon Akira suffering with flu, on TOP of you being ill. I send you all good vibes and cyber hugs.
Great Scrabble story in progress over at Mike's place. It might boost your confidence enough to face me.
Interesting story Stephen.
Hi Erica...I'm back, but with something unrelated to your post (sorry in advance about using your blog to communicate with you)
THere's a shout out for you on Book Roast Monday (today) fyi
Also, and this is the part where I'm sorry...but I had to do a copy and paste to make this easier..
Hi,
I wanted to ask you if you could take a moment and send me an email at my new email address:
chriseldin1@gmail.com
(You don’t have to write anything, I just want your email address for my new contact list, if that’s okay).
The hotmail server where I am has been locked up for over a week, and I can’t access my contact list. I’m sorry I’m posting this on your blog. And I’m also sorry this is a copy and paste letter. Will be back around….
Thanks!! And if you can’t, no worries!
Aimless:
My life is full of "characters." And I like it that way.
E
Realm:
If I wasn't positive, I'd crawl in a hole after the last two weeks.
;-)
Enjoy the book!!!!!
E
Stephen:
I would call you several names about now, but . . . I haven't had my coffee yet!
E
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