Thursday, July 26, 2007

Characterisation and Plot

Dear Dead Beat,

I read your comments on characterisation with interest.Here's another question - Sometimes, especially toward the middle of a story, I find myself stopping, almost afraid to continue. I wonder why this is.

Typically, my story has started out strongly, I am really into the character, what he/she thinks, loves, likes, does, believes. I usually know how the story is going to end, it's just so hard to find the way to move my characters to that endpoint.

I wonder, is it possible for a writer to care too much about a character or characters,and therefore, allow his/her writing to become paralyzed? Do you have any theories about this? I'm writing short stories, as I have no novel ideas yet, or at least, nothing that could be spun into a novel-length treatment. I love short stories and I would like to succeed at it, but this problem has me stumped...

Gratefully yours,
stuck-in-the-middle(apologies to Stealer's Wheel)

Dear Stuck-in-the Middle,

You should know by now that Dead Beat has a theory about everything.

Is it possible for a writer to care too much about a character or characters? I guess it could be. I often hear this being said - especially in writing workshop situations. However, I sometimes think this is a misinterpretation of what is happening within the writing process. Plot is not as simple as it seems. When it becomes hard to move characters towards the end point it usually means that the plot has not emerged fully - the sequence of events driving the narrative from start to finish has faltered somewhere - i.e. the events are not entirely present, or the wrong events have presented themselves.

It may be that the attraction towards the characters has distracted the writer from the plot aspect of the story - that too much emphasis has been placed on character development. In this case the writer needs to acknowledge that enough work has been done on characterisation for now and that more work needs to be done on developing the narrative - on working out the plot.

Remember good old Chandler - when the plot flags, bring out a man with a gun.

Monday, July 23, 2007

When Is A Poem Not A Poem?


Dear Dead Beat, when is a poem not a poem?


Confused.




Dear Confused,




when it is a song by Leonar Cohen:




Stranger Song




It's true that all the men you knew were dealers


who said they were through with dealing


Every time you gave them shelter


I know that kind of man


It's hard to hold the hand of anyone


who is reaching for the sky just to surrender,


who is reaching for the sky just to surrender.




And then sweeping up the jokers that he left behind


you find he did not leave you very much


not even laughter


Like any dealer he was watching for the card


that is so high and wild he'll never need to deal another


He was just some Joseph looking for a manger


He was just some Joseph looking for a manger




And then leaning on your window sill


he'll say one day you caused his will


to weaken with your love and warmth and shelter


And then taking from his wallet an old schedule of trains, he'll say


I told you when I came I was a stranger


I told you when I came I was a stranger.




But now another stranger seems


to want you to ignore his dreams


as though they were the burden of some other


O you've seen that man before


his golden arm dispatching cards


but now it's rusted from the elbows to the finger


And he wants to trade the game he plays for shelter


Yes he wants to trade the game he knows for shelter.




Ah you hate to see another tired man


lay down his hand


like he was giving up the holy game of poker


And while he talks his dreams to sleep


you notice there's a highway


that is curling up like smoke above his shoulder.


It is curling just like smoke above his shoulder.




You tell him to come in sit down


but something makes you turn around


The door is open you can't close your shelter


You try the handle of the road


It opens do not be afraid


It's you my love, you who are the stranger


It's you my love, you who are the stranger.




Well, I've been waiting, I was sure


we'd meet between the trains we're waiting for


I think it's time to board another


Please understand, I never had a secret chart


to get me to the heart of this


or any other matter


When he talks like this you don't know what he's after


When he speaks like this, you don't know what he's after.




Let's meet tomorrow if you choose


upon the shore, beneath the bridge


that they are building on some endless river


Then he leaves the platform


for the sleeping car that's warm


You realize, he's only advertising one more shelter


And it comes to you, he never was a stranger


And you say ok the bridge or someplace later.




And then sweeping up the jokers that he left behind


you find he did not leave you very much not even laughter


Like any dealer he was watching for the card


that is so high and wild he'll never need to deal another


He was just some Joseph looking for a manger


He was just some Joseph looking for a manger




And then leaning on your window sill


he'll say one day you caused his will


to weaken with your love and warmth and shelter


And then taking from his wallet an old schedule of trains,


he'll say I told you when I came I was a stranger


I told you when I came I was a stranger.


.

Windows and Symbolism


Dear Dead Beat,


I have read several short stories for class recently. Three of the five assigned had a window in them. What is the literary significance of a window?


Thank you,

Gretchen


Dear Gretchen,


Dead Beat usually introduces windows into his fiction so that his characters can escape.


Beyond that Dead Beat can only surmise that (unless the readings were themed) this was mere coincidence. Not that there cannot be a literary significance to a window but three out of five seems too high a statistic.


But what of the literary significance of the 'window'? Of course it acts as a metaphor. Remember if mentioned once the 'window' is an image, if mentioned more than once, it becomes a symbol.


So metaphor and symbolism. So much depends on the intent of the particular story. Windows provide a glimpse out into another world or a glimpse in. They separate with fragility one world from another. On a higher level they may separate chronos from kairos.


Windows are so much more interesting and enticing than walls, but they need walls to support them, to make them necessary.
Add to Technorati Favorites