Character is the life-blood of writing, no matter what kind of creative writing (perhaps even academic writing, too...) you do. Sometimes the character is human, sometimes not, sometimes it is just an object in an empty room. The character is someone or something that drives the work. It gives it life and intrigue, without which the story could not be as interesting or as valuable.
A reader might forgive an author for a sup-par plot. They might forgive unclear setting or language that doesn't match the voice. A reader might even forgive god-awful writing, so long as the character is given the necessary attention. What reader would ever forgive an author for writing its characters with no development, no fine weaving into the text, no dynamic journey? It is a part of what we cherish most, the thing that give fiction some of it's greatest value. Richard Bausch puts it well when he explains that:
Without character, we wouldn't be able to make these connections. Think for a moment of a tv show you've loved. Perhaps you watched it religiously. Perhaps you wrote stories based off the characters. Think of why you loved it so much. What drove you to keep watching? If you didn't feel that way about television, what about movies? Books? What captured you the most? It was probably the characters. Something they did, things they said, their feelings, their masks, something made them more real than any person you might've ever met. It's why we love stories so much. For all the things they show us of our world, they tell us a million more about people. About who we are and why we do the things we do.
That is life. That is magic. That is art.
A reader might forgive an author for a sup-par plot. They might forgive unclear setting or language that doesn't match the voice. A reader might even forgive god-awful writing, so long as the character is given the necessary attention. What reader would ever forgive an author for writing its characters with no development, no fine weaving into the text, no dynamic journey? It is a part of what we cherish most, the thing that give fiction some of it's greatest value. Richard Bausch puts it well when he explains that:
"We know these people, therefore, better than we ever really know anyone in life".Fiction allows for us to see the internal life of a person, to know with near certainty their motivations and find ourselves rooting for people we might never support in the outside world, hoping beyond hope that they will succeed or be happy or just survive. Some of my favorite books captured me by showing me characters I would likely never befriend, and showed me their world, their fears and experiences, letting me understand and connect with them emotionally.
Without character, we wouldn't be able to make these connections. Think for a moment of a tv show you've loved. Perhaps you watched it religiously. Perhaps you wrote stories based off the characters. Think of why you loved it so much. What drove you to keep watching? If you didn't feel that way about television, what about movies? Books? What captured you the most? It was probably the characters. Something they did, things they said, their feelings, their masks, something made them more real than any person you might've ever met. It's why we love stories so much. For all the things they show us of our world, they tell us a million more about people. About who we are and why we do the things we do.
That is life. That is magic. That is art.
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