My Guest this week is going to touch upon something we find in all the books we read; a factor that can often make or break a novel. Intrigued? Read on... Ladies and Gentlemen...
Joseph Lewis
The Importance
of Character Building
This past
weekend as Kim and the girls and I were cleaning the house, we had the TV on as
background noise. Every so often, I would take a break and watch what happened
to be on at the moment. The station was tuned to one of the movie channels that
aired the movie, Last Action Hero,
billed as a spoof of action-adventure movies. It starred Arnold Schwarzenegger
and debuted back in 1993. I call them
action-adventure, while my wife refers to them as shoot-em-ups, and of course,
I remember watching it, only once, I think.
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What I didn’t
like about it was the cardboard-type characters. Yes, I understand it was a
spoof. I get that. But I don’t like movies with characters who don’t feel: or
laugh, or cry, or do anything that I can “connect” with. To me, a character has
to connect to the viewer in some way. Has to. There has to be more than bullets
flying and bombs bursting and cars crashing. Has to be.
Contrast that
with the movie, Stand By Me, a Rob
Reiner film based on the Stephen King novella, The Body. No real horror, typical of a King novel. No real bullets
flying, though there was one gunshot at a garbage can. But the movie, and the
book, had so much more. Honestly, who could not watch that movie and not feel
for Chris or Gordy? I remember to this day even as I write this, the audible
gasp as the movie shifted to present day and talked about what became of Chris.
The movie had characters you cared about, felt with, wept with. The characters,
on some level, perhaps many levels, were real
to the movie viewer, and real to the
reader of the novella.
I think what
sets apart good writing from poor writing is character development. Beyond the
physical or emotional description the author presents to the reader, the writer
makes the reader care about the character. A good and apt writer makes the
reader root for a character or despise a character. The reader is able to
identify with feelings and with conversations, and sometimes with word choices
from the character.
In Lord Of The Flies, tell me you didn’t
root for Ralph. Tell me you didn’t , at times, get annoyed with Piggy, or feel
sorry for Simon. Tell me you didn’t despise Jack. That’s because William
Golding fleshed out his characters and made them real to the reader. They weren’t cardboard cutouts without feelings,
without emotions, and these characters evoked strong feelings in the reader,
and subsequently in the viewer when the book came to life on screen.
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I post to my
author page on Facebook regularly, and I recently wrote: If the
writer isn't passionate, the reader certainly won't be either. I believe
that, but I believe it even more when it comes to characters and character
development. A reviewer of the third book in my trilogy, Splintered Lives, wrote, “It was impossible to read these books and
not become emotionally connected to the boys. I cried with them, laughed with
them, felt their fear and their pain.” That is one of my favorite reviews
because as a writer, I strive to make a connection between the words on the
paper and the reader who reads them.
Honestly, shut
your eyes and think of any book you really enjoyed. Now, I ask you to picture
one character from that book. I’m willing to bet you can see that character in your mind’s eye. I’m willing to bet you can hear that character speak. I’m willing to
bet that there are times when, not reading that book, you think of that
character as you would a friend. That, in all its glory, is character
development at its finest. That is quality writing. And I’m willing to bet
whoever authored that book, you find yourself seeking other titles by him or
her. That, ultimately, is a great review: the reader coming back for more.
For a
thriller-mystery writer like me, the challenge can be viewed as even greater,
because a thriller needs to do just that: thrill the reader, and the mystery
has to present itself to the reader in such a way that the reader tries to
guess what is coming next, be surprised in a good way if it doesn’t happen, and
perhaps be shocked with the occurring action. But at the heart of it is the character.
In my own Lives
Trilogy, there are two characters that my readers say are their favorites:
George Tokay, a Navajo boy from the Navajo Reservation in Arizona, and Brett
McGovern, an athletic kid from Indianapolis. Both boys “grow up” before the reader’s
eyes from age twelve to age fourteen. Both are faced with a series of
challenges and the reader is left to wonder whether or not either will survive
the next page. For every setback, there is a success. For every tear, there is
a smile, and for every heartache, there is joy. But I had to create both boys
in such a way that the reader cares
about what happens to them. The reader has to walk alongside them as they
encounter struggles and pain and sorrow, as well as joy and happiness. It
didn’t come easy for me, but in the end, the reader, like you, find pleasure in
the reading. And in the end, that is character development.
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Bio:
Joseph Lewis has
published four books so far: TakingLives, (August 2014) a prequel to the Lives Trilogy; Stolen Lives, (November 2015) Book One of the Lives Trilogy; Shattered Lives, (March 2015); and Splintered Lives, Book Three of the
Lives Trilogy (November 2015), all in the thriller/mystery genre, and each has
garnered outstanding reviews.
Previously, Lewis published a short story, Dusty And Me (1989). He
writes a weekly inspirational blog, Simple
Thoughts From A Complicated Mind, Sort Of located at http://jrlewis.blogspot.com .
He can be found
on Twitter at @jrlewisauthor and on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/Joseph.Lewis.Author.
His Amazon author page is http://www.amazon.com/Joseph-Lewis/e/B01FWB9AOI/
Lewis has been
in education for 39 years as a teacher, coach, counselor and
administrator. He is currently a high
school principal and resides in Virginia with his wife, Kim, of 23 years, along
with his daughters, Hannah and Emily.
His son, Wil, is deceased.
Thanks for an insightful post, Joseph. I'm sure many will be bookmarking this for future reference.
Eric @ www.ericjgates.com
