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aestivatesTitle: Reflection on Writing - Character and Voice
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sira
Word Count: 652
Notes: Written months ago for CW portfolio, as a short reflective article on an aspect of writing of your choice. I chose character and voice, for fairly obvious reasons. :)
The art of writing would seem to differ vastly from the other major forms in many different aspects, with one of the most significant being the ability to tell a story with a character, using not only the description or actions of the character, but their voice.
Words are, perhaps, the most powerful tools when it comes to bringing an entity to life, whether it's a person, an animal, or a particularly quirky object, for not even the most realistic of portraits can depict precisely the type of character a subject is to the level of detail a piece of writing can. Through the flexible medium of language, it becomes possible to create complex, three-dimensional beings with thoughts and feelings that move far beyond what it could ever seem on the surface. And it's easy enough to see this at work in an everyday life; many people, aside from speech, do tend to think verbally, with the occasional flash of image or memory to help the process along. It's a given that communication is key to understanding between individuals, and this definitely includes the understanding between author and reader. So where does voice come into it?
In standard prose literature, there is a clear narrative voice—oftentimes, it is an omniscient third person, and in others, it can be any of the main or supporting characters in the story. For an objective narrator, the diction and tone tends to be the closest to a direct reflection of the author's voice; the overall style may vary depending on the genre (i.e. light comedy as opposed to epic fantasy), but for a truly accomplished writer, there is a distinct feel in their method of storytelling that is usually able to set them apart from others. It becomes slightly more complicated when the narrator is an existing character in the story, and the voice becomes their own—it opens up hundreds of doors through which the writer can take the narrative down the winding, endless paths of character development.
Of course, it is important to take note of the narrator's role in the story in relation to the plot and mood, as a very cheerful, optimistic type could provide a particularly unique take on a horror-mystery, just the same as a morbidly sarcastic type would provide a doubtlessly entertaining point of view on a silly romance. In fact, simply considering the contrasts and compliments between narrative and plot can already give a story an unexpected spin on events. The interesting thing about this is that the driest of plots could still be well worth the read with a fascinating enough character, while an adventurous and daring plot could be significantly taken down several notches in quality by an uninteresting, predictable character.
And that's where the importance of character in a story comes into play, since without a subject that can think or feel, one is left with nothing but flat description and an empty, mechanical series of events that take place without meaning or purpose. Character is required for a reader to be able to relate to the story in some manner, and where the plot and setting first take action, a character provides both an accompanying reaction and the action that assists in moving the plot along. In the case of a character's narrative, it's always interesting to consider existing bias, which (among other things) could very well lead to an unreliable take of the tale, as well as hints gradually revealed through subtle actions and thoughts that can tie together to fully illustrate a perspective without simply listing blunt, hard facts.
The most intriguingly complex characters are often inspired from parts of the author himself, or from parts of the author's life, which typically gives a well-written tale that much more of a unique and personal touch to make it memorable. That aspect itself, of distinction, is most likely the most important aspect of all.
Author:
siraWord Count: 652
Notes: Written months ago for CW portfolio, as a short reflective article on an aspect of writing of your choice. I chose character and voice, for fairly obvious reasons. :)
The art of writing would seem to differ vastly from the other major forms in many different aspects, with one of the most significant being the ability to tell a story with a character, using not only the description or actions of the character, but their voice.
Words are, perhaps, the most powerful tools when it comes to bringing an entity to life, whether it's a person, an animal, or a particularly quirky object, for not even the most realistic of portraits can depict precisely the type of character a subject is to the level of detail a piece of writing can. Through the flexible medium of language, it becomes possible to create complex, three-dimensional beings with thoughts and feelings that move far beyond what it could ever seem on the surface. And it's easy enough to see this at work in an everyday life; many people, aside from speech, do tend to think verbally, with the occasional flash of image or memory to help the process along. It's a given that communication is key to understanding between individuals, and this definitely includes the understanding between author and reader. So where does voice come into it?
In standard prose literature, there is a clear narrative voice—oftentimes, it is an omniscient third person, and in others, it can be any of the main or supporting characters in the story. For an objective narrator, the diction and tone tends to be the closest to a direct reflection of the author's voice; the overall style may vary depending on the genre (i.e. light comedy as opposed to epic fantasy), but for a truly accomplished writer, there is a distinct feel in their method of storytelling that is usually able to set them apart from others. It becomes slightly more complicated when the narrator is an existing character in the story, and the voice becomes their own—it opens up hundreds of doors through which the writer can take the narrative down the winding, endless paths of character development.
Of course, it is important to take note of the narrator's role in the story in relation to the plot and mood, as a very cheerful, optimistic type could provide a particularly unique take on a horror-mystery, just the same as a morbidly sarcastic type would provide a doubtlessly entertaining point of view on a silly romance. In fact, simply considering the contrasts and compliments between narrative and plot can already give a story an unexpected spin on events. The interesting thing about this is that the driest of plots could still be well worth the read with a fascinating enough character, while an adventurous and daring plot could be significantly taken down several notches in quality by an uninteresting, predictable character.
And that's where the importance of character in a story comes into play, since without a subject that can think or feel, one is left with nothing but flat description and an empty, mechanical series of events that take place without meaning or purpose. Character is required for a reader to be able to relate to the story in some manner, and where the plot and setting first take action, a character provides both an accompanying reaction and the action that assists in moving the plot along. In the case of a character's narrative, it's always interesting to consider existing bias, which (among other things) could very well lead to an unreliable take of the tale, as well as hints gradually revealed through subtle actions and thoughts that can tie together to fully illustrate a perspective without simply listing blunt, hard facts.
The most intriguingly complex characters are often inspired from parts of the author himself, or from parts of the author's life, which typically gives a well-written tale that much more of a unique and personal touch to make it memorable. That aspect itself, of distinction, is most likely the most important aspect of all.
