Posts Tagged ‘character development’
Happy Birthday Penelope Lively!
Happy Birthday to Penelope Lively! She’s a contemporary Booker Award and National Book Award-winning author. I love reading her work. She’s an expert in delving deep into character and in crafting beautifully written prose. To celebrate her special day, I chose an excerpt from The Photograph, one my favorites of her work. Although, I hope she celebrates with more festive affair than did her character, Glyn!
“It is Glyn’s birthday. He does not remember this until he notices the date on his newspaper. Birthdays never rated highly with Glyn. But he knows how old he is—sixty-two. This reminder of the relentless process is unwelcome. The passage of time is indeed his stock-in-trade, but when applied personally it is as though there were someone out there gleefully chuckling: You too—oh, dear me, yes, you too.
It is Saturday. He plans a weekend dealing with paperwork and ordering his thoughts on a projected article. This will be therapeutic. Glyn is in a curious state these days. He recognizes this, knows that he is not operating normally, that application requires an effort, that his mind wanders, that it is willful, that he cannot seem to control its direction. He has always been able to work; work has been the imperative, ever since he can remember. He has been able to switch into work mode under any circumstances. No, it is not like that. He stares for long minutes at the screen, he does not turn the pages of the book in his hand, or he reads without comprehension.
Kath. Her fault….” End of Excerpt, The Photograph by Penelope Lively
Join me next Wednesday for another Fodder for Fiction Author Birthday Bash!
Best to you,
Lisa Lipkind Leibow
Author of Smart Women’s Fiction
COLLECTIBLES AS QUIRK AND CATALYST
Do you collect something unusual? Is it your choice to collect it or have others thrust the collection upon you. My mother once bought a creamer shaped that looked like a purple cow, and everyone decided, “Oh! You like cows!” Now, due the generosity of friends and family, her house is filled to the brim with everything cow: magnets, pictures, coffee mugs, bath towels, mooing ice cream scoops, you name it-she’s got it.
In fiction, this kind of detail adds some quirky personality to a character. But what a character collects could be more than just a telling detail or character trait. Consider the following recount of the life of my personal collection of salt and pepper shakers, started when I was a little girl, it gave me something to search for as souvenirs and something special for my parents and friends to give as gifts.
Over the years, my collection of salt and pepper shakers grew. It included a zoo of animals, including trout, horses, monkeys, pigs, and even a kangaroo salt shaker whose Joey pepper shaker sat in her pouch. Toast and a toaster lined up next to replicas of landmarks like the Washington Monument, gardens of tiny, porcelain shakers of ears of corn, apples, and carrots. My collection was a sight to behold. I carried it with me from my childhood home, to dorm rooms, an apartment, and two houses. Finally, I displayed it on a mantle shelf hung above the kitchen sink. I loved admiring the shakers each day.
One day, I arrived home from work to the sound of running water. I walked into the kitchen to find that the shelf had fallen and hit the faucet turning it on, and worse, had left my cherished collection of salt and pepper shakers in shards all over the floor and counter. Ugh… I felt as if part of my childhood had been shattered along with my collection. I salvaged a few shakers. And, my mother – a very artistic and wonderful woman – took some of the broken pieces and glued them as a mosaic on a bulletin board frame, so I have the memory of my collection. However, I cannot bring myself to start anew.
If this were fiction, the build up and loss of this collection might be symbolic of the loss of innocence. Or, it might end up a catalyst to set the protagonist into action, sending him on a quest to find replacements, to seek revenge against whoever might have caused the shelf to fall, or to invent better wall anchors. It might also be an event that foreshadows disaster on a larger scale.
Use your imagination!
I’d love to hear about what you collect – be it stamps, beanie babies, antiques, or art! Share it here. It’s fodder for fiction.
Best to you,
Lisa Lipkind Leibow
Author of Smart Women’s Fiction
www.LLLeibow.com
FICTION AS FODDER FOR FICTION?
Is there a line from a movie you live by? Or a favorite television show you and your friends or spouse always quote? In my real life there are a few recurring imitations of fiction.
First, I often share that I can relate almost any situation to a Seinfeld episode—and will often take the opportunity to do so, quoting the Soup Nazi’s “No Soup for You,” or a random, “You’ve gotta see the baby!”
Another example of fiction creeping into real life happens at my house, if something goes wrong or someone makes a silly mistake, the exclamation most likely to ring through the air is a dead ringer for Homer Simpson’s “Doh!”
Finally, fiction influences my real life with a quote from the movie Manchurian Candidate. When my husband and I were dating back in the day, the Manchurian Candidate was re-released in theaters. We went to see it at the Uptown and in addition to the assassination plot haunting us so did this line, because it captures us perfectly: “There are two kinds of people in this world—those who walk into a room and turn the tv on, and those who walk into a room and turn the tv off. Unfortunately, they usually end up marrying each other.” And as a result, I borrow this line when I want to turn off the television.
You may think it silly for me to mention these things. What does it matter that fictional characters influence my vocabulary and reactions to the things around me? Well, this is one of the factors to consider when developing a fictional character. What favorite books, movies, and television shows will the character love so much that they permeate his or her life? Maybe he could quote Monte Python, break out into a Motown hit every time someone says something that reminds him of a lyric, or relate everything in life to a CSI episode.Maybe she quotes lines from Harry Potter, or changes her hairstyle to match the one in the latest Sandra Bullock movie. The possibilities are endless.
You see, fiction can be fodder for fiction!
Share some of your favorite “you-isms” taken from fiction in the comments. I’d love to hear them!
Until next time, best to you,
Lisa Lipkind Leibow