Mercy! Mercy! That Dang Nabed PERCY!

More Than a Stuffed Shirt (Blouse)

A character is more than a stuffed Blouse (Shirt)

An interesting thing about a drama is that you “create” a character and an actor becomes that character representing your creation to the audience. There is however much more to it that that….

When a writer “births” a character, like a child it goes through stages….Infancy, young adulthood and maturity. A character has to grow into themselves and not be thrown into the frey too soon. I have read novels where a character was born, and matured as the story progressed and I can almost feel it….(Its like a ten year old being handed an AK in Africa) and it reads like the author is not sure about the identity of who this character is because he/she isn’t. The point is don’t launch a character before the fully emerge and reveal themselves.

There are a number of exercises recommended by playwrights for doing this and they range from doing sample writings outside the context of the play the characters will be appearing in. This is a good idea. Here at WDC however the writer has an added advantage….There are numerous contests where an emerging character can be launched before using them for record. I use a sensual prose contest to test fire my characters and really get a sense for who they are. As I use them from one vignette to the next I can tell by the views if the general readership is drawn to them or yawns. Sometimes they eclipse the main character and that can be both wonderful and disconcerting.

If you are a controlling person it is disconcerting because you have already made up your mind where the literary endeavor is headed and don’t want the hassle of an unruly actor….I mean think about it when this happens. The Central Character gets upstaged and the supporting character gains in prominence…..This throws things wacky because suddenly the story and the very structure of the play is changing before your very eyes. Not only does the emergence of a strong and compelling personality alter the playing field but often the character wants to tell the writer how to coach. Disconcerting is too mild a term.

I have a character, Manny Hardin who has stolen the show from Frank and Beth in my series the Car Builder and Real Estate Agent. I mean he came along in a bit role and began to gain momentum and soon overtook the back story of my flash fiction, sensual prose, vignettes. Whenever I post I get feed back on him and no two are the same….Readers love him, hate him, find him disgusting, root for him, malign him consider him exploitive of women or find him some kind of compelling enigma. He took me in new and unexpected directions when I started giving him a freer reign. This has happened to me before in my novels….I start off with someone I think is the central character and somebody else comes along and steals the show. I love it when this happens because it reveals to me the natural course of the story that I simply wasn’t aware of to begin with. I lose control of my work and something unexpected and wonderful takes place that I never anticipated happening. Yes it creates problems but the revelation it brings with it is a real high.

So a character carries the action, tells the playwright the story and shows the playwright the natural direction in which the drama is inclined to go. As a writer you have to be ready when this begins to happen and rather than let it frustrate you….have it inspire you.

If this happens in a first draft you have to take counsel with yourself and go back to the drawing board and start afresh and waste some of all those wonderful words you labored so hard and long over. Don’t go on with some half baked uninspired story line when you discover that something better is out there. And don’t get mad at a character when he/she shows you how badly you missed the boat to begin with….just write a new version, probably from scratch without trying to cut and past all that old material that has been overtaken by events.