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In a story I am contributing to together with my Anglo-Irish literary shadow, I imagine there will be a desire on the part of the reader to see the protagonist, named Alev, and her love interest find a way of being together in the end. Alev’s love for him, however, is too precious to her to risk it by telling him the truth. By leaving as it is suggested at present, she can always live with the notion he loves her still in a way that is pure, unsullied by the harsh realities of the corrupt and venial world they both live in. This love is further enhanced, in Alev’s mind, by the idea he will see her departure as a sacrifice, an effort to spare him the censure and embarrassment that would surely come if it was discovered she was an agent of the Turk, or worse.
I know this is a wee too deep for some reader and wholly unsatisfactory to others. That is unfortunate. What this case highlights is the tension that a writer faces when writing his or her story, for they often times find themselves asking who it is they are writing for. This is the question the storyteller must deal with at critical points as they weave their tale, particularly when they are about to kill off a character that has endeared him or herself to the reader or, as if often the case when I’m the executioner, the writer.
Let me put it another way. Who is truer to the craft, the starving artist who will not sacrifice the integrity of their story, or the popular writer who pumps out cookie cutter versions of the same thing aimed at appeasing the reader, changing only the names of their characters and the setting? The answer is simple. Both are, for both have achieved what they seek, allowing each to live with themselves and thus enjoy their chosen pursuit, though each might think the other to be delusional or sadly misguided.
Resolving dichotomies such as the one described in the first paragraph are what make a character come alive in a story. It all lays in how the character and his or her background and motivation is framed and presented. As those of you who have gone through transition, I expect you found out there is no ‘presto-chango’ changes in how you came to view the world, the people in it and, most importantly, yourself as you were doing so. It was all been evolutionary and episodic, with each changes in attitude and decision ignited by an event or a change in circumstances. Just as you went from being who you were the day before you decided to started to who you are today, characters in stories you write, provided you are a writer, must travel down that path we call life, dealing with the people and occurrences they are confronted by as they do so as they come across them. Sometimes they are greeted with happiness and sunshine at the end of their journey. Sometimes, as in the case of Alev, they don’t.
Any who, that’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it.
HW Coyle
Comments
"who it is they are writing for"
This might sound silly, but in addition to my readers and me I often find myself writing for the characters.
That is when I think my writing comes to live.
About a decade ago my youngest was reading the Inkheart trilogy. I often read the books she read to facilitate conversations. In the Inkheart books the characters journey in and out of the book into "reality". That is how I feel about my characters. When I'm working on a new story my characters travel around with me to the post office, the hardware store . . . wherever I go. They experience life and react in a way that might find its way into what I'm writing.
I have a strong sense of wanting to fulfill the contract I have with the reader to bring certain plot lines to conclusion, but at times it is much more important to me to give my characters resolution . . . at least as much resolution as real life offers.
I hated the "red wedding" episode of GoT, but so what? That's what happened and George Martin HAD to write it that way.
Here's a list of funny GoT reaction Tweets.
http://mashable.com/2013/06/03/funniest-game-of-thrones-red-...
Jill
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Not Silly at All
After setting the stage and introducing the characters, it is best to let the characters themselves tell the story. That's the fun part of writing, for you never know what they're going to do or where they'll take you. Just make sure you're picky about which weddings you allow them to attend, otherwise your novel could very well turn into a short story.
HW Coyle
"You may be what you resolve to be."
T.J. Jackson
Still with me
I'm frequently still accompanied by characters whose stories I finished years ago. Their comments and reactions sometimes suggest they still have stories to tell but I almost never get around to doing anything about that.
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
Yes indeed
I have said several times here that I don't do big twisty plot stuff, so I try and build my work on characters. They should have their own voices, and yes they do speak to me. Even when I am writing first person stories, those people are not me. They may express things I want to say, or be facets of my own personality, but they may equally well show a personality of their own that is far removed from mine. I think the 'angry women' scene right at the end of my 'Extra Time' is an example I can use, with a whole group of women reacting in widely different ways to the same thing.
Erin has it spot on there. I can hear Ellen's petulant whine, and feel Siobhan's boiling hatred; Kirsty's relish at the prospect of giving a well-deserved slap and Bethany's shame and pain; Ginny's hard, cold, murderous rage and Jill's confusion.
The question about whom to write for, in my case, is moot. I am never going to make a living of any kind from writing, so crowd-pleasing is irrelevant. I started writing here as a way of getting some demons exorcised, and it has helped, but the more I write, the more I hear the characters, as Erin says, demanding their say. Sophie Laplace came from a short, but demanded to be fleshed out, and I now have Inspector Elaine Powell standing at my shoulder and playing with her baton in an imperative way.
Oh... happy endings
I don't do that automatically. There has to be a logic, once more as at the end of my ET. Sometimes, the 'one mighty bound' cannot be made, and there has to be tears.
I despair at a lot of Hollywood, e.g. where "I Am Legend" threw away the original ending in favour of a conventional happy one. Sometimes, the story arc demands that things end with a whimper.
Happy endings are obviously my favorite
to the point that, while I can recognize the artistic merit of a work that doesn't have one, I find it hard to get enthused to read them.
I've said before that I feel the type of ending that's appropriate for a story is largely dependent on the type of story you're trying to write. In my case I like escapist fiction/fantasy, so happy endings are the best way to go because if I wanted depressing I'd just look at real life. I'm in a rather massive rarity when it comes to that, but nevertheless it is also the driving force behind what I write. I don't write happy-ending stories because I think they'll sell better or reach a lowest common denominator audience: I write them because they're what I'd legitimately like to see more of in the world.
Melanie E.
Happy Endings
I try to read stories with happy endings and write them also in spite of the fact that mine is not the literary high ground. My reason is fairly shallow, and it is because I've experienced more than enough real life.
Validation error.
Hi Nancy.
I tried writing a comment in reply to your blog but I got a 'Validation error'. I've messaged Erin to ask how I sort it out.
Ahh this reply worked so I'll add the original reply.
I try to create happy endings to my stories especially the stories I post on BC. There were too many unhappy endings in my formative years and I try to avoid such things now. I suppose most of us tee-people have some sort of demons in our lives and each of us has to deal with them as they can. For most of my life I have been running from mine because I suppose I'm something of a coward. Most people try and slay their dragons, I confess to having hidden in the forest for most of my life.
As regards happy endings today, I avoid exposing others to the dark side of my nature so I don't publish unhappy endings; especially here on BC.
I do write unhappy endings but I keep them securely locked up on my 'puter and nobody sees them. This is because in those dark stories, I am continually wrestling with Miss Angry and she's really a vicious bitch.
If she gets jealous of any character who becomes too successful in any of my stories, angry Beverly will kill her. Fortunately these dark, cruel acts are restricted to the 'puter and located only between 'angry Beverly's' ears. They don't usually emerge to be recognised by others.
I therefore tend to post 'happy endings' and liken them in my head to Beverly's return emergence in my fifties. These twilight years are, (in my view,) my 'happy ending'. I hope, despite the personal tragedies that have happened and are happening and are completely beyond my control to have a happy ending for myself.
When the day comes that my ending is no longer enjoyable through ill health and frailty, I've willed it that I go to Holland and enjoy euthanasia. It's my right. If I have a right to life and the pursuit of happiness then I also have a right to death and a happy end,
Bev.
Stories
What causes a story to be written? Sometimes its the germ of an idea or a stray thought. Perhaps its while reading/seeing another story that's telling you something else than what the teller you're listening to intended.
The reason I heard that most resonated with me was Mercedes Lackey. As a little girl she complained that she'd read all the books that was available to her that she liked. Her mother replied (This is all a paraphase so please forgive me!) "Go write your own."
I've more or less followed that advice. I write the kind of stuff I want to read just like I used to run the kind of role-playing game I would much rather be a player than the Game Master, but I settled for what I could get.
Mostly I'm drawn towards John's of W, Disney endings. I'd a bit too much of the sad, and hopeless ones in real life and eat up the happy stuff like a starving waif! The second type I'm found of it the related hopeful ending. Maybe the story itself was sad, but like every dawn, a new day rises with new possibilities.
It's very close to the bitter-sweet end where there's resolution, but the characters does not live happily every after. That sort of sounds like the story Nancy is describing. Let's face it, real life does tend to be that way. Rarely do we get what we really need or want, but have to take and make the most of what happiness we can find.
The last kind that I avoid. I call it, "The girl dies, you die, everybody dies!" The bad guys win and the characters we've spent hundred of pages cheering for ashes blow away in the hot searing winds of defeat. I tend to stay away from those. Too depressing for me!
I wholeheartedly admit I read for escapism and the last thing I want to leap into a place even worst than where I am, YIKES!
Speaking of characters, about half of all of my dialogue comes while I'm doing chores such as washing dishes or other stuff. It's like me and my characters are taking a break and they just begin talking to each other. Then I run for the keyboard drying my hands trying to get their words down before I forget them! :)
And yes, I always carry a notepad with me when I'm out and about. You just know they're going to say something good when you're busy with something else! I've heard that all authors are as crazy as loons since not only do we 'talk' to ourselves, but we argue and get answers! My Precious!
Not every ending is as cut and dry as my examples but generally apply to the kind of feelings that ending invokes. At times we really need those fuzzy unicorns to curl up with when life has kicked us a few too many times in the head. At others we need examples to help us stand back up and climb into the saddle again. On occasion perhaps we even need to cry with a beloved character to clean ourselves of our own heartbreak.
At times I've wanted to read a story to support a fav writer, but knew I could not given the type of story. Those tags are there for a reason. I got though as many as the three paragraphs on one when I had to stop. I was not in the right mind-space to deal with some of the themes I fore saw coming. I stopped and as politely as I could sent a PM explaining since this was writer I always commented on.
And I'm rambling all over the place.
Be kind and like Erin says give everyone the benefit of a doubt!
hugs
Grover
Ramble On!
Ramble on, Grover! That was one of the best comments I've read for many a month.
I don't much care whether endings are happy or not. As long as they stay with me.
One that will never leave is the last sentence of 'Gifts Of The Child Christ' by George Macdonald.
http://www.expository.org/childchrist.htm