A Bit About Character Honesty

[Altani]

I mean, I’m entirely in the clouds when it comes to whether or not characters are “real.” I believe strongly in parallel universe theory, which suggests the possibility of infinite parallel universes where anything that can happen does happen. There are some adherents who believe that every time a choice is made or a situation differs, a new parallel reality is created.

I choose to believe that my characters are out there, somewhere. When I write, my headcanon is that I’m tuning into a particular parallel universe. Sometimes if the emotions aren’t right I might miss or not even be able to tune in at all.

It’s a weird headcanon, but creativity in general doesn’t seem to have a rational explanation, and I think my idea explains a lot about why and how creativity happens.

 

[Night Herald]

I mean, I’m entirely in the clouds when it comes to whether or not characters are “real.” I believe strongly in parallel universe theory, which suggests the possibility of infinite parallel universes where anything that can happen does happen. There are some adherents who believe that every time a choice is made or a situation differs, a new parallel reality is created.

I choose to believe that my characters are out there, somewhere. When I write, my headcanon is that I’m tuning into a particular parallel universe. Sometimes if the emotions aren’t right I might miss or not even be able to tune in at all.

It’s a weird headcanon, but creativity in general doesn’t seem to have a rational explanation, and I think my idea explains a lot about why and how creativity happens.

That's a wonderful and interesting way to look at things! It's not dissimilar from my own take on the nature of creativity (and reality) which has come to inform how I view storytelling (and everything). I think in terms of different existential planes and states/levels of consciousness rather than parallell (physical) universes (though the one folds easily enough into the other) and that we definitely tap into something beyond the mind when we exercise creativity. As I understand it, which I don't really, the mind is more a mechanism for sorting, organizing, remixing, and tweaking. The raw stuff comes from elsewhere, I think. When I say "mind" I mean the rational one, the logical and analytical engine; you can of course expand the definition of "mind" to include, well, everything, but that's a whole different topic.

With that in view, characters are as real as anything. I don't quite buy the idea of them existing somewhere out there as creatures of flesh and blood, but I don't think "real" begins and ends with material, corporeal objects. It's just a different layer of reality, expressed through different media. Could just be I'm wired sideways, but a good, hefty abstraction often seems more substantial to me than any old slab of matter, animate or not.

 

[Trish]

I've just found this thread and I find everyone's perspectives really interesting. For me, character comes first - always. I never have any idea when starting a new story where it's going to go or what the point is. It always begins with an image in my mind. Just a still picture of a character usually, whatever pops into my head. I start with that character, describe the scene, then set them in motion to see where they go, who they meet, etc. I'm definitely not a planner, and am almost always surprised by my characters and their actions.

Do I know that I'm doing it on a subconscious level? Of course. Do I still say my characters do what they want? Yes. I'm not directly thinking about it and pushing them any which way so if I said I was purposely shaping what they do it would be a lie. It's literally like transcribing a movie that's playing in my head.

I'm just glad that most of the time I like what my subconscious decides to do.

 

[Also]

For me, character comes first - always. I never have any idea when starting a new story where it's going to go or what the point is. It always begins with an image in my mind. Just a still picture of a character usually, whatever pops into my head. I start with that character, describe the scene, then set them in motion to see where they go, who they meet, etc. I'm definitely not a planner, and am almost always surprised by my characters and their actions.

That's something I tried to explain thus some years ago, and is heartening to see you describing so closely as your own process:

Literary fiction more often begins with ideas of certain characters not devised to fill a [stock] role, simply people with combinations of traits that interest the author, who then puts characters together in his or her mind and imagines how they would interact authentically, in real life — not according to (and usually avoiding) tropes, narrative models, or the pseudo-real-life shown in mainstream television or cinema, which has become a virtual world to which we’ve grown so accustomed that it feels to us real in its context.

From AtlantaLiteraryWriters.org

 

[Trish]

That's something I tried to explain thus some years ago, and is heartening to see you describing so closely as your own process:



From AtlantaLiteraryWriters.org

Regrettably, I now have to ruin it. While I can write literary fiction, and enjoy it in some forms, in novels I'm a genre fiction girl. Character led always, but still genre.

 

[Also]

in novels I'm a genre fiction girl. Character led always, but still genre.

And what does that mean to you, in practical terms?

How do editors react to your character- driven genre approach?

 

[Trish]

And what does that mean to you, in practical terms?

How do editors react to your character- driven genre approach?

To me? Nothing. My characters in genre work are just as dynamic, traumatic, and well-rounded as those in my literary work. Moreso in reality as I get so much more time with them. My mindset doesn't change, it's only that they end up being genre fiction.

I actually can't answer that since I've never subbed anything to any publication in my life. Crit partners and readers seem to love them though. The plan is to start querying agents next year so I guess I'll find out what trad thinks of them then.