Wednesday 27 June 2012

Unfortunately her breasts were precisely at eye level…

Recently, on twitter #editortips, the comment was made that in a character description we don’t always need exact details. Tall is enough, the measurement to the inch isn’t necessary. Which some people disagreed with, which got me thinking…

At a workshop I recently attended we were discussing ‘What makes a hero?’, and of course all the adjectives you would expect were listed; tall, dark, handsome, rich, kind…..and then Kate Walker pointed out that it is how he is seen through the heroine’s eyes that matters, that is what makes him a hero.

Tall to one person is small to another. If our heroine has to look up to meet his gaze we can take it she thinks of him as tall, if we read ‘unfortunately her breasts were precisely at eye level, which left him with somewhat of a quandary..’ then either he’s vertically challenged, or she’s a very tall lady. After all, there is such a thing as too tall, and if you say your hero is specifically 6’ 7”, because you as the writer are 6’ then fine, but some unfortunate reader who is 4’ 8” will probably shrink back in horror and not think of him as hero material at all (you do the logistics!).

So yes, as Adrien (@smoulderingsea) pointed out, we don’t need all the details. We need just enough and we can leave the rest to the reader’s imagination. It is the other characters, and the reader, who have an image in their own mind of what tall, dark, handsome means, and as the writer surely we have to let go of our strict definition, how we see the characters, and let the reader create in their own mind the complete character. Okay, shock horror, they may completely redesign our character, but once he goes out there he isn’t ours any more. He belongs to the reader.

And at the end of the day it is the emotions, in any story, that help define how much we like the character. 

How many times have you watched a film where initially you didn’t particularly like the actor (Daniel Craig when he first played 007 had lots of bad press before the film came out, as some people didn’t think he looked the part), but because of the way the person was depicted, through his actions & emotion (his character!) you learned to love him, and root for him. And fancy him?!

Okay, I had a gorgeous picture of Daniel Craig here, but sadly, following the warning posts about copyright (here) have decided to remove it :-(

8 comments:

  1. Loved this post Suzie :-) Your right, it's not necessarily the description of "looks and appearance" we are drawn too, maybe at first yes to hook you in, but I think once you get further into the story and get to know your hero you naturally come to love him because of his actions and emotions.

    As for Daniel Craig, your right again! I hated him when he first played 007. i specifically remember my Mum and me talking about how he'd let 007 image down etc etc. But now I love him!

    :-)

    Sam x

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    1. I was really against Daniel Craig when I first heard he'd won the role, but once I'd seen him in action I soon changed my mind! Love the hero I'm writing at the moment too, though he's so not my usual type :-)

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  2. You're absolutely spot on, Susie - it's all about perception and everything should be from the heroine (or hero's) pov.

    Using another Bond as an example, I loved the thought of Pierce Brosnan when he was announced. Tall, dark and very handsome... yet I thought he wasn't a great Bond and he let the character down a little! :)

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    1. I was exactly the same - Pierce has been great in other roles, but he just didn't come across strongly enough as a Bond. I think he tried to be more like Roger Moore and didn't pull it off!

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  3. Couldn't agree more Susie. Great blog post. As for Daniel Craig, yeah I was one of those who went, "Yeah, reaaaaaly, him?"

    Then saw him in action and well, he's been my hero inspiration a few times, let's leave it at that, lol

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    1. Mmmm it's that picture of him in swimming trunks that does it for me, *runs off to find the picture to stare at* :-)

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  4. What a fantastic and helpful post, Susie! This is one for the bookmar bar. :-)

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    1. Thanks Libby! It's strange to think when you're writing about characters and have a very fixed image of how they look, that someone else reading the story might have a very different mental image of them!

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