Just-a-guy vs. the angst-riders
Oct. 27th, 2006 11:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pjthompsonMy friend is definitely going to have surgery on Monday. Worrying makes me maudlin so I'm going to channel my thoughts elsewhere this morning. I think it's a more positive thing to do--until there's something more activist I can do.
I've had a couple of writing discussions the last few days that have things bubbling. I'll write about one of those.
Writing "common man" characters--or specifically, characters who don't burn with heroic ambition--can sometimes be more complicated than writing about characters with dramatic backgrounds, loads of angst, and sturm und drang histrionics. Because many writers tend to be ambitious and/or heavily into the education thing, I think we have trouble relating to people who just want to get through the day and don't have burning desires beyond getting the paycheck and hanging out with the family on the weekends. This sometimes makes it tough to get the balance right--a realistic portrayal of an everyday someone, who still has the elements of conflict and drama cooking.
Slice-of-life stories are common in literary writing, but the characters are often portrayed as losers or desperately unhappy or not worth caring about because their lives are emptyemptyempty. In other words, they do not fulfill the writer's prejudices of what's important in life. Those of us hanging out in the genre jungle also have the need for conflict constantly hammered home to us by peers and audience alike. I don't suppose you can write a genre piece without some kind of conflict, but I don't suppose conflict has to be borne only by swaggering heroes, loveable misfits, or angst-riders yearning to find justice and/or peace. There's something to be said for "just-a-guyness."
I recently heard Kevin Smith, the director, talking about this on Ebert and Roper. Roper was complaining that although the characters in a movie he'd reviewed were going through something of a crisis he couldn't care about them much because none of them had any ambition to make more of themselves. Kevin called him on it. He talked about how his dad worked at the world's most boring job at the post office for twenty years without shooting anyone ("and we're proud of him for that") because his one great goal in life was to have a family, support them, and hang out with them. The job was just about getting through the day with a decent paycheck so he could accomplish that. There are all kinds of people like that in the world, he said, and their lives deserved to be looked at, too.
I'd never heard it expressed so well (and all I've done is paraphrase). It crystallized something I'd been thinking about but couldn't quite formulate. And it was good to hear somebody stick up for the common man in fiction.
I remembered a story I wrote about a 20-year-old who'd just quit college because academia wasn't working for him. Mostly what he wanted to do with his life was get a job to support himself, read, and think about things. Oh, and maybe learn how to talk to ghosts and help them move on to the Light. When I posted it to OWW the first time I got so many people who focused on him quitting college! "Couldn't he do such and such while he went to school?" "Doesn't he want to make more of himself?"
No, he just wanted to be himself. Characters like this deserve their shot, too. In my story, I don't think it would have had as big a reaction if I'd handled the story elements better. My character needed a stronger conflict to deal with, so I failed the character there--but not in who he was, what he did or didn't want to do with his life. I'm perfectly comfortable with that.
I know this tightrope walk of ordinary person in extraordinary circumstances can be done successfully. I'm currently reading a story where a character doesn't have heroic aspirations, isn't particularly ambitious, doesn't burn be be more, but I completely enjoy reading about him because the writer has done a good job of giving him interesting conflicts and life situations. That makes all the difference in the world.
Then again, there will always be people like Roper who think everyone in the world should be like him and his friends. You can't please everyone. And you shouldn't try.
Random quote of the day:
"A fair exterior is a silent recommendation."
—Publilius Syrus, Maxim 267
Virtual pumpkin carving here:
http://www.cubpack81.com/images/carve_pumpkin.swf
I've had a couple of writing discussions the last few days that have things bubbling. I'll write about one of those.
Writing "common man" characters--or specifically, characters who don't burn with heroic ambition--can sometimes be more complicated than writing about characters with dramatic backgrounds, loads of angst, and sturm und drang histrionics. Because many writers tend to be ambitious and/or heavily into the education thing, I think we have trouble relating to people who just want to get through the day and don't have burning desires beyond getting the paycheck and hanging out with the family on the weekends. This sometimes makes it tough to get the balance right--a realistic portrayal of an everyday someone, who still has the elements of conflict and drama cooking.
Slice-of-life stories are common in literary writing, but the characters are often portrayed as losers or desperately unhappy or not worth caring about because their lives are emptyemptyempty. In other words, they do not fulfill the writer's prejudices of what's important in life. Those of us hanging out in the genre jungle also have the need for conflict constantly hammered home to us by peers and audience alike. I don't suppose you can write a genre piece without some kind of conflict, but I don't suppose conflict has to be borne only by swaggering heroes, loveable misfits, or angst-riders yearning to find justice and/or peace. There's something to be said for "just-a-guyness."
I recently heard Kevin Smith, the director, talking about this on Ebert and Roper. Roper was complaining that although the characters in a movie he'd reviewed were going through something of a crisis he couldn't care about them much because none of them had any ambition to make more of themselves. Kevin called him on it. He talked about how his dad worked at the world's most boring job at the post office for twenty years without shooting anyone ("and we're proud of him for that") because his one great goal in life was to have a family, support them, and hang out with them. The job was just about getting through the day with a decent paycheck so he could accomplish that. There are all kinds of people like that in the world, he said, and their lives deserved to be looked at, too.
I'd never heard it expressed so well (and all I've done is paraphrase). It crystallized something I'd been thinking about but couldn't quite formulate. And it was good to hear somebody stick up for the common man in fiction.
I remembered a story I wrote about a 20-year-old who'd just quit college because academia wasn't working for him. Mostly what he wanted to do with his life was get a job to support himself, read, and think about things. Oh, and maybe learn how to talk to ghosts and help them move on to the Light. When I posted it to OWW the first time I got so many people who focused on him quitting college! "Couldn't he do such and such while he went to school?" "Doesn't he want to make more of himself?"
No, he just wanted to be himself. Characters like this deserve their shot, too. In my story, I don't think it would have had as big a reaction if I'd handled the story elements better. My character needed a stronger conflict to deal with, so I failed the character there--but not in who he was, what he did or didn't want to do with his life. I'm perfectly comfortable with that.
I know this tightrope walk of ordinary person in extraordinary circumstances can be done successfully. I'm currently reading a story where a character doesn't have heroic aspirations, isn't particularly ambitious, doesn't burn be be more, but I completely enjoy reading about him because the writer has done a good job of giving him interesting conflicts and life situations. That makes all the difference in the world.
Then again, there will always be people like Roper who think everyone in the world should be like him and his friends. You can't please everyone. And you shouldn't try.
Random quote of the day:
"A fair exterior is a silent recommendation."
—Publilius Syrus, Maxim 267
Virtual pumpkin carving here:
http://www.cubpack81.com/images/carve_pumpkin.swf
no subject
Date: 2006-10-27 07:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-27 07:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-27 09:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-27 10:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-27 09:40 pm (UTC)Those aren't prejudices; presumably the writer has lived, and therefore it's not pre-judging. Only "judging." There does seem to be a general sense that "prejudice" means nothing more than "wrong opinion," and I don't think that that's true.
There are all kinds of people like that in the world, he said, and their lives deserved to be looked at, too.
I very much agree that "the life of the common man" can be interesting-- ever read Richard Russo?-- but not because "their lives deserve to be looked at." Neither guilt nor conscience, I think, is ever the impulse behind the creation of good art.
Does that seem nitpicky? I don't mean it to be.
no subject
Date: 2006-10-27 10:13 pm (UTC)That's not how I meant it. I meant "that which is not like me is bad."
ever read Richard Russo?
Never have.
but not because "their lives deserve to be looked at." Neither guilt nor conscience, I think, is ever the impulse behind the creation of good art.
In the context of the discussion with Roper, I think he was saying, "Just because this isn't the way you would choose your life doesn't mean this isn't worth looking at." And remember, I was paraphrasing from memory, so Kevin Smith did a better job of making his own case.
Does that seem nitpicky? I don't mean it to be.
Just an opinion shaded somewhat differently than mine, and that's okay with me. :-)
no subject
Date: 2006-10-27 10:57 pm (UTC)The thing about using prejudice to mean "that which is not like me is bad" is the fact that sometimes it is bad. If so, and if we dismiss the statement that it's bad as no more than prejudice, then, ironically, we're prejudiced about the prejudice.
no subject
Date: 2006-10-27 11:24 pm (UTC)2 a (1) : preconceived judgment or opinion : leaning toward one side of a question from other considerations than those belonging to it : unreasonable predilection for or objection against something
no subject
Date: 2006-10-28 01:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-28 05:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-28 02:17 pm (UTC)Keep your chin up.
no subject
Date: 2006-10-28 05:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-29 06:55 am (UTC)Many good thoughts...
no subject
Date: 2006-10-28 05:53 pm (UTC)As far as the character ambition goes, I think maye also come from the fcat that we almost always pick up a story expecting something to happen. We expect the characters to have some lofty goal, some sort of accomplishment they want to achieve. We're fine with people who don't have that in real life, but we don't expect stories to be written about those people.
Obviously, I don't mean they -can't- be written, but when one actually is, it might take people by surprise. Sort of in the same way someone might raise an eyebrow if you were to order a pizza, and then wrap up the slices to save for later. There's nothing wrong with doing that, but someone may still ask, "Aren't you going to eat that?"
no subject
Date: 2006-10-28 08:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-28 09:26 pm (UTC)When I first wrote that interaction, Christopher's motivation (in my head) was, "Well, okay. I have nothing better to do." Why can't that work!? He's just a guy. It's not like he needs deep, existential reasons for why he'd do something, right? And he seriously DIDN'T have anything better to do. hehe
Oh, and best wishes to your friend!
no subject
Date: 2006-10-29 02:39 am (UTC)Right! And how about...because it was the right thing to do? I mean, Christopher witnessed the whole soul-stealing thing and this little girl needs help.
But I know what you mean about the contradictory attitudes of critters.