I Love You, and Must Hurt You
Jul 22, 2011 3:26:06 GMT -8
Post by Tim Willard on Jul 22, 2011 3:26:06 GMT -8
In the recent interview with SMeyer, she revealed that she thought it would be too much of a downer to have Bella and the Cullens actually face loss.
Now, when I was learning to write, I got a piece of advice from the editor of the first magazine I submitted a story to. He took the time to write me with about ten pages of advice, recognizing that I was young (13, actually), regarding characterization, self-insertion, and conflict.
The advice he gave me was: "If you are too attached to a character to put them through Hell, or even kill them, then you need to take a good hard look at the character."
Now, let's look at a prime example of two self-insertions who go through hell.
Mike Hammer, Mickey Spillane's self-insertion, nearly dies repeatedly, loses women he loves, and has his whole world shaken to the core.
James Bond, Ian Fleming's self-insertion, went through hell. Some of it actually happened to Mr. Fleming, but he actually put James through worse than he had it.
Conflict is a part of stories. Without conflict, the story is just a boring day in the life. But to add conflict, one must understand not just violence, but the ways, means, and after-effects of conflict.
Now, there is conflict in many types of conflict. Man VS Self, Man Vs Nature, Man VS Society (You must understand that ultimately, Man NEVER succeeds or emerges truly victorious from Man VS Society), Man VS Nature, Man VS Man, and many others.
When you decide upon conflict, you must decide just how the conflict comes to be, what occurs during the conflict, and how it is resolved.
Yes, we all love our main characters, but in order for them to grow, to become more than just stale 2-D or 1-D caricatures, you must hurt them in these conflicts, or victory comes at no cost.
Look at Bella. What did she learn from these conflicts. Nothing. She did not gain anything, she did not grow, and she did not actually face a true conflict.
Allow me pull out a thing for you to examine. A character of mine, if you would excuse the vanity.
My character in Year of the Zombie, Becka, suffers from Man VS Self, as she is forced to move from Absolutism Ethics to Relativistic Ethics, and is eventually forced to take human life. She suffers a crisis of faith, a crisis of self, and is tortured by it. It causes her emotional, spiritual, and physical pain. But she emerges from it stronger, having discovered strengths inside of herself she was unaware of, having gained respect for friends and comrades, and from those same people. She suffered, and out of her conflict came growth.
I did my best to write it in such a way, that the reader understands her agony, understands just how bleak things feel to her that she feels that she has lost the light of God, that Jesus himself has forsaken her because she has taken a human life.
Now, SMeyer talks about how her characters achieved a victory over the Volturi by outsmarting them, but let us look at realistic strategy and tactics.
The Volturi have found themselves on hostile ground, facing more than they thought they have, with their allies deserting them, the moral high ground stolen out from under them, and facing unsuspected powers that could take their tactical and strategic edge from them.
By withdrawing, this lets them go over the new data, and formulate a battle plan.
Now, you need to understand politics, the means of power, strategy and tactics. SMeyer did not do research into these, so her villains fall flat. Let us examine it realistically.
Politically, the Volturi can NOT let what happened in Forks stand. Their power was challenged, and they were forced to back down. Their grasp on power has been weakened, and others KNOW that it was. This means that they face possible challenges to their power, and so the Cullens must DIE.
Strategy demands that the Volturi pick the place and time. This means examining everything they can about their foes. The range of Bella's powers, just how reliable is their seer?
Tactically , they'd formulate battle plans, probably using Divide and Conquer to ensure they win.
Additionally ,they must destroy the South American half-breeds, to show that half-breeds are NOT allowed.
Why did I bring this up? Simple. If you are going to have conflict, you MUST look at the after-effects of the conflict resolution.
Sometimes, there is no choice but to fight. Can their be a just war? Can their be a just battle? This question has plagued philosophers for centuries, but most philosophers agree, a war to prevent extinction or against tyranny is usually just. While Ghandi might disagree, Ghandi had the luxury of powerful allies who would use violence, and while he was willing to die for his beliefs, this is a form of fighting.
Meyer didn't want to harm her characters. Rather than figure out a way for planning, diplomacy, and tactics to win the day, she chose an asspull that fell flat.
She did not want to hurt her characters in any way.
Bella was hurt when Edward left, but when he returned, everything was instantly all right.
There was no consequences that effected their relationship, so it was actually not a conflict. She didn't distrust Edward, she didn't remember that he left her, that he did not tell her the whole story and instead decided what was best without consulting her.
Everything was all right.
That isn't how characters grown.
Part of the enjoyment of a story is watching the characters grow.
We watching Belgarion grow from a child to king who replaced a bad god with a good one.
We watched Harry Potter grow from a boy into a battle-weary adult.
We watched Frodo go from innocence to soul damaged, saw Samwise grow, and saw Boromir find redemption in death.
Those are the characters we remember.
The ones we saw grow.
If you love your characters, then you MUST hurt them, they must grow.
Just like a parent knows they can't keep their child from being hurt by life if they want them to grow up to be self-sufficient adults, as an author, you cannot keep your character from being hurt by their lives if you want them to grow up to be well rounded characters.
And it must be REAL hurt, it must have consequences, it must forever alter the character and leave deep seated scars within them.
Through pain, your characters can sometimes grow in ways that will surprise even you.
Stephanie Meyer failed at this.
Read it. Examine and dissect how she failed her characters and the reader. Learn from her mistake.
And don't repeat it.
Now, when I was learning to write, I got a piece of advice from the editor of the first magazine I submitted a story to. He took the time to write me with about ten pages of advice, recognizing that I was young (13, actually), regarding characterization, self-insertion, and conflict.
The advice he gave me was: "If you are too attached to a character to put them through Hell, or even kill them, then you need to take a good hard look at the character."
Now, let's look at a prime example of two self-insertions who go through hell.
Mike Hammer, Mickey Spillane's self-insertion, nearly dies repeatedly, loses women he loves, and has his whole world shaken to the core.
James Bond, Ian Fleming's self-insertion, went through hell. Some of it actually happened to Mr. Fleming, but he actually put James through worse than he had it.
Conflict is a part of stories. Without conflict, the story is just a boring day in the life. But to add conflict, one must understand not just violence, but the ways, means, and after-effects of conflict.
Now, there is conflict in many types of conflict. Man VS Self, Man Vs Nature, Man VS Society (You must understand that ultimately, Man NEVER succeeds or emerges truly victorious from Man VS Society), Man VS Nature, Man VS Man, and many others.
When you decide upon conflict, you must decide just how the conflict comes to be, what occurs during the conflict, and how it is resolved.
Yes, we all love our main characters, but in order for them to grow, to become more than just stale 2-D or 1-D caricatures, you must hurt them in these conflicts, or victory comes at no cost.
Look at Bella. What did she learn from these conflicts. Nothing. She did not gain anything, she did not grow, and she did not actually face a true conflict.
Allow me pull out a thing for you to examine. A character of mine, if you would excuse the vanity.
My character in Year of the Zombie, Becka, suffers from Man VS Self, as she is forced to move from Absolutism Ethics to Relativistic Ethics, and is eventually forced to take human life. She suffers a crisis of faith, a crisis of self, and is tortured by it. It causes her emotional, spiritual, and physical pain. But she emerges from it stronger, having discovered strengths inside of herself she was unaware of, having gained respect for friends and comrades, and from those same people. She suffered, and out of her conflict came growth.
I did my best to write it in such a way, that the reader understands her agony, understands just how bleak things feel to her that she feels that she has lost the light of God, that Jesus himself has forsaken her because she has taken a human life.
Now, SMeyer talks about how her characters achieved a victory over the Volturi by outsmarting them, but let us look at realistic strategy and tactics.
The Volturi have found themselves on hostile ground, facing more than they thought they have, with their allies deserting them, the moral high ground stolen out from under them, and facing unsuspected powers that could take their tactical and strategic edge from them.
By withdrawing, this lets them go over the new data, and formulate a battle plan.
Now, you need to understand politics, the means of power, strategy and tactics. SMeyer did not do research into these, so her villains fall flat. Let us examine it realistically.
Politically, the Volturi can NOT let what happened in Forks stand. Their power was challenged, and they were forced to back down. Their grasp on power has been weakened, and others KNOW that it was. This means that they face possible challenges to their power, and so the Cullens must DIE.
Strategy demands that the Volturi pick the place and time. This means examining everything they can about their foes. The range of Bella's powers, just how reliable is their seer?
Tactically , they'd formulate battle plans, probably using Divide and Conquer to ensure they win.
Additionally ,they must destroy the South American half-breeds, to show that half-breeds are NOT allowed.
Why did I bring this up? Simple. If you are going to have conflict, you MUST look at the after-effects of the conflict resolution.
Sometimes, there is no choice but to fight. Can their be a just war? Can their be a just battle? This question has plagued philosophers for centuries, but most philosophers agree, a war to prevent extinction or against tyranny is usually just. While Ghandi might disagree, Ghandi had the luxury of powerful allies who would use violence, and while he was willing to die for his beliefs, this is a form of fighting.
Meyer didn't want to harm her characters. Rather than figure out a way for planning, diplomacy, and tactics to win the day, she chose an asspull that fell flat.
She did not want to hurt her characters in any way.
Bella was hurt when Edward left, but when he returned, everything was instantly all right.
There was no consequences that effected their relationship, so it was actually not a conflict. She didn't distrust Edward, she didn't remember that he left her, that he did not tell her the whole story and instead decided what was best without consulting her.
Everything was all right.
That isn't how characters grown.
Part of the enjoyment of a story is watching the characters grow.
We watching Belgarion grow from a child to king who replaced a bad god with a good one.
We watched Harry Potter grow from a boy into a battle-weary adult.
We watched Frodo go from innocence to soul damaged, saw Samwise grow, and saw Boromir find redemption in death.
Those are the characters we remember.
The ones we saw grow.
If you love your characters, then you MUST hurt them, they must grow.
Just like a parent knows they can't keep their child from being hurt by life if they want them to grow up to be self-sufficient adults, as an author, you cannot keep your character from being hurt by their lives if you want them to grow up to be well rounded characters.
And it must be REAL hurt, it must have consequences, it must forever alter the character and leave deep seated scars within them.
Through pain, your characters can sometimes grow in ways that will surprise even you.
Stephanie Meyer failed at this.
Read it. Examine and dissect how she failed her characters and the reader. Learn from her mistake.
And don't repeat it.
