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This Short Stories Newsletter is dedicated to readers and writers of short fiction and to those who want to know more about the art of telling big stories in small spaces.
This month:
Context Matters
(Yes, even the context in which you read this sentence.) Use context and contrast to improve your character construction. |
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So, I turned thirty this year, but I did it the best way that I could-- at a conference full of creatives and artists called Spectrum Fantastic Art Live. I went with the intention of attending as many classes and talks as I could, and ended up attending a short workshop with Iain McCaig about character creation. The theme of the workshop was to work off of the "Good" and "Evil" archetypes that we've all built up in our minds-- to find ways to twist characters so that the good ones have an edge and the bad ones have something that makes them compelling. Easy enough, right?
We opened the class with this joke TV Guide entry that's made the rounds on lots of image-sharing sites:
Transported to a surreal landscape, a young girl kills the first person she meets, and then teams up with three strangers to kill again.
The film in question? The Wizard of Oz, of course. This description of the movie is an exercise in context, and not dissimilar to some longer works like Gregory Maguire's Wicked: the best villains are the ones we can see in either role, protagonist or antagonist, depending entirely on the context in which they're presented. Another old classic which benefits from the use of context as a framework is Frankenstein, where when one understands that the monster is a victim of the circumstances in which he's constructed, he becomes a tragic and sympathetic figure with whom the audience is meant to relate, despite the grotesqueries of his existence.
We all came up with more examples, and of course a few juicy bits of Star Wars came up, because it's a universe this creator is particularly fluent in, and the Jedi versus Sith context of the stories is such a key component with which most of the audience really resonates -- at least for me, as a longtime fan, I know that I enjoy the stories within this universe best when there are lots of shades of grey.
This led into the next major discussion point, which is that contrast is what makes a character appealing-- contextual alternate information, which makes the reader want to delve deeper. In the case of the class, we were also including drawing and illustration as part of that contrast, but for concept artists, this goes hand-in-hand with writing because the intent is to convey the character's story through a look-- a message that defines where that character has been and what they've brought back with them. He described some characters that he developed in speculation for a highly-anticipated video game as part of this process-- a team of "good guys (and a girl)", sort of a standard build with team video games-- and how each member's design was meant to subvert the audience's expectations as to what kind of character a hero might be meant to be. (The game design team ended up rolling with the female character as the lead and sort of abandoned the "team" concept, but the ideas were useful.)
Now, exactly what might these be, these contrasts which enhance an audience's compassion for the characters in a story by giving them relationships of context? Illustration being that art of 1000 words, what might you be able to discern from a description of a character's habits and attributes? Is she or he a hardened loner cursed to a life of inward-facing rage as a result of some ancient trauma? Give this character something which makes the pain of their existence a part of your reader's experience by infusing some reality. Maybe this character's only friend is a tiny pet, of whom they are quite protective and caring? Maybe this character donates all of their earnings above the cost of living to charity, as penance for some earlier sin? Find something which humanizes the brutality, and you'll have either a really sympathetic villain, or a really intriguing hero.
Additionally, regarding villains: one of the other pieces of advice that we got (somewhere between poignant and tongue-in-cheek, considering the source) summed up some of the basic "icons of evil" in visualization: things like pointy details, sharp teeth, bad teeth, other things that remind you of sharks, and so on... these details are all well and good, but they're generally at least partially cliched when not balanced by other factors. Granted, using these features can help add some edge back into, say, a neutral or hero character, but what works best to create difficult villains is to have "details which are not quite right." One of the in-class exercises we did, as a quick visualization, was to turn to the person seated next to each of us, and smile naturally. After a few seconds, he instructed us to open our eyes really wide. The effect was immediate; most of us recoiled in shock and grimaces -- because that's not how regular people smile. It's how characters like Hannibal and Dexter, or the Joker, and so on, smile-- smiles that are more or less completely devoid of the pleasant meaning of a friendly smile because the eyes aren't part of the smile. Where something is not quite right.
All in all, I left the workshop with a lot more understanding of my own characters, too-- and there's nothing better than the feeling of having a better understanding of what you're trying to do as an author when it feels like you're onto something, it's like having the keys to the ride you want.
Food for thought!
Until next month,
Take care and Write on!
~jay
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Feedback from "Worth It?"
brom21 writes:
I am enlightened by your words. You brought to my attention that the concept of a better or outstanding written work is relative and subjective. If we are good writers where does that merit come from? Does it come from comparison to other writers? The experienced critic? The reader’s opinion or our own reflection? I tend to react and judge my work by the readers’ opinion personally and I think that is the case with most writers. But, like Stephen King said in an interview, “Sometimes you have to forget the critics.” (Slightly paraphrased.) Words of wisdom. Thanks for the letter!
 Well, reader opinions are an important component. I definitely adhere to the rule of thumb that if several different sources mention the same problem, it's probably an actual problem, but a single dissent or two is usually a matter of taste.
Elfin Dragon-finally published writes:
writing short stories has definitely helped me become far more creative than I thought I ever could. Especially with the variety of contests in WDC for short stories are so varied. When I first joined I was mainly sticking to fantasy, but now if I can think of a beginning to a story for a contest, I jump in and see if I can finish the story for that contest, no matter what the genre. It's definitely making more comfortable as a writer.
 that's awesome, Elfindragon! It's great to branch out and see what all we are capable of.
Happy May 2024!  writes:
Great newsletter, Jay...and something we all need to think about...a lot! Thanks for pointing it out. 
 I do what I can.
Quick-Quill  writes:
Writing.com taught me the art of writing the short story. I love it and hate it. I go into detail! Word count limits are like a rope choking the life out of my writing. At least that's what I thought. Learning the craft of the short story will, or I might say "in all probability' make you a better writer. Keep at it. Once you become good at the short story, then take the class on expanding that to a novel. I did, twice.
 Word counts are, in my view, a good exercise in brevity, but sometimes they just don't click with the story that you want to tell. I think a good rule of thumb for this is to write the story the length that it wants to be, then attempt to refine it to the word count called for in the contest. Generally speaking, I think that the closer one gets to the upper word limit of the contest they've entered, the better they've done at using the provided/suggested length, unless the story is sufficiently well-told in a smaller size, in which case it should still be written as tightly as it can be. The one unifying idea there is to be sure that you're making every word pull its weight.
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Short Stories: May 28, 2014 Issue [#6343]
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