Advanced Characterization (Michael Stackpole)

All plot comes out of the characters – their needs, goals and interactions

“Your job as a writer is to torture and confuse your readers by torturing and confusing characters.”

7 Traits of Enduring Characters:

1. They are always something of a mystery – it is a seduction of the reader by the writer
2. They are worthy of redemption – something makes you think they’re capable of change
3. They score high on one end of the loyalty-treachery scale
4. They are internally consistent and reliable, but capable of generating surprise
5. They consistently score high (or low) on self-sacrifice scale
6. There is a love story attached to them somewhere
7. They are able to succeed at tasks we cannot do

Techniques:

• Character growth vs change – in episodic TV, the characters grow but don’t change (they end up in the same place as they started)
• Change is temporary – characters do what they have to do to get the job done
• Growth is permanent – an internal process as a result of external pressures where character makes a conscious decision to alter their behavior – that decision is key – the reader must know they have undergone growth
• Negative growth is a refusal to change – this is really tough to write – it results in the dissolution of character, and is brutal on reader and writer both
• Reversal – the character believes that a particular fact is true, but learns the opposite – they have to deal with brand new stuff they never thought existed before – the  reader will also be shocked – this can be little personal reversals or hidden motivations – look for things you can make not true
• A great technique is betrayal – this creates an injustice, and readers inherently want to see it made right – the easiest are emotional betrayals – you can also have “reader betrayal” such as a love story that doesn’t quite sync up – also, betrayals that are mistakes – whichever sort you use, “emotional churning is absolutely what you want.”

“All fiction is the past erupting into the present.” ~James Sallis

Questions:

• The character wonders who they are, then you write out what they really are
• Who does character want to be? Who does character need to be?
• The character asks, “Who do they think I am? Who they want me to be? Who do they need me to be?”

 

Historical Fiction and Research (Bethany Kesler)

Start with Google/Wikipedia – get a general idea of what you want, then go for specifics.

Ask “What happened and why should I care?” Nothing happens in a vacuum.

Three Points:

1. Authenticity (over accuracy – you’re not an actual historian)
2. Plausibility
3. Research

Research Tips:

• Look for history texts – brief overviews (“Complete Idiot’s Guide to __”)
• Books written in that era
• Journals and diaries – try college websites/inter-library loans
• Find a historian
• Genealogical societies
• Historical re-enactors
• Historical blogs – Tumblr etc
• Old maps
• Antique stores
• Family history
• Census
• Portraits, paintings
• Try the BBC for UK history

Ask yourself who your characters are? When and where did they exist? Knights in Scotland are very different from Knights in Japan

How you get around can show what era you’re in as well.

Do your general research – then write the novel – add specific research as you go along for what you need – just remember to make notes instead of constantly stopping to search

Research is a big part of any author’s life, but even more so for those of us who write historical fiction. Today, it’s even easier to do this research. You can sit in your office in your pajamas and read newspapers from the 1800’s, or search through out-of-print books at the coffeeshop.

One good place to get started is THIS website – a guide to using primary research sources from the Reference and User Services Association. They also provide a list of some research sites.

Here are some more good resources to check out:

• Archive Grid – a catalog of more than 2 million primary and secondary source materials from institutions around the world, from Yale to the Netherlands’ Bibliotheek Universiteit Leiden -and it’s searchable by keyword. Not all of the material is openly accessible, but the massive amount of valuable information stored here makes it worth the trouble.
• David Rumsey Map Collection – more than 48,000 historical maps and images. Although most of the rare 18th and 19th century maps are from North America, you can find Europe, Asia, and Africa as well.
• Feeding America: The Historical American Cookbook Project – a really fun database of full-text, searchable transcriptions of cookbooks dating as far back as the 1700’s. It also includes a glossary of historic cooking terms and images of old cooking utensils.
• Food Timeline – lists of food prices dating back to the 1600’s – mostly American, but there are some global prices given.
• Google Books – more than 30 million digitally scanned books, most of which are no longer in print.
• Newspaper Archive – a collection of newspapers dating back to 1607. This requires a subscription, but it’s worth it if you’re doing serious research
• New York Public Library Digital Collections – more than 800,000 images, including historical maps and photographs, manuscripts, vintage posters and rare prints.

What are your favorite research sites?