One thing that I really don’t think I am, is curious.
I like observing people. I like imagining reasons that they do the things they do or say the things they say—but I’m not curious to find out the real reasons that motivate them. I’m no investigator. I’m nosy enough to watch people and listen in on their conversations—but more interested in coming up with my own conclusions than whatever the truth might be.
But there are curious people out there.
My house was way too distracting for me to write in on Thursday, so I escaped to the coffeehouse to get some work done. I really just needed a solid 30 minutes of writing and then I was going to call it a day.
I knew exactly what I was going to write, too. This meant that I wasn’t staring around into space a lot. I ordered my coffee (I was at Starbucks, and I stubbornly asked for “a small coffee,” since I don’t like all the ‘grande’ stuff they put up on their menu), sat down and started writing.
I had my Word document open and my outline printed out and on the table so that I could follow it—no, I don’t ordinarily outline….but it’s a new project with an editor who requires them.
I worked hard for 30 minutes straight. I drank my coffee, I glanced up briefly when cold air hit me as the door to Starbucks opened and closed, but I got my work done in a very focused, concentrated way.
When I reached the end of my writing session, I sat up straight and reached up to close my laptop. And darned if there wasn’t some woman there, standing in the very long coffee line, reading my synopsis/outline for the book! Yes, I’d printed it in a slightly larger font than usual because I’m getting to the point of needing reading glasses, but I’m not wanting the bother of them.
She opened her mouth for a second like she thought she might ask me a question, then quickly turned her back to continue waiting in the line.
Curiosity killed the cat, I thought, sourly. Maybe it did, but I started thinking about what an important trait it is for a protagonist.
Because a protagonist shouldn’t be like me—content not to know the full story behind something.
Main characters need to get to the bottom of a problem. They need to want to learn the murderer’s identity. They need to want to discover the cure for the mysterious infection that’s turning the population into zombies. They need to want to learn how to win the heart of the person they’ve fallen in love with. They need to want to figure out where the next horcrux is so that disaster can be averted. They can’t be content to take a backseat while someone else with a curious mind, bravery, and determination runs off to save the world.
Their curiosity can create conflict for them, too. In a murder mystery, it can scare the killer enough for him to try to murder the sleuth. It can make put the protagonist in an office building after closing hours, rifling through someone’s desk for evidence that an important government official is involved in illegal activity. It can put a protagonist on the wrong side of town at the wrong time of day in an attempt to get information.
But it’s a crucial trait that helps drive the story. How curious is your protagonist—and what are they trying to find out?
ELizabeth – I know just what you mean about making fonts larger; I do that, too, when my eyes are strained, and I’ve had reading glasses for a while…
Curiosity is so important for a protagonist in a mystery series, which is what I write. If the sleuth isn’t curious, then s/he’s driven more by, perhaps, a sense of duty than by curiosity and that might not be as interesting. I know my protag is curious. He wants to figure things out…
I hadn’t really considered that as a trait of my protagonist. I don’t think I’ve portrayed her as all that curious, but I am going to think about this. It’s an excellent suggestion. Thanks Elizabeth.
What a nosy woman!
I am trying to make my new protagonist VERY curious. She finds an old skeleton in her cellar, and she has to get to the bottom of the case.
I’m very curious, has always been. Not in the sense that I read all kind of crap magazines about celebs and stuff like that, but I want to find out how things really work. Therefore it was a very easy choice for me to study physics, to find out how the universe is put together in it’s finest detail. My protag is very much the same.
Reading our someones shoulder, that’s kind of rude isn’t it. You should write that woman into your next novel, on the antag team, just to get your little revenge >:)))
Cold As Heaven
When I was writing, it wasn’t so much curious as driven. And in the end, when confronted with the big problem, he wanted to be the one to solve it by any means necessary.
Thanks for the reminder that my protagonist shouldn’t be like me. Not that I’m not curious, but on the first run-through, she often is me.
I’m probably even more curious than my characters!
I am totally like you here–I totally would rather not know the REAL deal, but like to make it up–whether outrageously to amuse myself of friends, or just as a way to urge myself to mind my own business (reminding myself the things I’d rather not KNOW if they were true). It is good for a sleuth though! Mine has a public relations background and so justifies her nosiness as ‘damage prevention’–if she KNOWS she can protect her clients… but even by another name, it is still curiosity.
Sylvia and Willie are curious, I think, but it tends to get Sylvia in the most trouble. Willie is so sensitive to “vibes” that he sometimes shuts down so he doesn’t get too far into anyone else’s business.
I think curiosity is integral to story-telling. Without it, holding a reader’s interest can become a tricky task.
9 comments:
Margot–I kind of hate that I’ve gotten to the reading glasses point. Bleh. I’m blind as a bat anyway (-8.5), so I’m always in my contacts. Now to have glasses *and* contacts? Sigh.
Duty definitely works as a sleuth–but you’re right, it’s not as interesting. Curiosity can be a fallible trait, and that’s fun to work with.
Helen–The nice thing is that it’s a trait that justifies a lot of the protagonist’s intrepid actions.
Cold As Heaven–Scientists, engineers, inventors…very curious people! It’s a good thing, too.
I think curiosity is a great trait–it’s kind of odd that I don’t have it! There’s that fine line between nosy and curious…and I’m definitely on the nosy side.
Yes, I’m thinking she could make a good victim. :) She did look a little embarrassed when she saw me watching her. I couldn’t get too upset, though, considering that I eavesdrop. :) I guess it’s the pot calling the kettle black…
Alex–Being driven is something I CAN relate to!
Mary–There’s that subconscious temptation, isn’t there, to write ourselves into the books–just because we know ourselves so well and it’s simpler.
Diane–I can see that about you! Spunky and curious. :)
Hart–Not knowing something is more fun, isn’t it? Mysteries are less-interesting when they’re solved. :) One reason that I never cheat and read the ending first!
Good thing that our sleuths aren’t like us!
Jeffrey–I think what we have to understand is how to appeal to a *reader’s* curiosity. As a reader, I usually am more curious…although, sadly, lately I’ve been more interested in the writer’s mechanics and craft in writing a murder mystery than who the actual killer in the book is.
Dorte–I like her already!
Interesting question, I shall have to give this some thought. I guess my antagonist is very curious she wants to keep her enemies closer so she’d have to be curious about everyone. :O)
Madeleine–That’s definitely a hazard that goes along with the antagonist job, isn’t it? :) She’ll have to be curious to save her own skin, it sounds like!
You may have just saved my novel!! I don’t write mysteries but I’m always struggling with my characters motivation. More often there is something they DON’T want than something they do. But curiosity! Why didn’t I think about that before?
Yes, very much an important trait for a character, especially in a mystery. (I’d say being proactive is the trait that’s for all fiction – and being proactive about curiosity means you butt in.)
I have to admit, though, that in reading your post, I expected some Nosy Parker to interrupt your writing session to ask questions. I get that, and it drives me nuts.
But it’s just more fodder for fiction….
Patricia–They sound like the perfect foils for each other!
Mallory–It’s a trait that’s gotten many a protagonist into hot water! :) But it’s the perfect motivation…and I think it’s a trait shared by almost all the protagonists I can think of. It’s great to move a story forward. Good luck with it!
Hi Elizabeth – great post and fun comments to read .. your focus in the coffee shop is pretty amazing .. I’d have ‘felt’ her reading over my shoulder long before that!
You do wonder what she wanted to say .. and I’m surprised you didn’t get more interruptions – people sitting and chatting about your work!
Love these thoughts – thanks Hilary
The Daring Novelist–Exactly! The character that imposes herself on the proceedings! A great trait for a protagonist (an annoying one in real life!)
No one usually bothers me, actually, when I write in public. But then I’m usually really focused on the computer, so maybe I don’t look friendly. And I don’t particularly want to talk, so maybe that’s coming across, too. Oh–and the fact that I talk to myself sometimes when I’m writing. :) Wonder if that could have anything to do with it?!
Hilary–Oh, the focus is a coping skill from doing so much writing at home while the kids are there! Summer vacation is really like a boot camp for a mommy-writer. :)
Usually people are really good at the coffeehouse not to bug me–probably just because I look busy. As far as what she was going to ask me? I’m guessing she was going to ask about the ending! It was on the next page. She was smart to think twice about it. :)
It’s interesting and odd that you should post this. I was over at my Mom’s today showing her my genealogy blog. Then I showed her Stat Counter, mainly because on one of my blogs, I did a travel story on Armenia and there is someone from Germany downloading these pictures. I found this interesting. My conclusion is that someone who isn’t allowed to cross the border has a friend or family member living there and is curious about them or maybe they lived in Armenia and just wanted to see how it’s changed. I’m curious about this person and would like to know exactly why they are downloading the pictures. It’s just the pictures of the countryside. I understand about the glasses. I’m nearsighted and farsighted. I find it easier to take off my glasses to read rather than go buy a new pair. With bifocals, it’s so hard to adjust to a new pair of glasses.
It’s interesting how many vital traits for a protagonist aren’t exactly healthy, or even popular, traits in a person. Curiosity to a snoopy level, drive that borders on obsession, and an unhealthy disregard for social conventions all make for a very good and flexible protagonist. Not the kind of person I’d want as a neighbor though! :D