When I was younger, I used to write short stories concerning particular characters in my works. I would write these stories to get a feel for the character. I would write a character into a situation and see how he or she performed in that given situation. The setting of the story didn’t have to be specific to the setting of the greater work the character would debut in, or even tie into the work. Sometimes it would be a scenario that happened before the greater work. Sometimes it was just me dropping the character into a situation that had no relation. I would have gunslingers of the Old West end up in detective tales, or a magician being robbed at a bar in the late 60s in a short story grounded in our reality. The point was to see how the character reacted to their environment and situation, especially as a character before his or her story arc. How would their current personality perform? And deaths, even among main protagonists, were not out of the question. Sometimes I would rewrite the story after the character(s) had gone through his or her story arc. Would things be different? The same? A good number of times I wouldn’t actually rewrite the story. I would simple reread the story and imagine how things could be different. Would he or she [the character] do that now?
Well, writing a group of stories for characters that will later be for use in a greater story is now time consuming. So, I’ve turned to simply either writing dialogue among the characters, or imagining the dialogue when I have the time. Instead of testing a character’s actions, I get to learn his or her personality, and how they will interact with the other characters in the narrative. I started doing this with A Company of Moors, but kicked this practice into high gear when I started writing The Ghost of Gabriel’s Horn. This current project is no different. This exercise helps me focus on dialogue, and it’s helped me figure out whether a character should express something in words or personality. Some dialogue for GoGH and ACoM was retained, but only very little, especially for The Ghost of Gabriel’s Horn. I started realizing: “This doesn’t need to be said by [him or her]. This is just their personality coming through. They’re stating their goals or desires for me. I have to find a way to put that into action and movement rather than some kind of expository dialogue.”
Now, don’t get angry at expository dialogue. Sometimes you can’t avoid it. The best advice is to make expository dialogue as conversational as possible. Write it. Stare at it. Reread it. Ultimately, reword it so it doesn’t look too obvious in terms of being expository.
Well, characters have been talking to one another. It’s either in my head (literary schizophrenia) or within a word doc, or on a piece of paper. Most of the conversations have been between one of the many protagonists and one of the two villains. This, mainly, has been for the sake of defining the two villains and the main male protagonist. The villains are a man and a woman, and the characters are old. Not elderly, but, they’ve been on the back burner, waiting for a long time to be used in a story. I created this devious husband and wife team when I was in tenth grade, and constantly refining them as I dropped them into one story after another, trying to find the perfect narrative to fit their deviltry in. They have been featured in many outlines and unpublished works, lifted and transported to another. Each time, their personalities have been tweaked, often times their goals have changed. But they have remained deceptive, dishonest, fraudulent, shifty, and dangerous.
Now I’ve found the proper story, and I’ve had to make their personalities fit just as proper. I didn’t want the cliché baddies. I wanted some depth to these two people. I’m also carefully outlining the narrative so that the parallels between this villainous couple and the heroic couple aren’t too obvious, or they don’t contrast in a blatant way. Yes, one is good and one is bad. One is an older couple. One is a younger couple. One is married. The other couple is just dating. And blah, blah, blah, blah. Of course, there are the parallels with what are the males of each couple doing, or the females of each couple. And so on and so forth. But although the plot and the destinies of these characters are deliberate on my end as the writer, they have to be presented as organic to the audience. Otherwise, the story is predictable, the character’s actions and arc becomes predictable. I mean, there are some things you can expect between characters that oppose one another and how they will interact with, and react to, one another. But it’s always good to have surprises. And one way to have a surprise is by giving villain(s) or hero(es) solid personalities. Make them come to life.
The conversations that I’ve noted have often taken place between the male protagonist and the male antagonist. I’m still wondering if a sit-down between the two can happen, and how it would be without breaking into a fist fight. But as I continue to think about the possibilities, and of course, what could be said between them, the scene turns into these characters defining themselves. Are they talking to each other or the audience? I’ve created some good dialogue that may or may not happen between the male antagonist and an elder. It doesn’t literally state how far the male antagonist has fallen, but it is a great example of his character. That. Might. Stay. That would end up later in the book. In the first chapter, the villain makes a phone call to this same elder, and I’ve rewritten the dialogue over and over until the villain becomes human and less 2-dimensional. I’ve decided to approach the villain’s dialogue as if he’s a recovering drug addict that’s fallen off the wagon after years and years of being straight. He feels good, and he’ll be damned if anyone should let him feel guilty, though there is a hint of remorse in him. But the remorse is more or less the feeling of this atrocious act that he’s ‘assisted’ in committing (that will make sense when you read the book) is done and can’t be undone. There’s a few lines that I know will be in there, and I’ll see where the conversation goes from there.
These ‘screen test’ sessions are where I started to know the villain, and how he could be shaped into a unique character. It makes sense to me, now, why he does the things he does and what his goal is. It was always there, but the goal has been muddled under some clichés of being the stereotypical, mustache-twirling snake of a man. One character that I’m studying to get to know this villain is actually one of the most well-known heroes of all time. Superman. And I’m not looking at Superman in a way where I say, “What if Superman was a bad guy.” That would be too easy. No, there are other elements of his character that many dismiss, and resign Kal-El to cardboard cutout status. One dimensional. I’m looking at other traits to Superman, and I’m asking how these traits would fit properly into a man who is anything but a hero.
In contrast, we have the male protagonist. There are traits about him that come from unused traits concerning Horatio Peters. But of course, it wasn’t just copy and paste, drag and drop. Early in the story, these traits manifest through this particular character’s arc. When I first conceived of this idea years ago, this was a strong element within the story. Now, I get to play with it. And instead of some traits ending up in a character that it didn’t make sense to belong a part of, they rest comfortable with this protagonist.
This character was conceived in 2002-3, along with the female protagonist. Their story was called The Nu Ancients, and it was drafted as a comic book script. This was the same idea that was outlined to have the three generation of women storyline that was written into the final product of The Ghost of Gabriel’s Horn. The cartoony elements of the story have been removed, and what’s left is a palpable reality. I’m not “making Batman realistic,” however. I believe there can be a healthy life for a whimsical fantasy molded into a grounded reality without becoming silly on the whimsical and fantastical side, or self-indulgent on the grounded reality side.
And so, characters are talking, to me, to one another. They are telling me where they fit into this story. They are interacting with one another. They are reacting to one another. And they are getting their lines together to be a part of this next, intense project.
b write black.
