Picture Frames
You ever get a new picture frame as a gift or buy one at the store? They always come with a pre-fab "family" in them. Smiling. Perfect. "Picture-perfect," in fact. Not a hair out of place. Toothpaste commercial smile. Adoring. Happy. No tension. No Demon Baby squirming, the children are even perfect.
I get asked all the time, "What do you like to write about?" Because I write across genres, sometimes it's not easy to explain.
But in thinking about it . . . I don't like to write about those people in picture frames.
I like messy lives. Messy hearts. If there's murder, the cop solving it will be a mess. If there's the mob, their relationships will be untidy and angry and loving and evil all wrapped into a messy package with a lopsided bow. In my middle-grade Magickeepers book, the family is Russian and moody, and loyalties are complicated affairs. And the guy I thought was the leader, the role model for my young hero to emulate--turns out he has LOTS of problems, including an ego so big it takes over the room. So the role model is the quieter magician over there--in that corner. The one who watches, saying nothing. He's humble. I like him. But the family? Complicated.
In fact, in real life, when I even SEE a picture-perfect family? I am looking for the cracks. I wonder what dark secrets they have. What goes on behind closed doors. NO ONE could be that perfect, right? My favorite (if you can use such a word for murder) "true-crime" tales are those "perfect" families that then erupt into a murder--did the perfect husband really murder the perfect wife?
Thoughts?
I get asked all the time, "What do you like to write about?" Because I write across genres, sometimes it's not easy to explain.
But in thinking about it . . . I don't like to write about those people in picture frames.
I like messy lives. Messy hearts. If there's murder, the cop solving it will be a mess. If there's the mob, their relationships will be untidy and angry and loving and evil all wrapped into a messy package with a lopsided bow. In my middle-grade Magickeepers book, the family is Russian and moody, and loyalties are complicated affairs. And the guy I thought was the leader, the role model for my young hero to emulate--turns out he has LOTS of problems, including an ego so big it takes over the room. So the role model is the quieter magician over there--in that corner. The one who watches, saying nothing. He's humble. I like him. But the family? Complicated.
In fact, in real life, when I even SEE a picture-perfect family? I am looking for the cracks. I wonder what dark secrets they have. What goes on behind closed doors. NO ONE could be that perfect, right? My favorite (if you can use such a word for murder) "true-crime" tales are those "perfect" families that then erupt into a murder--did the perfect husband really murder the perfect wife?
Thoughts?
Labels: characters
posted by Erica Orloff at 9:29 AM
28 Comments:
You ever see "Blue Velvet?" (I hated the movie, by the way). It starts with a panning shot of a quintessential suburb, smiling families, manicured lawns, white picket fences, sprinklers going.
Then the camera pans down into the grass and dirt and there are insects digging around.
I sort of like writing about that.
I like seeing what happens when consciously bad people come up against very flawed good people and what the clash is like.
I like to write about people who are problem solvers, smart people with problems who have a job to do because they're good at it.
Mark:
That movie sent me into a catatonic state it was so depressing. Second only to Requiem for a Dream.
I love what you say about consciously bad people coming up against flawed good people. LOVE that!
E
Brilliant! Those photos are so darn corny, I always take them out of the frames fast. When I think of all the family photos my daughter has snapped, there's always a goofy smile somewhere, hair splayed across a face, a grandchild being "original." I love them all, and wouldn't trade any for the "Stepford" pic.
On a character note, I love audacious ones, the ones unafraid of what people will think. I had good people around me growing up, one and all, but a thread of "outward appearance means something," ran beneath the surface. Maybe why I'm interested in real? LOL. Best life experience I ever had, hands down. And I thank all of them from the bottom of my heart.
People and lives are very often not what they seem. I try to remember that when I write. I'm plugging away at a twist for a secondary character - to throw a wrench into what the main character thinks are steadfast suburban truths.
This has been part of the learning process for me in writing my first novel. To uncover the realities slowly, not only of my main character but of those around her to ensure a layered and interesting story that mirrors life.
Erica,
Like you, I tend to like flawed characters, probably because I like flawed people. In the real world, people who look picture perfect are generally not pleasant to be be around... they're also hiding something, or at least in my experience.
There's a reason someone goes to all the trouble of presenting the perfect appearance (and it looks like hard work), and I think those characters could be interesting, the ones behind the picture, but I haven't seen one portrayed in such a way that I root for them yet - maybe someone's got a recommend on that...
That makes me think of how when "perfect" couples split up, people say , "oh, but they seemed so happy." People work hard to keep that outward appearance, but everyone has problems. You just have to dig for them.
One of my favorite pictures from my wedding is of the entire wedding party, which was mostly my family. My then 12-year old niece didn't know what to do with her legs - I'd describe them as akimbo - and it drives my mother crazy. I love it because it's her, in all her glory.
I love those pictures... they are so much the face of how much society thinks it needs a shiny gloss of "all is well" over everything.
Look at what we see on TV. Either all is well, or we are tearing apart people on the "reality" shows or on the talk shows.
We love our celebrities and then we tear them to shreds when they do not live up to impossibly perfect ideals.
It is insane and sad and in instant it can bring us together, comforted with our shared humanity.
Loving the flaws keeps me human, keeps me in touch with my own humanity, and allows me to love my characters and give them the space to be themselves, evil, good or in-between.
ladonna:
"Real" is a great way to describe it.
E
Hi Amy:
Want to know something weird? I just turned in what is likely . . . I don't know, myabe my 20th novel? And as SOON as I turned it in, a new "truth" about a character revealed itself, which I will now work in during rewrites. The process is always evolving! :-)
E
Merry:
Interesting. Yes, there's an effort to portray perfection. Reminds me of what people say about alcoholic families--all that effort spent hiding the dysfunction and trying to appear like everything is fine to the neighbors.
E
Melanie:
What a wonderful picture I got in my head!!! :-)
And yes, I am NEVER shocked at divorces. Because I know the only two people who REALLY know what's going on are the people themselves.
E
ewoh:
I have nothing to add. Perfectly said, my friend.
E
I think a lot of writers are closet healers. We like to take screwed up people and fix them.
"No one is that perfect."
I love that! That's what I'm always thinking. I never feel quite comfortable around someone until they've shown me a couple of those cracks. I just don't trust perfect!
Perfection is always an illusion. There's always irony there, just waiting to be found.
Great post, Erica.
Travis:
I hadn't thought of that, but I think you're right. Or we're closet shrinks.
E
Spy:
I am always WAY more comfortable with this people a few cornflakes short of a full bowl.
E
Jude:
True. It's all an illusion.
E
I like those stories that start out where the character looks like they have the perfect life. Then, you lift that first layer and the crustiness falls out. Love it!
Marcia:
I actually think a lot of romantic comedies use that model. Things seem good--then disaster strikes, then you have to fix your messy life.
E
LOL!! I was thinking more along the lines of The Stepfather starring Terry O'Quinn. ;-) I know. I'm warped like that. I can't get into romantic comedies, so that analogy never came to mind.
HAHAHAH! DH and I have an ongoing joke about this. He kept one of those frames (with the perfect woman photo) on his desk for years. She became part of our family, like a pet. (I know, we're weird)
Miss coming here. I love your posts.
This post reminds me of a time when my family got a family picture done, and there was one shot that got captured where we were all doing something goofy. I was turning my head to the side looking at my dad and laughing. His eyes were closed and he was laughing. My mother was turned halfway around. And my brother had his hand over his mouth laughing and he looked like a pirate for some reason.
It was so funny. It was like, this is what family pictures should be, even formal family pictures. So I got them to order some wallet sizes of this shot when it came up on the computer. I was a teenager at the time. I would have liked to have had a larger one to go on the wall, cause that would have just been funny when people came over.
Marcia:
OOOOOOOOOOOH! Scary!
E
Chris:
That is hysterical! I think I'd like your DH with a sense of humor like that!
zoe:
That's just really awesome! I like my kids' pictures when they are caught mid-laugh. When I look at the photos, I can kind of "hear" their giggles.
E
"My favorite (if you can use such a word for murder) "true-crime" tales are those "perfect" families that then erupt into a murder"
Erica, in many of those cases the controlling husband has the family terrified of acting any way that isn't perfect. Makes me glad for my messy life.
My husand and I recently found out a very close relative has a gambling problem. Now we're looking back and saying "Oh, that's why they did ... and ... " For years, we never realized and it's a huge shock.
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