  Short Stories
This week: Using Details to Build Characterization Edited by: Jay's debut novel is out now!  
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This issue:
Using Details to Build Characterization
How do we build good characters without spelling out their life stories?
What are some small, specific details that might entice you to read more about a character? |
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This past week, I've spent a lot of time thinking about all the little things that go into crafting good compelling characters in the limited space of a short story. Since we're generally only getting a narrow picture of a character's life, it can be hard to make an impact.
One of the first tricks I've found works well is to use small specific details instead of broad generalizations.
Tighten in and show a feature of someone-- this is where you can do a lot with relatively few words. Instead of explaining in generalizations about someone, use a behavior quirk, prop, piece of clothing, or other detail and allow your reader to paint in the rest of the details around it. Is the information unusual or contradictory: say, an oncologist who smokes -- creating unusual contrasts gives a depth to a character without requiring you to do much legwork. That being said, if you're playing with contrasts, make sure to keep them believable and small enough for the size of the story you're telling. (Remember back in "What Size is Your Story?" where we talked about how scenic and other details will chew up precious wordcount? Same thing here if you pick something too convoluted or not the right size for the amount of space you have.)
Character interactions-- the way your characters talk to one another, to their bosses or subordinates, their loved ones-- use dialogue and body language as reader shorthand that will help give a stronger picture of the overall story. Even your word choices in the dialogue itself will help the reader to paint a more vivid picture of the character in their mind while they read.
Character emotions-- use your point of view characters' perspectives to give a tighter view purely by showing their emotional responses-- whether shown directly in narration or reflected as a thought the character has-- either of these work well to help the reader to get a broad view of the world you're painting in a few short strokes.
What are some of the tricks that you use when you're building your characters?
Until next time,
Take care and Write on!
~jay |
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Feedback from "Story Lengths"
jdfrancis writes:
Good read Jay. Definitely cleared up an issue that has been bugging me for quite some time. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on Short Stories.
JD
Most welcome!
Quick-Quill  writes:
I have a port full of great short stories. Is the public interested in reading books of short stories? I'd love to put them in a collection and publish them.
Well, it likely won't make you a ton of money (if you spend any money on crafting a good cover, you may not break even) -- but if you have a body of interesting stories, you may want to try it. I would say that I don't know what "the public" wants, per se. I know that for a short story collection to really take off, usually it's a professional author publishing a retrospective, but it might be fun to take some time and lay out a really nice edition. It's one of those questions about what one deems as "success"-- if making it available to a wider audience is the goal, then, yes? If the goal is the New York Times bestseller list, that's another story.  |
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Short Stories: August 17, 2016 Issue [#7815]
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