WORK:The Character Speaks Part I, by M. Kathleen Crouch

The Character Speaks

By Kyle, Hero

As told to M. Kathleen Crouch

With additional comments by Mora, Heroine

Who am I? I am the hero of the story. My name is Kyle. What do I want? I want to tell you, the writer, how you will tell my story to the reader. (Pushy, isn’t he? Mora, Heroine)

This is my story and you, the writer, will not mess with it. You will tell my story the way it happened to me, not the way you think it should have happened. (Gotta agree with his statement. Too often writers think they know what happened, but we, who were actually there, lived it. Mora, Heroine)

You will record my impressions of the setting: the sights, the sounds, the textures, the scents and the tastes that I experience. You will not put lots of descriptive narrative that stops the forward progress of my story. (Lots of descriptive narrative may show how much you, the writer knows about a subject, but it does stop the action. – Mora, Heroine)

The first example is short and to the point letting the reader know what I am seeing and thinking. The second example is wordy and tells the reader what I am seeing, but not what I’m thinking:

"Kyle leaned over the wall and looked down. He gulped when he saw the rocks that dotted the wind-swept sea. ‘Jumping isn’t a good idea.’ He turned and looked up at the building behind him; sheer walls with no handholds. ‘No wonder it’s called a fortress. Now I’m in for it – no place to escape to.’ "

"Kyle leaned over the wall and looked down. It was a long way to the wind-swept sea dotted with large rocks that could easily break his bones. He turned and looked up at the building behind him. It would be a long and difficult climb to reach the roof of the building that had been built back in the sixth century as a fortress. The walls were straight with no handholds. It looked as if all avenues of escape were cut off."

You will describe me in truthful terms:

I am interesting and believable. I had a life before this story and I have a life after it too.

I present my goals and hopes and wishes at the beginning of my story and hope that by the end of the story I have reached my goals.

I have fears that will be overcome by the end of my story although I may have developed new fears along the way.

I will have changed in a major way by the end of my story.

I have good and bad qualities and habits, but please don’t dwell too long on my bad qualities or habits.

My problems should develop throughout the story and as I solve one problem, I’ll have to face a new problem or problems before I get to the end of my story – in this way I will mature and grow over time. (You know I really think it takes men longer to mature than it does for women. – Mora, Heroine)

I am larger than life, more attractive, cleverer, more successful, and less fearful than most readers. I am a role model who acts out what readers cannot do or say in real life. I face villains who are just as human as I am, or as alien and as different as they can be or the opposing element I face are forces of nature that I must battle and overcome. I usually get the girl or woman by the end of the story too. (Of course, he’d say that. After all he’s a man! Though I will say that happy endings please the readers. – Mora, Heroine)

I am more decisive than average people are since in most cases action allows me to live while inaction might mean my death. I am more heroic than the average person is because I have to be heroic. I don't procrastinate as much as most humans. I make choices and act and deal actively with the ensuing consequences. Remember that I live out readers' unfulfilled dreams for them. I do what readers would like to do. (Humph… Don’t you just love a man who knows what he can do? Or should I say, thinks he knows? - Mora, Heroine)

I make the reader feel emotion, love, hate, pity, doubt, jealousy, anguish, etc., through my actions, my body language, my verbal and non-verbal dialogue with other characters.

In the first example I share with the reader what I am feeling and thinking:

"Kyle glanced around. ‘Am I being followed? Why? And by who?’ He shrugged and kept walking down the street. Occasionally he glanced at the windows of the shops as he passed. ‘Maybe I’ll see someone.’ The street ended and he turned right and ducked into a recessed doorway. ‘I’ll wait here a bit.’

‘What’s that? A shadow? Hmm, how does one follow a shadow?"

The second example tells the reader what I am feeling:

"Kyle glanced around sensing that he was being followed. Without pausing when he didn’t see anyone, he kept walking down the street. Every now and then, he glanced in the windows of the shops he passed hoping to get a glance at the person who was following him. When he reached the end of the street, he turned right and ducked into a recessed doorway. Hopefully, the person following him would turn the corner too.

Kyle waited for what seemed like minutes, and then a shadow passed his hiding place. Kyle blinked in surprise. Not a ‘person’, just a ‘shadow’. Well now, how does one follow a shadow?"

While there are other characters in my story, I am the most important character. At the same time, please do your best to make the other characters believable as you can because I don’t like to act in isolation – it makes me depressed to be on the stage all alone, besides it tends to bore the reader. (He’s got a valid point here. Also don’t make the mistake that other writers have made by having the hero or heroine look in a mirror to see what they look like. Let other characters in the story tell the reader what they see as well as what they like or don’t like about the hero or heroine. – Mora, Heroine)

There are subplots going on behind the main story plot in which I may or may not be involved and which I may or may not know about. If I don’t know about them, then I’m usually not present when they are being discussed or acted upon. Of course there are exceptions as in the following example:

"Kyle woke up in a strange room with light that seemed to come from the walls. There was an unpleasant smell, like wet wool mixed with a cleaning solution. He could hear voices, but not the actual words. He turned his head and looked around. Against the wall to his right was a large white cabinet with glass doors. The voices sounded nearer, and then they faded away. At the foot of the slab he was lying on stood a figure in grey.

Kyle had never seen the man before, but he didn’t like what he saw. ‘Squinty eyes.’

"Well, you are awake."

"Yes."

"Don’t you want to know why you’re here or where ‘here’ is?"

"I figure you’ll tell me when you want me to know." Kyle sat up slowly, wincing with pain.

"Well, you’ve broken a couple of ribs and…."

A short, fat man darted into the room and tugged on the man’s grey sleeve. "Sir! You must come at once!"

"Fool! Don’t interrupt me. I’ll be along in a bit." The man brushed his sleeve and turned back to Kyle."

Kyle plucked at his paper gown, frowning at its coarseness."

Something is going on and I’m in the middle of it. It’s not where I planned to be and I don’t know how I got there or how I’ll get out of it either until I actually do escape. Unplanned surprises keep the reader interested in how I will act or react to situations.

In the next installment, I’ll tell you more about the world I live in and what some of the other characters are like. I might even tell you about the heroine and what she did not long ago. (Oh, you will, will you? I’ll bet the readers would love to know what you did last week! - Mora, Heroine)