I took away an important suggestion from the latest critique of my manuscript. I must let my reader get closer to my protagonist; to feel what she is thinking, to know what she wants, and to be continually reminded of it.
A seasonal analogy presents itself in the old song, "The Twelve Days of Christmas." Each day the recipient gets a gift from his true love, along with a "partridge in a pear tree." Imagine the song without this quirky refrain to tie it together. Flat. Boring. A series of things, and not much fun to sing.
As the story moves forward, I've got to see that my heroine's hopes and dreams are like the refrain of that song; barely noticeable, but never absent.
Sunday, December 4, 2011
A Constant Reminder
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Very nice and seasonally fitting analogy, Linda. It's hard to find the right balance with something like this - enough to keep the reader going, but not so much you insult the reader's memory and intelligence.
ReplyDeleteLove the analogy. Thanks for the reminder. So true.
ReplyDeleteIt is just that subtle presence that brings a character to life ... A great reminder!
ReplyDeleteExcellent. It sounds simple but I'm sure it is much more complex than it seems.
ReplyDeleteLinda A.
So true. When done well, getting to know the character as the story moves along feels natural and the 'character description' almost invisible. I find this one of the toughest skills to master.
ReplyDeleteYes, it's even harder, because in reality a normal person thinks of at least ten things over a period of ten minutes and sometimes even forgets his main goal (cook the dinner, get the book published.) Yet the writer, within a ten minute period of written prose, has to remind the reader once and maybe twice of the protagonist's main goal...without the reader really noticing.
ReplyDeleteYep. This writing thing is hard!
ReplyDeleteI attended a SCBWI Metro event with Krista Marino a few years back and I remember her saying even on acquired manuscripts, her most common comment in editorial notes is "What is this character feeling?"