Meaningful Quirks vs. Clutter
In life, we are each a huge assortment of personal quirks, downfalls, and traits. Some of them, when we get to be intimate with each other, are important to know. Some are just those little things--the millions of them--that make up a person, but they don't reflect our personal character.
So, for instance, if you were trying to get to know me as a person, it would be important to know I'm a practicing Buddhist who also is a theist. That's pretty evident in the "quirky" things on my desk--not only dozens of Buddha statues, but St. Joseph, too. But you'd also see me cross myself any time I said a prayer, or spoke of something evil. And if you got to know me, REALLY know me, which very few people do in life, then you would understand all those gestures and things are fiercely and hard won. I've been through a lot in this life. Would it be important to know my favorite color is green, my favorite vodka is Gray Goose, my favorite candy is Neccos, my favorite piece of music is Beethoven's Ninth? Not really. If you were in love with me, or my friend, then you might find those quriks mildly interesting. You might discover I like Neccos because my grandma always gave them to me. Or that the Ninth makes me feel like I am flying. And you might find it winsome or cute or interesting. But important to knowing me. Not so much. Or not as much as other traits.
Same with characters. You need to devise quirks and traits that have MEANING. If your character, like Ava in THE ROOFER, can't sleep in a bed with another human being because of abuse she suffered, it crosses the line from a quirk that she will get up from her lover's bed and go sleep on the couch, to something that is a hint of what is to come in the big reveal. Do you know if Ava happens to like patty melts? No. That is clutter that can get trimmed away.
A lot of us, as writers, create character sketches. We know everything about our characters. But the quirks that make it into your book should REVEAL something, not just be there for the sake of being there. I know a couple of writers who have shared what their characters' birthdays are in a blog discussion at some point. And that's great. But unless it has to do with the plot (a birthday party killer?), or you believe in astrology (something some do), then it is irrelevant. If it HELPS you, the creator and writer, to know your character better, then by all means, slap it in your character sketch. But does it belong in the book? Probably not.
I have no idea, by the way, what ANY of my characters' birthdays are. Or their opinions on tuna melts. BUT, I can tell you a couple of them like scrambled eggs with ketchup. Why is THAT important and not TUNA, you ask? Because it is a dinstinctly NYC trait to smother scrambled eggs in ketchup. I presume they do it elsewhere, but New Yorkers are really known for it, and so it comes up from time to time, when my characters visit diners.
Anyway, quirks vs. clutter. What quirks is it IMPORTANT for us to know about you . . . or your characters?
Cheers,
E
So, for instance, if you were trying to get to know me as a person, it would be important to know I'm a practicing Buddhist who also is a theist. That's pretty evident in the "quirky" things on my desk--not only dozens of Buddha statues, but St. Joseph, too. But you'd also see me cross myself any time I said a prayer, or spoke of something evil. And if you got to know me, REALLY know me, which very few people do in life, then you would understand all those gestures and things are fiercely and hard won. I've been through a lot in this life. Would it be important to know my favorite color is green, my favorite vodka is Gray Goose, my favorite candy is Neccos, my favorite piece of music is Beethoven's Ninth? Not really. If you were in love with me, or my friend, then you might find those quriks mildly interesting. You might discover I like Neccos because my grandma always gave them to me. Or that the Ninth makes me feel like I am flying. And you might find it winsome or cute or interesting. But important to knowing me. Not so much. Or not as much as other traits.
Same with characters. You need to devise quirks and traits that have MEANING. If your character, like Ava in THE ROOFER, can't sleep in a bed with another human being because of abuse she suffered, it crosses the line from a quirk that she will get up from her lover's bed and go sleep on the couch, to something that is a hint of what is to come in the big reveal. Do you know if Ava happens to like patty melts? No. That is clutter that can get trimmed away.
A lot of us, as writers, create character sketches. We know everything about our characters. But the quirks that make it into your book should REVEAL something, not just be there for the sake of being there. I know a couple of writers who have shared what their characters' birthdays are in a blog discussion at some point. And that's great. But unless it has to do with the plot (a birthday party killer?), or you believe in astrology (something some do), then it is irrelevant. If it HELPS you, the creator and writer, to know your character better, then by all means, slap it in your character sketch. But does it belong in the book? Probably not.
I have no idea, by the way, what ANY of my characters' birthdays are. Or their opinions on tuna melts. BUT, I can tell you a couple of them like scrambled eggs with ketchup. Why is THAT important and not TUNA, you ask? Because it is a dinstinctly NYC trait to smother scrambled eggs in ketchup. I presume they do it elsewhere, but New Yorkers are really known for it, and so it comes up from time to time, when my characters visit diners.
Anyway, quirks vs. clutter. What quirks is it IMPORTANT for us to know about you . . . or your characters?
Cheers,
E
posted by Erica Orloff at 11:35 AM
8 Comments:
Quirks...It annoys me when people touch my hair--makes it very difficult to cut my hair LOL. And I'm one of those people who hates having one food touch another on her plate. Yeah. I'm a control freak.
May:
I think so many of our quirks are, indeed, about control at their root. If you have a phobia, for instance, you will often try to control your environment to avoid the phobia entirely.
E
Out of curiosity, I asked my son if he could name some of my quirks. He didn't really know what a quirk was, so I said it's kind of like a weird habit. Here's what he came up with:
1) I look at strange web sites, including one about cows (crabbycows.blogspot.com)
2) I wear funky-looking glasses when I mow the lawn
3) I write books
So, from a fourteen year-old's perspective, these things about me are very strange.
One genuine quirk--or maybe it would be better classified as a "nervous habit"--I have is twisting hair when I'm deep in thought. Since I don't have any hair on my face or scalp at the moment, my eyebrows are all that's left. They tend to look pretty gnarly after I've been reading or writing for awhile. :)
Nicholas Colt, my protagonist, does something many people might consider a quirk: He names inanimate objects, and talks to them sometimes. The .38 he usually carries, for instance, is named Bill. This quirk of his is a meaningful one, but I don't think I'll reveal the meaning just yet. :)
Jude,
My oldest child twirl(s)(ed) his hair in one particular spot when he's dealing with things and needs a little comfort. It's why I keep his hair very short--don't want him getting a bald spot. He doesn't go for that spot so much as he's getting older (and b/c there's nothing there to grab) but I wouldn't be surprised if at really bad points in his adult life he goes for it: he had his hand up at that spot on his head in the sonogram at 20 weeks. That makes me think it's some kind of hard code in his brain.
Anyway, what I came in to say before I read the other comments was, it's interesting, Erica, to hear/read you talk about things being necessary to the book in order to make it in. I've told my dh in the past that if I ever wanted to be a writer, I would really study your books b/c YOU DON'T WASTE WORDS (and the corrollary to that is that I would recommend to an aspiring writer that they read your stuff).
It took me a few of your books to get that (the luxuries of being "just" a reader is that you can enjoy books without analyzing the craft part that made it work for you). But it's so much a part of your style that an awareness of how concise your writing is kind of sneaked in to my conscious mind. I really like and respect how every word that hits the page COUNTS.
Penn
There are so many things I know about my characters that readers will never need to know. My best friend and I made a game while we were on holiday of challenging each other to come up with our characters' various "favourites." Favourite colours, school subjects, pizza toppings... whatever. Lots of fun.
I think a well-placed quirk can reveal so much about people and relationships. My main character bites her thumb nail when she's thinking. Her foster-brother always knocks her hand from her mouth if he sees her doing it. I think it shows the level of comfort he has with her, and reveals her inability to be inactive without actually telling the reader it. Or at least I hope it does.
Jude:
I love when kids give their perceptions. I know one time I was discussing something about art--Goya or someone, can't quite recall. Anyway, I was launching into this perfectly lovely story, and my oldest looked at me and said, "Do you HAVE to know so much?" I am a useless well of assorted trivia.
:-)
E
Penn:
I am really humbled. THANK YOU. I would also have to thank Jon, from my writers' group, who is a ruthless word/scene and CHAPTER cutter.
E
naomi:
Great point: "Readers don't need to know." I've used this analogy before. It's like actors who know the "back story" of their character. Some of them, depending on what school of acting they are in, can come up (sometimes with the director's input) with very elaborate ones. It gives nuance to their performance, but the facts of the back story never show up on screen.
E
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