Lesson 7: Combining Portrayals

[Tamur]

Lesson 7: Combining Techniques

Last week we covered the four basic ways to portray a character: summary, showing habits, character self-portraits, and physical description. This week we tackle the huge topic of how to combine these techniques.

A story with only one way of showing character would be immediately recognisable. Imagine if characters only spoke about themselves, or if only their habits were mentioned. Authors have certainly done this, but it's done for a very specific effect.

Being conscious of how you are using and combining portrayal techniques is vital to good character development. But because there are so many possibilities with this area, it can be a morass that authors struggle with. Hopefully the following will help you discover a few effects you can achieve fairly easily, as well as spark your own imagination in going further and experimenting with this rich area of literature.

Why Combine?

Before we move into specific techniques and effects, it's worth stepping back to consider the question: what makes combining techniques worth the effort?

The answer lies basically in the continuum between "conflict" and "harmony". Conflict is the clash between two opposing ideas. Harmony refers to multiple ideas working together.

In a harmonious combination, characters are pictured consistently through many different techniques. The reader comes to trust that, whenever this character is spoken of, or speaks, the information you're providing is simply another facet of the character. A reader can identify completely with this character, or loathe him/her completely, but either way it's very clear what this character is.

In a conflicting combination, character portrayals are fractured. The character summary given by the narrator says one thing, but the character her- or himself says something entirely different about her/himself, a physical description gives a picture completely different from what one would expect from the summary, or the character's habits are in conflict with any of the above. This sort of portrayal makes the reader a bit nervous about this character -- the "loveable rogue" Han Solo effect, for an example. Jane Austen had complete mastery of conflicting portrayals — making one character describe another as a complete wretch, then showing the opposite in a habit description, and so on.

So, with that as background, let's hit the road with some concrete combination techniques. Remember, these are per-character, not story-wide.

I. Omit character self-portrait and habit, use summary and description

If everyone but the character defines him- or herself, it will do two things. First, it creates a distance between the reader and the character, which can be very intriguing if the character is well-defined but a turn-off if the character is poorly drawn. Second, it creates the feeling that the character has been gagged by some outside force, which can create sympathy for the character. If this restriction is suddenly dropped near the end of a story, it can be a powerful moment of revelation.

II. Omit physical description

Completely leaving out a physical description is a way to allow the reader to more comfortably step into a character's shoes. This is a fairly common technique with the narrator or main character.

III. Establish a point of character using one technique, and then refute it with any other technique

This technique is a clear conflict type. It sets up the expectation in the reader that this contradiction must be resolved. If the contradiction is central enough to the character (or the story), then it also functions as a powerful type of foreshadowing. For those who don't know, foreshadowing is a technique by which the author gives a hint of what's to come in the future of the story.

Arthur Conan Doyle used this effect regularly. To take a concrete example, consider the narrator's comment near the start of a story:

To my dismay, he smelled as if his last bath had been weeks ago...

Three quarters of the way through the story, another character gives a quote that completely refutes this:

"He was always bathing," said Frances, "three or four a day. It was a far too much work to prepare, but I did it. I'd never question such a man."

As soon as the reader reads Frances' statement, he will go back to the beginning and find that introductory statement again, flex his eyebrows, and then read on intrigued.

IV. Establish a point of character using a factual tone, then refute it with another character's quote

A more specialised version of #3 above. If the character who refutes this "factual" information has been shown to be honest and straightforward up to that point, then this quite will cast doubt on the honesty of either the speaking character, or the character (or narrator) who gave the initial information.

If, however, the character who speaks and refutes has been shown to be devious, then this will tend to deepen that sense of distrust in the reader.

This lesson could go on, and on, and on... (and it has) but hopefully these few combination techniques give you an idea of the range of possibilities.

Love At First Sight

Finally, a note to remember when combining techniques.

When you meet someone for the first time, often your first impression of them lasts a long time - sometimes beyond the point when it's been proved completely untrue. The same is true of written characters. The first glimpse of a character will stay with your readers for quite a while. Be mindful of that first mention or first appearance. Introducing a happy, simple-living main character as a confused and hollering lunatic at Agincourt may be essential for your story, but be mindful that you'll need to commit a lot of writing time to convincing the reader about his more pleasant side.

Assignment: Due before the end of Tuesday, 17 June (any time zone)

Length: One to three pages

This is one of the few assignment in which you'll be expected to put a few things together. In this assignment you'll use the basics of everything we've covered so far to create a (very) short story.

1. Define two characters. This doesn't need to be an extensive definition, just a sketch of basic characteristics and backstory. You're encouraged to use characters from the exercises for Lessons 5 or 6, but if you don't have time to do either (or both) of those exercises, or simply want a change, you can certainly use other characters.

2. Create a scene for them to inhabit - just one scene, and just a basic sketch of it, not an amazingly detailed scene as we did earlier in the course. If your characters don't suggest a scene to you, choose a random object around you and build from that. If you can see a box nearby, for example, use a warehouse as a setting.

3. Choose one of the characters as a narrator.

4. Imagine a single plot moment. If I were using the warehouse example, then I might have a pile of boxes suddenly topple over, and one character (or both) go to investigate -- some very small action for the story to centre around. This is an exercise, so don't feel forced to resolve the action, though you may if you wish (it's irresistible at times ).

4. Pick a combination technique from above, or create your own, and write about the interaction between these characters. Note that this does not specify that it be a direct interaction (one character talking to the other) - passive interaction (one character seeing the other and describing habits or past events) is perfectly fine as well. Remember, the focus is on portrayal techniques working together or against each other.

5. Post up what combination technique you used, and post your story.