This installment is a fake.\u00a0 What I want to talk about isn\u2019t really part of world-building but rather different aspects of writing characters.\u00a0 But since I\u2019m too lazy to start another series of posts for non-world-building writing considerations I\u2019ll put them here.\u00a0 And in fact, I might even do that with other posts on other aspects of writing because I am inherently messy and undisciplined.<\/p>\n
So, aspects of characterization in science fiction!<\/p>\n
Over the years I have noticed that characters in science fiction have become more detailed.\u00a0 The earlier writers in the 1930s and 1940s often produced stories that were more about some aspect of science driving a plot that didn\u2019t require well rounded human characters.\u00a0 Even the protagonist might be something of a cardboard cutout.\u00a0 Sometimes this was intentional because the author didn\u2019t care about the characters.\u00a0 They were merely a means to an end.\u00a0 They just had to move the plot along to the payoff.<\/p>\n
And sometimes this flatness was more a consequence of the extremely limited abilities of the authors to portray normal human speech and actions.\u00a0 They weren\u2019t good writers.<\/p>\n
But the opposite problem is now the case.\u00a0 There are \u201cscience fiction\u201d authors who write \u201cliterary\u201d stories that are extremely character driven and psychologically grounded and lavish enormous attention to the interactions of these characters but which do not produce any interesting plot.\u00a0 So, if your story takes place in a dystopic or utopic future but all your characters do is discuss their romantic problems, I have a hard time thinking of that as science fiction.<\/p>\n
It seems to me that a happy medium is what\u2019s needed.\u00a0 But that is easier said than done.<\/p>\n
In my latest story-writing, \u201cThe Sniper,\u201d most of the text is taken up with the plot.\u00a0 There is dialog and interaction and character development but I wouldn\u2019t say it is sufficient.\u00a0 There are several relationships between the characters that need further development.\u00a0 But the tricky part is fitting the required dialog into the storyline.\u00a0 It\u2019s almost as if I\u2019ll need to have two of the characters pinned down together during a battle for them to have the time to say what\u2019s needed.\u00a0 I remember in Heinlein\u2019s \u201cBeyond This Horizon\u201d there was some such scene that was pivotal for the exposition of the two major characters\u2019 points of view and the resolution of the plot.\u00a0 The hard part is making it seem spontaneous and not contrived.\u00a0 Apparently, there is some art to this writing thing.<\/p>\n
It’s funny.\u00a0 Over the years I have developed a taste for some literary fiction.\u00a0 Specifically, I enjoy well-written short stories.\u00a0 What I have been toying with is the idea of embedding one or more literary scenes in an otherwise non-literary science fiction story.\u00a0 There could be a minor scene going on and two characters, possibly neither one of them very important to the plot become involved in a discussion or an activity that has only incidental importance to the plot but which is inherently meaningful and aesthetically interesting.\u00a0 Of course, that presupposes that I can come up with something that displays those qualities.<\/p>\n
With respect to characterization, I intend to go back into my sniper novel and add more dialog to some of the secondary plot lines.\u00a0 I need to work on my female characters.\u00a0 I may even try to get Camera Girl\u2019s advice on these.\u00a0 She is, after all, a girl, so she may have valuable recommendations.\u00a0 But I fear she may make her characters too ruthless.\u00a0 Like all barbarians she is inherently merciless<\/p>\n
And I still have to decide what I will do with my AI character.\u00a0 If her creator dies, I\u2019m not sure whether I want her to survive or not.\u00a0 I had decided that she would suicide.\u00a0 But I\u2019m growing attached to her.\u00a0 And I see her value in future stories.\u00a0 Perhaps death of a parent can be a maturing experience.\u00a0 She is rather childlike.<\/p>\n
In conclusion, the correct amount of characterization in a story is an indication of the balanced writer.\u00a0 Not so much that the plot bogs down nor so little that you don\u2019t care what happens to the characters.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This installment is a fake.\u00a0 What I want to talk about isn\u2019t really part of world-building but rather different aspects of writing characters.\u00a0 But since<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[241,1289,818,1263,237,4,242],"tags":[76,1290,38,1355,265],"class_list":["post-30466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-reviews","category-fiction-by-me","category-ocf","category-stuff-that-personally-interests-me-miscellaneous","category-reviews","category-sff","category-sff-book-reviews","tag-fiction-writing","tag-my-fiction","tag-review","tag-reviews","tag-science-fiction"],"yoast_head":"\n