"Story talent is primary, literary talent secondary but essential. This principal is absolute in film and television, and truer for stage and page than most playwrights and novelists wish to admit. Rare as story talent is, you must have some or you wouldn't be itching to write. Your task is to wring from it all possible creativity. Only by using everything and anything you know about the craft of starytelling can you make your talent forge story. For talent without craft is like fuel without an engine. It burns wildly but accomplishes nothing." - an excerpt from STORY by Robert McKee
"A Character is What He Does - Motive, The Past, Reputation, Stereotypes, Network, Habits and Patterns, Tastes and Preferences, Body" - list of headings from Orson Scott Card's first chapter of CHARACTERS AND VIEWPOINT
"Lots of color at the end probably reveals a last-minute complication that you haven't prepared the reader for." - from THE POCKET MUSE
"Animals are such agreeable friends - they ask no questions, they pass no criticisms." - George Eliot
"Too much of anything, however sweet, will always have the reverse effect." - Marshall McLuhan
"Jeepers, thought Henry miserably, the story's not only going around the neighborhood, it's getting worse than it really was. Next thing, people would be saying Ribsy bit the garbage man. He explained what had really happened, and then Mr. Grumbie went in and closed all the windows that faced the Huggins' house." - excerpt from HENRY AND RIBSY by Beverly Clemens
"Use definite, specific, concrete language" - taken from THE ELEMENTS OF STYLE by William Strunk and E. B. White
The reason for all of the tight control had to do with the special nature of the nature of the 4th floor. A constant flow of delivery trucks, including armored vehicles that always came to the Handling building every day, had been easily disguised by the dilapidation of this building and the variety of dispatched vehicles that appeared momentarily each day. Despite this, everyone who worked in Handling knew that the 4th floor was something "special".
Even though there was a vehicle at least every 12 minutes throughout the day from 6AM to 6PM, no driver had ever been to the Handling building 4th floor more than twice in a three month period. The schedule had to be maddening, but it had been arranged well. This was one of the few places that The ExChange had laid down well thought-out plans. The armored trucks only came eight times per day, but were heavily guarded with three usually large or well-built men or women. One carried the bag sandwiched between one person in front and one in back. The person in back held a loaded M16 resting in their arms. The man (this person was always a man) in the front soldiered a sawed-off shotgun.
The trick was that the armored trucks carried less all-total per day for all eight armored carriers than a specifically chosen two of the mass of others vehicles that made deliveries as well. Amidst the various cars and vans, the two delivery people would never know that their cargo was one of two extremely large consignments due to arrive on the 4th floor every day. These two deposits of cash were 98% of the company?s money flow for the day.
Only very good planning and highly secretive coding enabled things to flow so perfectly safe. In 46 years, only three attempts had been made to interfere with the Handling building. These had just been that: attempts. No survivors. The outside cameras and internal security system by itself enabled a troop of well-trained security people to flock to any one area in less than 45 seconds. Just as arranged.
Character Development
Character In Fiction
Plausible, complex characters are crucial to successful storytelling. You can develop them in several ways.
1. Concreteness. They have specific homes, possessions, medical histories, tastes in furniture, political opinions. Apart from creating verisimilitude, these concrete aspects of the characters should convey information about the story: does the hero smoke Marlboros because he's a rugged outdoorsman, or because that's the brand smoked by men of his social background, or just because you do?
2. Symbolic association. You can express a character's nature metaphorically through objects or settings (a rusty sword, an apple orchard in bloom, a violent thunderstorm). These may not be perfectly understandable to the reader at first (or to the writer!), but they seem subconsciously right. Symbolic associations can be consciously ``archetypal'' (see Northrop Frye), linking the character to similar characters in literature. Or you may use symbols in some private system which the reader may or may not consciously grasp. Characters' names can form symbolic associations, though this practice has become less popular in modern fiction except in comic or ironic writing.
3. Speech. The character's speech (both content and manner) helps to evoke personality: shy and reticent, aggressive and frank, coy, humorous. Both content and manner of speech should accurately reflect the character's social and ethnic background without stereotyping. If a character ``speaks prose,'' his or her background should justify that rather artificial manner. If a character is inarticulate, that in itself should convey something.
4. Behavior. From table manners to performance in hand-to-hand combat, each new example of behavior should be consistent with what we already know of the character, yet it should reveal some new aspect of personality. Behavior under different forms of stress should be especially revealing.
5. Motivation. The characters should have good and sufficient reasons for their actions, and should carry those actions out with plausible skills. If we don't believe characters would do what the author tells us they do, the story fails.
6. Change. Characters should respond to their experiences by changing--or by working hard to avoid changing. As they seek to carry out their agendas, run into conflicts, fail or succeed, and confront new problems, they will not stay the same people. If a character seems the same at the end of a story as at the beginning, the reader at least should be changed and be aware of whatever factors kept the character from growing and developing.
The Character Resume
One useful way to learn more about your characters is to fill out a resume for them--at least for the major characters. Such a resume might include the following information:
? Name:
? Address & Phone Number:
? Date & Place of Birth:
? Height/Weight/Physical Description:
? Citizenship/Ethnic Origin:
? Parents' Names & Occupations:
? Other Family Members:
? Spouse or Lover:
? Friends' Names & Occupations:
? Social Class:
? Education:
? Occupation/Employer:
? Social Class:
? Salary:
? Community Status:
? Job-Related Skills:
? Political Beliefs/Affiliations:
? Hobbies/Recreations:
? Personal Qualities (imagination, taste, etc.):
? Ambitions:
? Fears/Anxieties/Hangups:
? Intelligence:
? Sense of Humor:
? Most Painful Setback/Disappointment:
? Most Instructive/Meaningful Experience:
? Health/Physical Condition/Distinguishing Marks/Disabilities:
? Sexual Orientation/Experience/Values:
? Tastes in food, drink, art, music, literature, decor, clothing:
? Attitude toward Life:
? Attitude toward Death:
? Philosophy of Life (in a phrase):
You may not use all this information, and you may want to add categories of your own, but a resume certainly helps make your character come alive in your own mind. The resume can also give you helpful ideas on everything from explaining the character's motivation to conceiving dramatic incidents that demonstrate the character's personal traits. The resume could serve a useful purpose in your project bible to remind you of the countless details you need to keep straight.