Character-Driven Writing
At last week’s meeting with a book group of early readers, there were several really interesting comments made about On The Sickle’s Edge. This particular group has been meeting for a long time–in fact our meeting marked their 30th anniversary. They’ve read and discussed hundreds of books together, and that gives them a depth of knowledge and experience that I’ve found invaluable.
One of the participants asked whether I know ahead of time what direction my plot will take. And if the answer is negative, then how does my writing process work?
That gave me pause, because I don’t really have anything as concrete as a writing process. I do know roughly where the story is going, but my novels are character driven, and the specific actions a character takes or the words he speaks, come to me only as they occur.
When I say character driven, I mean that the most important aspects of my stories are my people and the lives they live. Their actions and reactions, what they say and what they don’t, the thoughts that percolate through them–these are the reasons why I write. The plot almost takes care of itself. How is that possible? Well, if I design characters well enough, and then put them into a situation and overlay a political and economic background, the people will be true to their own personalities and do what comes naturally. All I have to do is put two potential lovers together at a bar; create an interchange between a murderous thug and a man protecting his girlfriend or his children or ( if the man is so designed) his car and the action runs automatically.
I know a number of people who engage in a pastime called LARPING (Live Action Role Playing). I’ve been hearing about it for years, but I just made the connection between it and my writing. In a LARP, participants are each given a character and a role in a story. Each participant knows in detail his or her own life, and some of the specifics of the story, just as in a novel, character A has no idea what character B will do, or when the storm that ruins the school will come, or whether the giraffe in the biology lab will be saved. All the LARP writer has to do is create the situation, define the characters, and turn on the virtual camera. That’s all I do. The only difference is that I don’t have people inhabiting my characters. Instead, my characters inhabit me and speak their truth through me.