Comments on: A Partial View (updated)

By: liliya

liliya — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 08:56:56 +0000

nice post. I don’t read much biography because, though i subscribe to the view that real people’s lives are way more unbelievable and interesting than fiction, i hate the way most biographers try to fit their subject’s lives into some kind of pattern. and the outrageous assumptions they make about their subjects, claiming to know what they ‘must have been thinking about’ and so on.

I’ve still got the beginnings of a novel I started when I was about 12. it’s awful, not least because all the characters’ appearance is described down to the minutest detail, like the length of their eyelashes. I guess I thought this stood in for actual character development(I don’t write like that anymore, honest)

interesting what you say about fiction being based on fiction. or more film, these days? do you think we even judge real life in fictional terms, expecting real people to behave like book or film characters? it’s really interesting reading medieval or celtic literature from this point of view – or fairytales. characters often behave in utterly unmotivated ways, or, in terms of modern literature, act ‘out or character’

good luck with the rewriting

By: Justine

Justine — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 22:46:40 +0000

Lazy cow, Lili! It’s peoples like you what are ruining the reputation of Australian literature!

Seriously, either way can work. I’ve read books with none or very spare descriptions that work brilliantly. But others attempting the same come off as lazy and generic.

And then there are books that have the most opulently detailed descriptions—like Dunnett—that I gobble up with a spoon.

It’s true though that one of the most powerful devices for getting the feel of a character across (if it’s not from their pov) is dialogue.

By: lili

lili — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 22:41:38 +0000

i never picture characters in books the way the author describes them. Actually, I don’t think I picture them at all. I’m not a visual thinker in that way.

I also don’t do much describing in my own writing – i figure the reader is going to make them look however they want them to look, and unless they have some kind of physical something that affects the plot, they’re welcome to. So a character may have only one eye and a melted face, but you can figure out what colour her hair is. I’m not doing all the work.

By: vicky

vicky — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 21:44:45 +0000

i agree with your sentiments here. it’s true that some description is necessary; but too much is overwhelming and unnecessary. i think that one of the main reasons why “cataloguing”, so to speak, fails is that in real life, nobody ever knows every single thing about a person, at least for a good long while into a relationship; nor are you expected to. you glean what you can from looks and impressions and actions, and (usually) ignore or invent what you don’t. it’s usually the same in fiction, or writing of any kind.

By: jenny

jenny — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 19:35:54 +0000

Hi Justine-
This is a really interesting thread. I love your point about fiction being modeled on previous fiction more than real life. Characters that are written like “real” people aren’t really satisfying to readers as characters. But it’s also interesting to think about how different cultures have different story expectations. I’ve heard that we here in the west love things to come in threes, as the in the main character must overcome three obstacles. But on the other side of the globe the number might be two or seven!

By: hwalk

hwalk — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 19:33:33 +0000

I don’t think a complete view of a character is even desirable, except in a very long biography, and even that’s an interpretation. Bits and pieces are generally more accurate.

By: janet

janet — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 16:32:56 +0000

I wouldn’t call that “taking potshots.” But I’m a huge Louis Menand partisan.

Everything you say here makes perfect sense to me. Good luck with your wrestling match!

By: hillary!

hillary! — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 16:05:59 +0000

OOPS! I meant *can’t*! Can’t comment on non-fiction or memoirs. Since I’ve only ever read two memoirs

By: hillary!

hillary! — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 16:03:55 +0000

You have a week left for your many-other-things-than-fairys-fairy book to finish?

When I read a book the visual I get of the characters depends on what the author describes or suggests, then I build on it depending on the characters’ actions, thought’s and spoken dialogue. So I know my idea is way differnet than anyone elses, and I like it like that. Having descriptive detail of a character really does bog a reader down, and the author, I’m guessing.
But non-fiction is not something I can comment on since I’ve only ever read *Dreamtime Alice* and *Running With Scissors*, whick were both really good books respectively, but not something I would have read without my friends and teachers promptings.