Masterpiece Mystery is my favorite show on TV right now, and I’ve really enjoyed their recent airing of “Inspector Lewis.” It’s a spin-off of the old Inspector Morse series, based on the mysteries by Colin Dexter. The same actor plays Lewis in both the Morse series and the Lewis ones.
The new series renewed my interest in watching the old one again—and PBS came through for me once more when I discovered they were running the shows on Friday nights.
Inspector Morse is an interesting character and I really respect the late Colin Dexter for his creation. He wrote an amazingly intuitive detective with a brilliant mind and incredible deductive ability.
But the most interesting thing about the character and why so many readers fell in love with him is what he was like when he wasn’t solving crimes. He was difficult and quiet—a lover of crosswords, classical music (especially Wagner), art, classical literature, and beer. He spoke his mind. He was crusty, grouchy—and fascinating.
I think, actually, the success of the series is due in large part to who Inspector Morse was in his spare time…when he wasn’t solving a crime and wasn’t facing a crisis.
This really makes me think. So much of our energy as a writer is poured (and rightly so) into the conflict the protagonist is facing and how they handle it. How can we best fit in the tidbits about the character—the non-conflict-related stuff that makes us love them?
I think our character needs to have a little bit of downtime in our books. Not enough, obviously, to bore the reader or interrupt the progression of the plot to a large degree—but enough for our readers to really get acquainted with our protagonist. Enough for us to develop our character a little bit and show the kind of person they are when they’re not working out the book’s conflict.
Aside from that, I think dialogue helps. We can find out a lot about our character through their interactions with secondary characters.
Even sketching out our characters’ house can tell us about them. How do they live? Can we tell what’s important to them by their possessions? Do they have trophies on their mantel from sports’ victories…or middle school spelling bees? Do they have lots of family pictures in frames? Is their house spartan or cluttered?
What kinds of things does your character do…when they’re not busy saving the world? How do you slip it in enough to intrigue the reader instead of boring them?
Great post Elizabeth. My high fantasy character is a flutist. Her music will save the world and she has a hard time trying to imagine how that will come about.
Nancy
N. R. Williams, fantasy author
Elizabeth – Oh, I’m a Colin Dexter/Inspector Morse fan, too! And you are absolutely right that it’s helpful to think of what our characters do when they are not busy solving crimes. It adds to their believability. In fact, I’ve just been thinking about that, because right now, I’m weaving some “ordinary life” scenes into my WIP, and it’s tough to strike the balance between enough of them to make my protag seem like a normal person, and not so many that he’s boring.
Wonderful idea to know and write all of this about one’s characters. While we may learn a lot during the action of the plot…we also need to breathe to take in some of the information.
I just DVRed a Masterpiece Mystery on the Wallander series. I’ve read one of those books and wasn’t as crazy about it as others seem to be. But I want to see what the MM does with the character!
Remember Masterpiece Theatre from when we were children? I remember Leslie Ann Warren as Cinderella, and the intimidating Snow Queen. Those were so magical!
Michele
SouthernCityMysteries
I so agree that it’s the ‘inside glimpses’ that endear characters to readers. I’ve got a character who cooks to unwind, and another who plays computer games. And heck, I even had one surprise me when he went to a spare bedroom and there was a piano in it!
Terry
Terry’s Place
Romance with a Twist–of Mystery
Our PBS station played the latest Lewis series a few weeks ago. I love it and am especially touched when reminders of Morse are brought in.
Knowing the routine of our characters’ ordinary lives helps in many ways – not least is that it gives an insight of how they’ll react when we cruel writers turn that ordinary world upside-down!
In attempting to show instead of tell, I use dialogue to reveal my character’s inner workings – and that works best during down times.
I am hoping I’ve managed with the Cozy, though the THEME of the cozy helped–I’m not sure I would have remembered to have my MC go to her dad’s to tend his gardens had gardening not been central. It’s harder in the suspense ones, as the suspense making events turn everything on its head from the start…
Inspector Morse is indeed a wonderful detective, both for his detective skills and his very human personality!
With regard to my characters, I have made up my mind that readers who only want fast-paced action and don´t have patience with characters coming alive are just not *my* readers. I can get through a fast-paced thriller once in a while, but I´d prefer a story that offers engaging (or provoking) characters any time.
You are so right about those details of character that make them multi-dimensional and memorable. I have had a lot of fun making the central characters for my mystery series unique and giving them interesting quirks. The series features two women homicide detectives, one white and one black, and I have purposely gone against type for both of them.
Nancy–Interesting character! I like that her music is important in the storyline, too.
Margot–You’re so right–it’s a tough balance, isn’t it? I think the trick is to weave it in. Morse used to listen to his classical music while he was mulling over the case, for example.
Alex–I like dialogue, too. Easy to read, natural to write!
Hart–You definitely succeeded! Your protagonist has a life outside of the mystery–work, a relationship, family. Very well-rounded.
Michele–Branaugh is just fantastic in the part of Wallander…but who could expect otherwise? It’s a very dark series–not a lot of light moments. Grim. But good. I found the books tough-going, too.
I’d forgotten those productions! You’re absolutely right; they were wonderful. I think we even watched them in school one day.
Terry–Otherwise, the characters aren’t really full people, are they? It’s easier to sympathize with characters who have a life outside of the turmoil!
Elspeth–I miss Morse, too! And John Thaw.
Good point! Yes, if we know a little bit more about our characters–are they detail-oriented? Are they driven? Are they daydreamers?–then we know more about how they can handle all the drama we toss their way.
You really can tell a lot about the person by looking at where they live. I, as an example, apparently like dust. I was at a meeting at a house last night that told a lot about the owners. It was probably the most amazing house I’ve ever been in. Worth millions (that’s with an “s”). They built it to look like it’d been there for hundreds of years. And it had me convinced, until I learned the owner quarried in rock from his ranch.
I enjoyed reading your post about describing the everyday side of characters. I am doing this in my own writing. I think there is a very fine line between too much and not enough detail in this area. I continue to avoid crossing that line in either direction.
Dorte–Which is why you’re writing a cozy! Although I know police procedurals can fall into that category, too. Thrillers–sometimes. It depends on the writer. I love finding out about the characters.
Helen–That would be fascinating! And that hint about the character–that it was important that his house look like it had been there a long time–makes me even more interested in them.
Nancy–A VERY fine line. If we have TOO much Ordinary Character, then we risk boring the reader. If we have too LITTLE, then they might lose interest in the character. I think the idea is to sort of tantalize the reader by dropping hints and bits of info about the character throughout the book.
Maryann–It really is the quirkiness, isn’t it? The parts that set the character apart from others? It really just serves to make us want to find out more about them.
I think you’re right! I think that we need to see a little more into our characters lives to gain a full picture of them. It’s like that in real life as well. Sometimes we’ll see our workmates everyday but when we do something in non-work hours and situations, we see another side to them. Great post.
CD
My character reads.
Inspector Morse is one of the only TV programmes I watched in the UK. I never got tired of the characters. The script write gave me a plot to interest me and a calm environment. That for me is good TV.
Oh I agree with you about Inspector Morse and Detective Lewis! Did you know the actor who played Inspector Morse hurt his leg in real life and walked with a limp? I’m trying to remember what happened. You know what supprised me about Wallander and Kenneth Branaugh? I’m expecting it to be a Scottish or Irish tale. The scenery in the first show confused me, all flat and acres of swaying wheat, then I find out he’s playing a Swedish detective. You’re right, it is a dark emotional show, but still very good, expecially this past Sunday. I’m trying to determine where I’ve seen the man who played the detective that had to take early retirement due to injuring the girl, the security guard that was shot. I wonder if PBS in Alabama is doing the Inspector Morse Friday night series. Going to check it out! Your post goes along with the site you twittered this morning-The discipline of writing, where she talks about a character that suddenly popped up in her book.