In my continuing effort to share nuggets from LJWC, I'm copying a post I made in the Literotica Authors Hangout in November 2006. (We don't spend all our time discussing our deviant and promiscuous lifestyles, after all. *rolls eyes*) I hope the spacing shows up nicely. The tables are giving me fits on this blasted blog.
I recently attended the La Jolla Writers' Conference. As I sift through my notes, I hope to capture some of the tidbits I found interesting/helpful. (Kudos to the AH, though. Based on what was reinforced there by agents and best-selling authors, I can attest that we have one hell of an exceptional resource here.) Anyway, the following is from a session presented by Doug Lyle entitled The Psychology of Character Motivation:
Characters are defined how they fit into several arenas or domains: emotions, life skills, creativity, intellect, sociability, work ethic, morality, and spirituality.
Within each arena, a character fits somewhere along a spectrum between two poles:
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I recently attended the La Jolla Writers' Conference. As I sift through my notes, I hope to capture some of the tidbits I found interesting/helpful. (Kudos to the AH, though. Based on what was reinforced there by agents and best-selling authors, I can attest that we have one hell of an exceptional resource here.) Anyway, the following is from a session presented by Doug Lyle entitled The Psychology of Character Motivation:
Characters are defined how they fit into several arenas or domains: emotions, life skills, creativity, intellect, sociability, work ethic, morality, and spirituality.
Within each arena, a character fits somewhere along a spectrum between two poles:
| EMOTIONS | TOUGH GUY | ............................. | WHINER |
| LIFE SKILLS | TEAM PLAYER | ............................. | REBEL |
| CREATIVITY | DOER | ............................. | DREAMER |
| INTELLECT | SMART | ............................. | DUMB |
| SOCIABILITY | OUTGOING | ............................. | WALLFLOWER |
| WORK ETHIC | GRINDER | ............................. | LAZY |
| MORALITY | GOOD GUY | ............................. | BAD GUY |
| SPIRITUALITY | BELIEVER | ............................. | DOUBTER |
A character will, to varying degrees, tend toward one pole or the other. The opposite polarity will be his "shadow side," which is what gives him depth and credibility. Without a "shadow side," the character will seem flat/one-dimensional.
Character arc is the shift from one pole toward the other. It is usually most pronounced with your protagonist. The antagonist is the "pole around which everyone else dances." The plot applies stressors to the characters and pushes them off balance, and in the process of rebalancing, the characters arc.
To demonstrate, he plotted a couple of well-known characters along the continuum between each pole at the beginning of the book/movie and again at the end -- showing how they changed (and thereby made the story more interesting/engaging): Clarice from Silence of the Lambs and Sarah Connor from Terminator.
He said that the problem with serial characters (James Patterson's Alex Cross, for example) is that they can only arc so much before they appear wishy-washy to the reader.
Character arc is the shift from one pole toward the other. It is usually most pronounced with your protagonist. The antagonist is the "pole around which everyone else dances." The plot applies stressors to the characters and pushes them off balance, and in the process of rebalancing, the characters arc.
To demonstrate, he plotted a couple of well-known characters along the continuum between each pole at the beginning of the book/movie and again at the end -- showing how they changed (and thereby made the story more interesting/engaging): Clarice from Silence of the Lambs and Sarah Connor from Terminator.
He said that the problem with serial characters (James Patterson's Alex Cross, for example) is that they can only arc so much before they appear wishy-washy to the reader.
This is the example he made of Sarah Connor from Terminator.
At the beginning of the movie:
| EMOTIONS | TOUGH GUY | ......................X.... | WHINER |
| LIFE SKILLS | TEAM PLAYER | ....X...................... | REBEL |
| CREATIVITY | DOER | .......................X... | DREAMER |
| INTELLECT | SMART | ....................X...... | DUMB |
| SOCIABILITY | OUTGOING | ...X....................... | WALLFLOWER |
| WORK ETHIC | GRINDER | ....................X...... | LAZY |
| MORALITY | GOOD GUY | .....X..................... | BAD GUY |
| SPIRITUALITY | BELIEVER | ..........X................ | DOUBTER |
At the end of the movie:
| EMOTIONS | TOUGH GUY | .X......................... | WHINER |
| LIFE SKILLS | TEAM PLAYER | ........................X.. | REBEL |
| CREATIVITY | DOER | ..X........................ | DREAMER |
| INTELLECT | SMART | ..X........................ | DUMB |
| SOCIABILITY | OUTGOING | ......................X.... | WALLFLOWER |
| WORK ETHIC | GRINDER | ..X........................ | LAZY |
| MORALITY | GOOD GUY | .......................X... | BAD GUY |
| SPIRITUALITY | BELIEVER | ........................X.. | DOUBTER |
She did a complete about-face along almost every continuum.
Another Litizen suggested the addition of a couple of erotica-specific polarities:
I don't think it's absolutely necessary for a character to arc along every pole, but it makes for interesting discussion.
| COMMITTMENT | SLUT | ............................. | MONOGAMOUS |
| OUTLOOK | PRUDE | ............................. | HEDONIST |
I don't think it's absolutely necessary for a character to arc along every pole, but it makes for interesting discussion.
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