by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig
I read in the Charlotte Observer recently that there was a new radio station in town…an oldies station. I was glad to hear the news—I remember thinking that there wasn’t really a station that played Motown or the Beatles.
The next time I got in the car, I turned on the radio and turned to the station I’d read about.
I frowned. “That’s strange,” I said to my son. “There’s supposed to be an oldies station here. But they’re playing Prince.”
I glanced over and saw my teen son’s face go carefully, cautiously, diplomatically blank. I kept changing the dial ever so slightly, listening for the Supremes or Otis Redding or the Beach Boys.
Then I realized it. The station that was playing Prince was the oldies station. I’d thought an oldies station would play music from when my parents were in high school…but it was playing music from when I was in high school.
Bleh.
Just like my son let me figure out on my own that 41 year olds aren’t spring chickens, sometimes it’s helpful for us to let characters figure things out for themselves. When should characters realize they’re not able to save the world? Or be the perfect parent? Or that they have anger management issues? Or a drinking problem? Or that they’re getting old? :)
One way to prompt the character into introspection is by having the character react to a life event. The event (end of a marriage/relationship, loss of a job, fatal car accident the protagonist walks away from) could make the character reflect on his part in the failure and new awareness of his own shortcomings.
In my books (mysteries), sometimes the characters don’t ever have that epiphany. Instead, they end up murdering another character, or become a murder victim, themselves.
Another way to get a protagonist to reach that moment of self-discovery/awareness is to have another character point out the protagonist’s flaw. This can be tricky, though, just like it is in real life. It can make for great conflict.
If another character offers insight into some truth about the protagonist, it offers an opportunity for character development. Does the protagonist get defensive? Analytical? Does he agree or disagree? Does he storm off? Is he hurt? How does it affect the relationship between the two characters?
Something else to consider is the reader. When should you time this moment of introspection for the protagonist (if it’s a secondary character, I don’t think it’s quite as big of a question)? When will the reader get tired of the fact that the protagonist just doesn’t get it? When would you, as a reader, get frustrated that the protagonist is stuck in a cycle, for instance?
Those are the ways that I’ve come up with to make characters come to grips with their own shortcomings (reacting to an event or having another character force them into thinking about it.) Have you got any other ideas? What have you used in your books?
Photo: Flickr—Elkit
Elizabeth – Yep; you know you’re no longer a teen when a ‘classic rock’ or ‘oldies’ station plays music you rocked to… And I think you’re right about the value in a lot of ways of having characters have to come to terms with themselves. I’ve seen it work quite well when a character’s weakness affects someone s/he loves. There’s nothing like accidentally hurting someone we love to make us come up short about our faults.
I have a bit of a hard time breaking my characters out of those cycles. I’m getting better, but it’s tough!
OH Elizabeth, this scene with your son made me laugh and sigh. I went to a rock concert a few months back and was standing in the lobby asking my friends why all the old people with gray and white hair and canes were coming to a rock concert when I realized I was one of them.
karen
Pointing out anyone’s flaws is always tricky. I’ve done both the self-realization and the showdown.
My husband has always wondered when 80’s music would be considered classic. I guess the time has arrived.
Diane–It’s definitely tricky.
Yep. Classic. That’s us. :)
Margot–Oh, good idea. So the character could have a moment of self-realization when they see how their behavior/addiction/flaw is affecting their child, spouse, parent, or someone else close to them.
Jemi–Those characters don’t listen to us sometimes, either! :)
Sorry, I’m still chuckling!
Anger and loner issues – got those covered in my books.
And two of the stations I listen to on Sirius/XM are classic 80’s and 90’s rock stations – Hair Nation and The Boneyard.
Hi Elizabeth .. 80s and 90s are not good years music wise for me – except now I’m coming to appreciate some of the songs …
I was wondering about using examples – for us souls who don’t actually author books … or for readers who might like an example?
A thought .. cheers Hilary
Karen–You’re a lot more limber than they are, a dancer and singer yourself. :) But I know what you mean. I’m starting to get startled when I look at myself in the mirror. Who *is* that middle aged woman?! :)
Alex–I *might* occasionally listen to those Sirius stations on my television as I clean house. :) Ha!
Hilary–Thanks for coming by! Yes, I think the songs seem better as I get older. Wasn’t wild about them as much back then.
Absolutely, examples are good. So, if my protagonist had a nasty drinking problem (an easy example), we have a few different ways of bringing this to his attention (if he’s in denial. Works for other personality flaws, too.) If he realizes he has a problem on his own, we could have him come to work drunk…and cause airplanes to have a near collision, if he’s an air traffic controller. This could make him decide, himself, that he needs help.
If we want him to realize he has a problem because other characters inform him of his problem (an intervention, say), then we set up a scene where concerned mom, loving girlfriend, and baby sister tell him he needs to go to rehab. This gives us the opportunity to find out more about our protagonist–will he get incredibly defensive and perhaps even violent at the suggestion? Will he break down in tears? Will he cunningly convince his concerned family that he’ll reform his ways…and then open another beer when they leave?
That’s so funny! It’s pretty funny talking to my 12-year-old niece about music. We’re only 15 years apart, but she thinks I’m a bit old. Luckily for me that some of the music artists from my high school days are still around which she listens to. When we were on vacation, she was watching the VMAs and I watched a little bit with her and was surprised that I had no clue who half the artists were. I thought I was the cool aunt who knew all the happenings in pop culture, but apparently not!
LOL, I used to say “You know you’re getting old when the Classic Rock station starts playing that new crap, and the Golden Oldies station starts to sound pretty hip.”
In the meantime: you’ve hit on my favorite part of writing, and reading: The layers of discovery for the characters and each other, and for ourselves and readers.
Laura–I’m one-up on you because I DO know who those VMA artists are…my daughter is a preteen. :) Otherwise, I’d be just as much in the dark!
Ha! Somehow I just didn’t think that my Golden Oldie days would be *now*. How wrong I was!
Those discoveries really do add texture to a book.
Oh, too funny hearing Prince on the oldies. I definitely prefer 70s/80s/90s oldies to older than that but yeah… hard to call the 80s/90s stuff oldies. And I love that your son had the presence to let YOU figure it out. I think as a writer, that is actually a great skill–to let the reader and protagonist figure it out without ever saying it–then the reader gets to feel smart while also not getting annoyed with the MC for their failure to get it.
My dear darling Elizabeth:
Forty-one is old?
Oh dear me.
I guess this is MY wake-up call, just as our characters needs theirs!
Jody
Hart–Good point–that by letting the protagonist figure out his flaw on his own, the reader can see between the lines and feel clever for figuring it all out before he does.
Jody–I think you and I are *very* young. And I think that the radio station programmers are deluded. That’s what I’m going with–ha!
so you consider “oldies” songs that were popular when your parents were in high school. I’m probably as old as your parents, so that works for me. I don’t think I’d consider what my own parents listened to as “oldies”–they’re more like “classics”.
As for characters–for me, if they don’t grow over the story, then there’s not much going on. I like putting other characters in the story who will stand up to the protagonists and tell it like it is. With my cops, it’s relatively easy. It can be done with humor, or sometimes in frustration, or even anger. How well the protagonists accept it is what I find interesting, especially in series books where you can watch the changes play out over more than one story.
Terry
Terry’s Place
Terry–Or “standards,” even, right? I’m always curious as to what makes a standard.
Character growth is key, isn’t it? If they’re static, the story stays pretty static, too.