Friday, July 21, 2006

Would Darth Vader Drink Guinness?

Any time I create a character, I ask myself one simple question: Could I see that character at a bar? It doesn’t need to be an Irish pub, even though it helps; the basic question is if the person (note: “person”, not “character”) is capable of holding a conversation. Even the most obsessed psychotics are capable of holding a conversation; even an autistic can communicate their desires, albeit in limited fashion. In essence, is their something in the character that makes that character a person, with desires and wishes, balanced against their flaws and handicaps?



The problem with alien psychologies is that the writers too often ignore that even an alien psychology has to deal with the same basic motivations of any human: They need to survive, breed, and eat, however that is defined for the alien. It’s easy to forget that, but even an insect has a motivation, even if it is just finding the next meal and surviving. Most of the alien psychologies aren’t that alien when you analyze them from the stance of what their motivation is. There is no real alien psychology, at least, not in the since that it has no similarities to a human one.



The problem is that when people think “alien psychologies” they are thinking that an alien needs to have its own motivations that make no sense to other sentients. The reality is that even regular humans have motivations that are alien to other humans; consider an altruist from the perspective of someone who sees selfishness in everyone, for example, or someone who tries to live their lives morally in the eyes of a dedicated sinner. Consider how many writers treat immortals as entities that never graduated high school; how many vampires are more interested in what amounts to high school politics and are worried more about social ramifications than pursuing their own interests?



That's something you need to consider when you write. You need to ask yourself just how alien people are and decide if you are interested in trying to make those alien psychologies work or exploring how delusionary they really are. When it comes down to it the only true aliens are those we choose not to try and comprehend; all personalities are ultimately decipherable and there are no real aliens. You just need to figure out how they work in terms of your story and what they can bring your story. You'll find that people have more in common than you would think at first.



It basically comes down to that I bet you could at least debate Nietzsche with Darth Vader, and it would be interesting. A good writer will create the full personality of his characters; try to hold a basic conversation with one, and if you can, then the character is solid. That's sort of the genesis of the bar test; any two characters should be able to have a conversation in a bar or else one or both of those characters may need some work when it comes to being fleshed out. This applies especially when it comes to heroes and villains as they are usually the ones that are the most apparent in their motivations; if they can't discuss what is important to them then they have some serious issues you need to work on. So have your characters meet in a bar, at least in your head, and let them talk; it's the only real way to see who works and who needs work.

Character or Plot: Which is more important?

There are two schools of thought on what is more important, plot or character; you need to decide before plotting which school you like.



The character-first school believes that character is important because it’s the choices of the characters that define the story. The major advantage is that avoids “Acting Appropriately Stupid”, that requirement where the only way to further the plot is if a character or three makes a stupid decision that is against their character (such as splitting up and taking showers while the psycho killer is a known factor or ignoring their intuition which has served them well). However, sometimes the writer gets into plumbing character depth but usually at the cost of a coherent story; the plumbing gets so deep that the story is ignored in order to better explore the characters.



Admittedly, I’m for anything that avoids the AAS issue, but the character-first story has a problem with it: Little actually happens. The writer usually gets so wrapped up in the characters that he is afraid to affect the character long-term; the characters are considered sacrosanct, and is thus not allowed to change. After all, if what the writer likes about the character changes, then it’s no longer the same character and will no longer be as fun to play with. However, a static character is only so fun to read in the long term; people want to see some change in the character over the long term.



Worse, it becomes harder to avoid the Mary Sue problem (a “Mary Sue” is a character, usually female (males are “Gary Stu”) that is perfect in every way, and has abilities that far outstrip any competition, and has a “destiny”, but has some dark history that or desire that is counter to her plans). Instead of a realistic character development, the writer develops the character's abilities rather than her personality further alienating the reader as he can no longer relate to the character. It just hits the point that she has a large number of abilities but no real personality.



By going with the plot-first approach, the character is forced to change, and in a realistic way. Also, the characters won’t drag the story down, as you won’t explore the side trips; you’ll focus on the plot, and that’s a good thing. Your characters will also change as they adapt to the plot, and react to it realistically. Also, it allows you kill characters and not feel guilty about it. By making the plot more important than the characters, you can also throw stuff at the characters and see how they react to it.



However, there is the danger of making the plot so important that the characters are forced to make decisions that they wouldn't normally make in order to keep the plot going. Also, you start seeing coincidences start piling up as the plot barrels on regardless of the desires of the characters. While this is great for absurdist comedies it's not so great for anything else and risks alienating readers as they have to suspend disbelief at every new plot twist. This just means that you need to keep an eye on the plot and prune it when it starts getting out of hand.



Either way you can explore the characters’ characters in ways that also move the plot along, allowing you to have fun with your characters. As long as you can avoid the AAS syndrome, you can actually do what you want (explore the characters), while doing what you story needs (the plot). By reaching that compromise, you can build a stronger plot, and have fun doing it!