772 Characters and viewpoint

much more restrained, believable scene, and we end up knowing the characters far better:

Pete could tell Nora was nervous even before she sat down beside him-she was jittery and her smile disappeared almost instantly. She stared off into space for a moment. Pete wondered if she was going over her routine again-she had done that a lot during the last few months, doing the steps and turns and kicks and leaps over and over in her mind, terrified that she'd forget something, make some mistake and get lost and stand there looking like an idiot the way she did two years ago in Phoenix. No matter how many times Pete reassured her that it was the alcohol that made her forget, she always answered by saying, "All the dead brain cells are still dead." Hell, maybe she was right. Maybe her memory wasn't what it used to be. But she still had the moves, she still had the body, and when she got on stage the musicians might as well pack up and go home, nobody would notice what they played, nobody would care, it was Nora in that pool of light on stage, doing things so daring and so dangerous and so sweet that you couldn't breathe for watching her.

She reached out and put her hand around Pete's drink. He laid his hand gently on her arm.

"I just wanted to see what you were drinking," she said. "Whiskey."

He didn't move his hand. She shrugged in annoyance and pulled her arm away.

Go ahead and be pissed off at me, kid, but no way is alcohol going up on that stage with you to dance.

In this version there are only two lines of spoken dialogue and nobody gets embarrassingly angry in public. Furthermore, you know both Pete and Nora far better than before, because you've seen Pete's memories of Nora's struggle with alcohol filtered through his own strong love for her-or at least for her dancing. We also know more about Nora's attitude toward herself; the "dead brain cells" line tells us that she thinks of herself as permanently damaged, so that she is terrified of dancing again.

The scene still isn't perfect, but it's a lot better now because we were able to get inside Pete's mind and see Nora through his eyes, with his attitude toward her, his knowledge of their shared past.

Yet the second scene wasn't all deep penetration. While Pete's memories were deep and hot, the incident with the drink is cinematic and cool. We aren't told why Pete lays his hand gently on her arm-we already know about her drinking problem and we can guess. Nor do we need to be told that she's lying when she says "I just wanted to see what you were drinking," or what he's feeling when he answers with a single word and refuses to move his hand. We already know enough about their relationship that we supply our own heat for the scene. And yet we can drop back into deep penetration with the last paragraph, without even needing "he thought" to tell us we're back inside Pete's head.

Mastery of different levels of penetration is a vital part of bringing your characters to life. This is where you have the most control over your readers' experience, where you have the best chance to determine how well readers will know your characters and how much they'll care.

CHAPTER 18

A PRIVATE

POPULATION

EXPLOSION

WE'VE COME A LONG WAY THROUGH THIS BOOK, from invention of your characters to analysis of their role in the story, from making your characters sympathetic to letting your readers see inside your characters' minds.

Good characterization isn't a simple recipe to follow-there are too many possibilities, too many variables for any writer ever to put down a story and say, "There. The characterization is finished."

As long as your mind is alert to possibilities, your characters will grow and develop and deepen and change with every outline you make and every draft you write.

And as you become more aware of what's possible in characterization, the more experience you get in storytelling as a whole, the better the decisions you'll make and the fuller and more believable your characters will be.

If you're serious about storytelling, you'll write many stories and people them with hundreds of different characters. Even though all the characters are created by your own imagination, you still come to know them just as your readers do, except that you'll know them better and care about them even more.

Sometimes, looking back on something you wrote years before, you'll find one of your characters doing or saying something that will astonish you. How did I know she'd say that? you'll wonder. How did I ever know that that was who she was?

You'll realize then what your readers already know: that the people in your fictional world are worth knowing. Because you took the time and trouble to discover them, develop them, and present them skillfully, your readers will know those fictional people of yours far better than they'll ever understand the people of flesh and blood around them.

If your fictional vision was a good and truthful one, your characters will help your readers understand their families, their friends, their enemies, and the countless mysterious and dangerous strangers who will touch their lives, powerfully and irresistibly. And you, looking back, will join them in saying a resounding Yes to the people in your tales.

Yes. I know you, I believe in you, you're important to me. Yes.

173

174

CHARACTERS AND VIEWPOINT

INDEX

Abilities, 12

Absurdism, 123

Academic-literary fiction, 38, 48, 50,

52,95,96, 131, 163 Accent, 10, 99; Israeli, 62; New York

Jewish, 99, 100, 103; regional,

143; southern, 127 Account: eyewitness, 128, 162; first

person, 153, 157; third person,

148, 149 Action, 65, 107 Active characters, 66 "Aesthetic distance," 96 Agent Orange, 38 Agony: of defeat, 68; physical, 68 Alice (in Wonderland), 56 Alien, 71,78, 86 Aliens, 71 Allegory, 42, 52 Alien, Woody, 12, 100, 156 Alternate personality, 148 Altruism, 80 Amadeus, 78 Amateur, 43, 107 Analogy, 30 Anderson, Macon, 136 Anguish, 76

Antipathy, 36, 76, 79, 87, 89, 92 Archetypal, 22, 106 Art of storytelling, 149 Artifice, 159 Asterisks, 157 Atlas Shrugged, 121 Attitude(s), 7, 10, 27, 29, 30, 31, 38,

42, 44, 49, 50, 78, 83, 85, 86,

91,97, 101, 107-111, 127, 130, 138, 142, 153, 154, 158, 160, 167, 170

Audience: first, 15; natural, 57, 59 Author-as-hero, 96 Awe, 96, 98

B

Baby squirrel, 101, 102 Babysitting, 17-22 Background, 1, 27, 61, 66 "Bad guys," 37, 76, 86, 91,92

Balance, 48, 55, 67, 93, 144

Balancing act, 85

Barretts of Wimpole Street, 86, 87

Barrier, 132, 149

Behavior: causes of, 129; changes of,

122; misinterpreting, 7; patterns

of, 122, 123 Bellow, Saul, 96 Benny, Jack, 101 Betrayal, 6, 28, 53, 54, 63, 69, 87, 89,

151

Beverly Hills Cop, 62, 100, 106 Bible, 44, 45, 89 Bishop, Michael, 30, 163 Blind (color/gender), 7 Body, 13

Bond, James, 86, 94 Boredom, 42, 50, 145 Break: chapter, 157; line, 158; page,

157; transitional, 157 Broadcast News, 70 Bully, 86, 87, 89, 92 Bumstead, Dagwood, 13 Butch Cassidy fcf the Sundance Kid, 63 Butler, Rhett, 86, 96, 111

Cabdriver, 60, 63, 64

Caernarvon Castle, 135

Camera's eye-view, 148

Candy, John, 104

Caper stories, 51, 52, 82

Captain Blood, 96

Caricature, 22

Causal questions, 17-21, 24, 32

Cause: beyond control, 121; of change,

121-123; and result, 17, 27 Chandler, Raymond, 121 Change, 119, 120, 122, 129; attitude,

29; cause of, 121-123;

characters, 23, 51, 157, 159;

environment, 121; inexplicable,

120; justifying, 122, 123;

permanent, 52; viewpoints, 155,

158

Chapter break, 157

Character(s), 48, 52, 53, 56; active, 66; "anti-hero," 76; assassin, 5, 63,

175

Index

87, 88; avenger, 87; "bad guy," 76, 91, 92; balanced, 38; behavior, 4, 6; bring to life, 172; bully, 86, 89; comic, 99, 100, 102, 104; common man, 93, 95, 98; dangerous, 65; flesh out, 38; frequency of appearance, 65; from nowhere, 39, 111; getting to know, 4-8; habits, 11; hero, 5, 12, 35, 70-72, 76, 86, 87, 91, 92, 94, 95, 98, 102; hierarchy of, 66; ideas for, 17, 25; interrogating, 17-21; lovable rogue, 85; madman, 90, 92; main, 23, 26, 35, 39, 49, 51, 52, 62, 63, 66, 69, 75, 76, 78, 79, 88,91,95,96, 107, 111, 130, 162; major, 14, 15, 35, 50, 59, 60, 64, 65, 66, 104, 122, 163; memorable, 65, 70; minor, 14, 35, 59-62, 64-66, 97, 104; negative, 92; oathbreaker, 89; one-to-a-race, 57; point of view, 66, 67; powerful, 70; questions to ask of, 16; ranking of, 66; sadist, 86, 87; savior, 71, 80, 81; self-appointed, 88, 89; self-serving, 88, 89; split-personality, 127; standing for ideas, 52; story, 52, 53; suggested by story, 34; sympathetic, 66, 173; title, 39, 65; unbelievable, 105; unfamiliar, 8; we hate, 86; we love, 79; what he means to do, 6; viewpoint, 128, 155, 158, 160, 167, 170, 171; you really know, 28

Characterization, 2, 5, 13, 48, 51, 52, 53,54,57,58,61,63, 104, 115, 149, 153; full, 52, 53, 64; richer-than-normal, 52; stereotypes, 10

Charity, act of, 16

Cheers, 73

China Syndrome, The, 37

Choice, degree of, 70

Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the

Unbeliever, 54 Cinematic: narration, 170-172; point

of view, 167; view, 170, 171 Cinematographer, 1, 163, 171 Classifying, 7, 8 Cleverness, 85 Cliche, 2, 22, 23, 32, 45, 66, 82, 93,

106, 132 Climax, 55, 70 Clinical, 144, 145 Clues, 99

Colonna, Jerry, 55 Color Purple, The, 146 Comedians, 104, 134 Comedic personas, 135 Comedy, 93, 99, 104, 123; of humors,

104; stand-up, 134; writer, 100 Comic, 91, 100, 103, 104, 106, 156;

characters, 69, 99; coolness,

103; distance, 162; sidekick, 55;

situation, 26; writing, 102 Common: man, 93, 95; people, 93 Compare, 7, 30 Complications, 1, 21, 35, 56 Compulsive, 64, 85, 116 Conan the Barbarian, 106 Confession scene, 159 Conflict, 35, 75, 76 Confusion, 15, 42, 43 "Connecting the Unconnected," 39 Connections. See Relationships Consistency, maintain, 45 Contract with the reader, 54, 55 Contradiction, 8

Control, 67, 74, 76, 102, 126, 172 Controlled disbelief, 99, 100, 104 Conventional choices, 132 Conventions, literary, 132, 133, 151 Cool (Cinematic), 170, 172 "Cool off," 170 Corroborate, 147 Cosmic connections, 73 Costume, 1, 103 Count of Monte Cnsto, The, 54 Courage, 83 Cowards, 104 Crazy. See Insanity Crime, 87

176

CHARACTERS AND VIEWPOINT

Culture, 49, 50, 56, 72 Curiosity, 8, 11, 79

Daffodil, 156, 161

Dead Zone, The, 69

"Dear Reader," 136, 138

Death of a Salesman, 95

Deceive, 10, 150, 157

Decisions, 41, 44, 45, 48; present, 113;

to change, 53

Deep penetration, 149, 167, 170-172

Degree of choice, 70

Dependability, 84

Description. See Physical

Details, 1, 27, 28, 29, 44, 105, 106

Detective, 51,94, 116, 149, 150 !

Detective novels, 51, 107

Device(s), 11

Dialect: dictation, 126; regional, 127

Dialogue, record, 26

Digression(s), 55, 57

Dilemma, 56, 59, 60

Direct address, 130, 135 ,

Director(s), 1, 55, 60, 171

Dirty Harry, 111

Disbelief, suspension of, 134

Discover characters, 45

Discrimination, racial, 10

Disguise, 28, 135

Disorder, 54, 73

Dissection, 132

Distance, 159: comic, 162; in space,

148, 149; in time, 148-150;

time-distance effect, 161; watch

from a, 164 Distracting, 42, 45, 50, 60, 61, 162,

171

Doing a "Take," 100, 101, 102 Dollmaker, The, 71 Donaldson, Stephen R., 94 Downplaying, 102, 103 Doyle, Arthur Conan, 145 Draftee, 83 Drag, men in, 103 Dramatic, 140, 141; irony, 150;

literature, 131; vs. narrative,

140 Dream(s), 39, 82, 95, 97

E.T., 78

Eccentricities, 51, 52, 62, 104 Eccentricity, 62, 103, 104 Editorial resistance, 78 Educated, 143 Educational fiction, 38 Elephant Man, 72 Elven-folk, 25, 56

Emotion(s), 29, 68, 69, 70, 76, 144,

145, 153, 171 Emotional, 144; involvement, 16, 38,

59, 74, 76, 138, 149, 162; pain,

68, 69, 81; stakes, 68 Empathize, 69, 100 Ender's Game, 39, 78 Enlighten, dazzle vs., 133 Environment, 121, 122 Epiphany, 95 Epistolaries, 146 Ethnic traits, 19 Events(s), 48, 49, 53, 54, 56, 107, 110,

113, 126, 129, 135, 139, 140,

141, 147, 148, 155; important,

65; key, 111; major, 144; past,

28; recent, 113; story, 53;

unbelievable, 105 Evil: force, 54; pure, 86 Exaggeration, 22-24, 27, 32, 40, 62,

63, 65, 102-104 Examination, 107 Existential writers, 123 Exotic, 94 Expectation(s), 7, 9, 49, 50, 114, 115,

121, 132, 154 Experimental, 132 Explain, why characters change, 123 Extreme(s),'12, 95, 134, 135 Eyewitness account, 128, 162

Fair: being, 37; play, courage and, 83

"Faith, hope and clarity," 16

False, 99

Falseness, 17

Familiar, 8

Family role, 9, 10

Fantasy, 12, 22, 25, 26, 42, 50, 94, 95, 106

Far From the Madding Crowd, 12

Farce, 103, 123

Fiction, 130; bad, 27; historical, 38, 50; non-comic, 100; prose, 106; science, 12, 38, 48, 50, 52, 94, 111; straight, 100

Fictional character, 14

Film, 100, 106

First impressions, 77

First person, 103, 130, 132, 146, 161; character, 154, 160; narrative, 130, 143, 154, 162, 164; narrator, 103, 128, 144, 146-149, 152, 154, 156, 160, 163; story, 150, 153, 161

Flashback, 111-113, 148

Fletch, 51, 52

Fletch, Too, 51

Fletch Won, 51

Focus, 15, 23, 30, 37, 45, 49, 50, 54,

Index

177

65, 66, 135, 158

Forest of Arden, 134, 135

Fountainhead, 121

Fourth wall, 134, 146

Fowles, John, 96

Frame story, 135, 146, 147

Friday the 13th, 91

Frequency of appearance, 65, 66

Frye, Northrop, 93

Future tense, 131

Gavin, Thomas, 148, 149, 163

General rule, 15,82, 118

Genre(s), 94, 95, 107, 131;

academic-literary fiction, 38, 48, 50, 52, 95, 131, 163; caper stories, 51, 52, 82; comedy, 93, 99, 104, 123; detective novels, '- 94; fantasy, 94, 95; glitter romances, 94; historical fiction, 38, 48, 50; horror, 69, 70, 95, 151; mysteries, 48, 51, 94, 151; -••-. publishing, 48; romances, 93; Russian novels, 43; science fiction, 12, 38, 48, 50, 52, 95;

slasher, 67, 71; thrillers, 48, 50, 54, 94; westerns, 48, 50

Getting to know a character, 4-8

Ghoulish, 144

Gillis, Dobie, 100

Glitter romances, 94

Godfather, The, 87

Godfather: Part II, The, 87

Godot, 65

Goldman, James, 112

Goldman, William, 86, 135

"Good guys," 37, 86, 91

Goodwin, Archie, 147, 151

Gossip, 7, 130

Greeks, ancient, 93

Grief, 68-70, 153

Grotesque, 144

Gulliver's Travels, 49

Gut-level response, 16

H

Habits, 11, 13,56, 115, 116, 127

Haig, Alexander, 88

Half-twist, 26

Hardy, Thomas, 99

Harmony, 16, 67, 73

Hatchet job, 27

Havelok the Dane, 54

Herbert, Frank, 50

Hero, 5, 12, 70, 71, 72, 86, 87, 91, 94, 95, 98, 102; anti-hero, 76; author-as-hero, 96; and common man, 93; "good guys," 86, 91, 92; identify with, 95,

105; non-heroic, 95; realistic, 93; reluctant, 94; romantic, 93, 96; savior, 71, 80, 81

Heroic, 145; proportion, 96; role, 121

Hersey.John, 135

Historical fiction, 38, 48, 50, 94

History, 10, 39, 128, 130

Holmes, Sherlock, 85, 145, 147

Horror, 69, 70, 95, 151

Hot narration, 170

How-to books, 131

"Huh?," 15,24

Humboldt's Gift, 96

Humor, 55, 56, 62, 102, 156, 160

Hypochondriacs, 104

Hypocrite, 5, 104

Hypocrisy, 10

Hypothetical, 130

Idea(s), 17, 21, 37-39, 45, 48, 51, 52, A

57; by chance, 39; for

characters, 25; from life, 25;

from story, 34-36; from

unrelated source, 39;

interrogating an, 22, 23, 25; net,

25, 32, 39, 40; servants of,

36-39; story, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55,

56, 150

Identity, 7, 12, 42 Iliad, 26 Illusion, 6, 135; of truth, 105, 155; of

reality, 134 Imagination 2, 16, 29 Immediacy, 149 Imperative mood, 130, 131 Imperfections, endearing, 85 Implausible coincidence, 113 Implitation(s), 147, 158 "In character," 127, 128 Indiana Junes and Ihe Temple of Doom, 85 Individuality, 62 Inherit the Wind, 88, 89 Insanity, 69, 90, 91 Intellect, 89 Interrogating; the character, 17, 33;

an idea, 22, 23, 25 Interview, 28, 29 Intrusive narrators, 162, 171 Invent, 1, 2, 27, 32, 39, 48; character,

48, 54, 154 Invention, 2, 45, 46, 171; of

character(s), 1, 28, 29, 173 Involvement, emotional, 68, 69, 138,

159, 162 Irony, 6, 157-159, 160, 163, 191;

dramatic, 150 Irving, John, 111 Isolde, 54 ItHappened One Night, 72

178

CHARACTERS AND VIEWPOINT

Jeopardy, 70-72, 80, 96, 100, 117, 118,

151

Jobs, 9

Jonson, Ben, 104 Journal, 135, 137, 149 Journey, 140

Joyce, James, 121

Judgments, 8

Justification, 16, 27, 55, 117, 118, 122,

131

Justify, 53, 92, 122, 123, 151

Justifying, 27, 117

Kafka, Franz, 123

Key: decision, 113; events, 111, 112,

144, 147; moment, 150; scenes,

141, 144

King Lear, 73, 104, 136 King, Stephen, 69, 71, 95, 151

Kinski, Nastassia, 99

L.A. Law, 72, 73

Label(s), 41, 42, 153

Lady Chatterly's Lover, 121

Lancelot, 54

Landers, Ann, 39

Language 1, 126, 132, 146, 163;

arcane, 132; calculating, 126;

precise, 126 Lapses, 151-154 Larger than life, 98 Last Film of Emile Vico, The, 148, 149,

163

Lawrence, D. H., 121 Lawrence, Jerome, 89 LeCarre, John, 94 Lee, Robert E., 89 Letters, 39, 146 Level of penetration, 128, 163, 164,

172

Liar, 5, 147

Lie(s), 17, 37, 84, 123, 147 Light penetration, 167, 170, 171 Limited point-of-view, 159-161 Limited third person, 149, 155, 157,

158, 161-163, 165, 167 Lindholm, Megan, 94, 95 Line break, 158 Line space, 157, 158 Linguistic special effects, 131 Lion in Winter, The, 12, 112 Literary conventions, 132 Literature, dramatic, 131 Lord of the Rings, The, 50, 54, 56, 57,

65,84, 111 Love and Death, 12 Love Connection, The, 137

M

Macbeth, 54, 88, 92, 104, 120

Macdonald, Ross, 121

Magic, 95

Magical powers, 100

Mandel, Howie, 104, 134

Marathon Man, 86

Marx Brothers, 104

Marx, Groucho, 156

Mask, 95

Maudlin, 144

McCullers, Carson, 88

Mcdonald, Gregory, 51 :

Melodrama(s), 34, 72, 103, 152, 171

Melodramatic, 21, 144, 153

Member of the Wedding, The 88

Memoir, 148, 149

Memories, 28, 31-33, 157, 158, 172

Memory, 2, 6, 16, 17, 27, 31, 32, 36,

63, 105, 112-114, 133, 141, 149,

160, 167 Metaphors, 127

MICE quotient, 48, 57

Milieu, 48, 49, 50, 53, 55-57, 60-62, 99 Miller, Arthur, 95, 96 Mimesis, 25 Mind: making up your, 162; net for

ideas, 25; sorting process, 8;

viewpoint character, 165, 171 Miracle Max, 99, 100, 103 Misconception, 132 Miser, 104 Misery, 69, 71, 151 Models, 27-29 Monologue, 2, 131 Monosyllable, 42 Mood, 62, 130 Moonlighting, 73, 100

Moral: issues, 76, value, 5 Morgenstern, 135 Motive(s), 5, 10, 13, 17, 21, 28, 29, 51,

87, 106, 107, 111, 120, 121,

147, 154

Mouse, Mickey and Minnie, 160 Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus, 2 Mr. Arella, 32-34 Murder, 87

Murphy, Eddie, 62, 100, 101, 106 Musical names, 43, 44 Mysteries, 48, 94; classic English, 51;

locked room, 51; murder, 51;

puzzle, 51; Rex Stout, 151 Mystery, 52, 54, 94, 150; characters,

12, 42, 52, 56; novel, 151;

writer, 150, 151

N

Naive identification, 96 Names, 41-43; musical, 43, 44 Narration, 66, 103, 132, 144, 149;

Index

cinematic, 170, 171; first person, 129, 147; "hot," 170; patterns, 130

Narrative, 141, 142, 148, 171;

dramatic vs. narrative, 140, 141; first person, 130, 143; present tense, 131; second person, 130; strategy, 129; voice(s), 130, 149

Narrator, 43, 66, 100, 101, 102, 107,

111, 114, 128, 129, 131, 135,

138, 139, 140, 142, 144, 145,

156, 159, 163-165; first person,

128, 143, 144, 146-148, 150,

151, 162; in-the-story, 164, 165;

limited third person, 155, 162,

163; omniscient, 155, 162, 163;

Pete-the-narrator, 161, 162;

self-conscious, 136; third

person, 145, 146

Narrators, 162; intrusive, 162, 171 multiple, 147; reliable, 147unreliable, 147, 148

Narrator's eyes, 108

National Geographic, 40

Natural, 119-121, 163; audience, 57, 96; style, 128

Nature, true, 157

Network(s), 10, 116, 117; of

relationships, 52, 117, 159

Neutral voice, 167

"New" memories, 32

News: broadcast, 130; papers, 130; stories, 39, 128

Niven, Larry, 2

Nobility, 98'

Nonchalance, 103

Non-comic fiction, 100

Normative stories, 130

O

Oathbreaker, 89 Objective(s), 17, 29 Observation(s), 9, 26 Obsessiveness, 12, 62-64, 85, 116 Oddness, 103, 104 Oedipus, 54, 73, 92, 104, 120 "Oh Yeah?," 14, 24, 134 Omniscient: vs. limited point-of-view,

155, 156; narrator, 155-163,

165; third person point-of-view,

155 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, 78, 79,

86,87 Opinions, 7 Ordinariness, 66 Ordinary, 25, 66 Oversentimentality, 82

Pace, 142, 143 Page break, 157

Pain, 68-70, 99, 101, 114, 118, 144;

emotional, 68, 69; physical, 68 Pamela, 93

Parker, Robert, 12, 42, 52, 90, 94, 121 Passionate stories, 133 Passive: character, 66; memory, 113;

process, 68 Past, 6, 13, 58, 111, 148; discovering,

154; implied, 114, 115;

remembered, 111; revelation of,

107; tense, 130, 161, 163 Patronymic, 43 Patterns, 11, 42, 43, 53, 55, 94; of

behavior, 122, 123; of lives, 115,

120, 122; of narration, 130; of

speech,126, 127 Pendulum, 93 Penetrated, 165 Penetration: deep, 149, 167, 171, 172;

level of, 128, 163, 164, 171,

172; light, 167, 171 People: common, 94; everyday, 93;

you know, 27 Person, 128-130, 132; first, 128-130,

132, 135, 146, 148, 150, 167;

first . . . narrative, 143; first . . .

narrator, 129, 143, 144, 146,

147, 152; limited third . . .

narrator, 159; second, 128, 130,

131, 163; second . . . singular,

130; third, 128-130, 132, 137,

146, 149, 151, 161-163; third

. . . narrator, 129, 130, 145,

146, 148, 152, 160; third . . .

omniscient point-of-view, 155,

156, 164; third . . . plural, 130 Personal: opinion, 135; problems, 27 Personality: alternate, 148; different

facets of, 11; split, 127 Persuasive fiction, 38 Philosophy, 131 Physical: appearance, 13;

attractiveness, 79, 80, 85;

beauty, 13, 72; changes, 119;

description, 13, 80; handicaps,

13; locations, 49; pain, 68, 69;

problems, 13; strength, 13;

suffering, 81; torture, 68, 86, 87 Pinchot, Bronson, 62 Pinter, Harold, 123 Placeholders, 59, 60, 62 Plausible, 27 Play, 1,65,73, 122, 134 Plays, 12, 54, 65, 66, 73, 89, 121-123,

135, 140

Plot, 1, 2,49, 52, 59, 63, 65 Point-of-view, 1, 2, 38, 66, 83, 138,

148, 155-157, 159, 160;

cinematic, 167; character, 107,

128, 135, 156, 157; third person

180

CHARACTERS AND VIEWPOINT

omniscient, 163 Poirot, Hercule, 85, 145 Polemic, 36, 37, 39 Pollution, 36, 37, 39 Poltergeist, 70, 78 Portnoi's Complaint, 146 Preference(s), 12

Prejudice, 78;

Present: action, 112, 113; anchor in

the, 112; event, 112, 113;

meaning of, 107; tense, 148,

149, 161, 163 Presentation, 134-137, 147, 159; vs.

representation, 134-137, 159 Presentational, 138, 139, 162; theatre,

134

Prince and the Pauper, The, 54

Princess Bnde, The, 99, 135, 136

Promise, 84, 89, 92 A

Proportion, heroic, 96

Prose fiction, 106

Protagonist, 53, 56, 136, 144, 145, 147

Psychological suffering, 81

Puppets, 117, 155

Pygmalion, 121

Questions: and answers, 17-20; ask characters, 16; motive, 21; readers ask, 14; recent, 21

160; play, 134; theatre, 134;

write, 135, 138 Reputation, 6, 7, 13 Respect, 96

Response, gut-level, 16 Result(s), 17-21; question, 20, 21, 22,

23

Reveal self, 16

Revelation, 107

Revise(s), 2, 6, 107, 120

Revolutionary, 132

Rhetorical stance, 128

Rhythm, 142

Road to Rw, 55

Robinson Crusoe, 93

Role(s), 1, 38, 52, 53, 55, 60, 62, 80,

173; changes in, 119, 122;

heroic, 121; major, 35; story, 34 Romance, 72, 73, 111, 135 Romans, ancient, 93 Romantic, 93, 94, 104; characters, 94;

excess, 94; hero, 96; impulse, 95; opportunity, 110; tradition,

54, 94, 111 Romeo and Juliet, 65 Rule of thumb, 43, 55, 59, 66, 70, 87,

112, 113, 133 Rumpole, 94 Russian novel, 43 Rut, 42

Racial, 10,41

Radner, Gilda, 104

Raiders of the Lost Ark, 4, 73, 85

Rainbow, The, 121

Rand, Ayn, 121

Reader(s), 8, 12, 13, 14-16; contract with, 54-58

Reagan, Ronald, 88

Real-life, 5, 29, 69, 95, 119, 171; characters, 27; incidents, 27

"Realtime," 140

Realism, 95, 106, 111, 135

Realistic, 93, 98, 104; tradition, 96

Reality, 17,44, 135

Redeeming virtues, 91

Redford, Robert, 79, 87, 140

Reed, Rex, 99

Regional traits, 10

Relationship(s), 1, 10, 13, 31, 33, 34, 36,52,53,69,91, 117, 127, 135, 148; among characters, 2, 11, 110, 120; author-character, 28; change, 33; connections, 10, 116; different, 10; mini-, 117

Remembered past, 111

Rendell, Ruth, 94

Representation, 134

Representational, 134-139, 150, 159,

Sacrifice, 70, 80

Sadism, 86

Sadist, 86, 87, 92

Saints, 80, 135

Sartre, Jean-Paul, 123

Savior, 71, 80, 81

Scene, confession, 159

Scenes, key, 141, 144

Science, 128, 130

Science fiction, 12, 38, 48, 50, 52

Scientific theories, 131

Screen, on and off, 140

Screenwriter, 135, 140

Second person, 128, 130, 131

Second person imperative mood, 163

Self: -alienation, 31; -appointed, 88,

89; -psychoanalysis, 32; -serving,

88

Sense of past, 111 Serendipity, 39 Serious character, 105 "Serious literature," 95 Setting, 1,9, 11, 23, 34, 49, 50, 60 Seventh grade, 32, 33 Sex, 9, 30, 38, 72 Sexual: attractiveness, 30, 38, 72;

harmony, 73; stereotypes, 9,

117; tension, 72, 73

Index

Shakespeare, William, 88, 103, 135

Shallow, 5, 21, 23, 70, 139

Shaw, George Bernard, 121

Shaw, Robert, 87

Show, 140-142

Sidhe, 25, 26

Signal: comic, 101; your reader, 122,

158

Signs and portents, 73, 74 Similes, 127

Simplicity vs. complexity, 21

Six Days of the Condor, 140

Slasher movies, 69, 71

Smiley, George, 94

"So What?," 14,24

Soldier of the Mist, 149

Sorting process, 8

Southerners, 10, 127

Space, 165; barrier of, 149; deliberate,

157; distance in, 148, 149; line

space, 157, 158 Speak, to the audience, 135 Speaker for the Dead, 39 Speaking vs. writing, 126 Special effects, linguistic. 131 Speculation, 39, 40, 131 Speech, 126, 143; style of, 128 Spenser, Edmund, 12, 42, 52, 90, 94,

121

Split personality, 127 Stalker, 71

Stand-up comedy, 134 Star Wars series, 85 Starting point, 28, 29, 32, 38 Stereotype(s), 7-11, 23, 50, 52, 61, 62,

63, 109, 112; age, 9;

community, 64; conscious use

of, 10; costume, 103; ethnic, 10;

exceptions to, 10; family role, 9,

10; foreigners, 10; identifying

according to, 7; job, 9;

northerners, 10;

Oriental-Americans, 10;

physical, 10, 13; power of, 9;

racial, 9, 10, 57; sex, 9; sexual,

117; southerners, 10;

westerners, 10 Stereotying, 7, 8, 9, 61 Stmg, The, 87 Story, 14-16, 21, 23, 34, 51-57, 112,

113, 128, 130, 132, 133, 139,

150, 157; character, 52, 53, 57,

150; choice, 16; event, 54, 150;

detective, 51, 107; history, 128;

idea, 51; ideas from, 34-36;

milieu, 54, 150; news, 128;

normative, 130; passionate and

truthful, 133; possibilities, 11, 12, 21,24, 33; powerful, 21;

presentational, 139;

representational, 139; science,

128; short, 14, 157; wonderful,

40

Storyline, 50-52, 54-57, 162 Storyteller, 1, 2, 7, 8, 15, 37, 57, 93,

96, 103, 141, 149 Storytelling, 17, 45, 46, 57, 67, 72, 73,

136, 138, 149 Stout, Rex, 12, 151 Straight fiction, 100 Strange, strangeness, 8, 25, 31, 37, 50,

62, 66, 77, 107, 114, 122, 132,

173

Stranger(s), 8, 25, 31,37, 173

Strong-willed, 149

Structure, 49-55, 57, 68, 135

Style: natural, 128; of speech, 128;

writer's, 139

Stylistic patterns, 128

Subliminal clues, 9, 42

Subplot, 55, 56

Suffer, 99, 144

Suffering, 68-70, 80, 81, 83

Superior Court, 137

Superman, 12, 155

Suspense, 8, 15, 150

Suspension of disbelief, 134

Symbol(s), 38, 132

Symbolic, 42, 52

Symbolism, 52

Sympathize, 28, 53, 75, 81, 82, 108,

144 Sympathy, 66, 70, 75, 76, 78-80, 82,

83-88,90-92,99, 109, 110, 144,

146; vs. curiosity, 79 Syntax, 127

Tagged, 42 Taglines, 44 Tags, 43, 170

Tale-within-a-tale, 129, 130, 146 Talents, 12, 13 Tales-told-in-a-bar, 146 Tastes, 12, 13, 28 Teacher-by-example, 95 "Tell, Don't Show," 141, 142 Ten commandments, 130 Tense, 128, 130, 132; future, 131;

past, 130, 132, 163; present,

130, 131, 148, 149, 163;

strange, 132 Tension, 55, 68, 72, 73, 108, 142, 157;

forms early stages of fear, 8;

jeopardy, 118; sexual, 72, 73,

110

Tess, 99, 156, 157 Tess of the d'Urberuilles, 99 Theme(s), fictional, 31, 38, 120-123 Third person, 128-130, 132, 137, 146,

182

CHARACTERS AND VIEWPOINT

149, 151, 152, 155; limited . . .

narrator, 158, 159, 161;

narrator, 145, 148; omniscient

point-of-view, 155, 156, 164;

plural future tense, 163 "Thousand Ideas in an Hour, A,"

17-23

Three Days of the Condor, 140 Three Stooges, The, 104 Thrillers, 48, 50, 54, 94 Time, 148, 159, 165; barrier, 149;

-distance effect, 161; distance in,

148-150; film, 151; flow, 157;

passage of, 158; real, 140

Time Machine, 146

Timing, 104

Tir-Nan-Og, 25

"Toldness," 136

Tom Jones, 93

Tone, 1, 142

Tormentor, 71

Tragedy, 73

Tragi-comic, 121

Traits, 10, 76, 85, 97, 104; ethnic, 10;

regional, 10

Transform, 28, 121, 133 Transformation(s), 52, 119, 121-123;

character, 52 Transition, 158, 170 Transitional; break, 157; device, 157 Tristan, 54 Tristram Shandy, 93 Truth, illusion of, 105 Truthful stories, 133 Twelfth Night, 103

Twist(s), 1, 14, 22-24, 32, 38, 40, 51 Type(s), 50

U

Unbelievable, 105 Uncertainties, 15 Uncertainty, 8 Unconscious level, 8 Unconventional, 132 Underlying voice, 128 Understandability, 16 Uneducated, 143 Unfamiliar, 8, 50 Unicorn Mountain, 30, 163 Uniqueness, 95 Unmasked, 121 Unmasking, 157 Unreliable narrators, 147, 148 Updike, John, 96 Usurper(s), 54, 88, 89, 92 Utopia, 49

Vernacular, 132

Vico, Emile, 148

Victim, 70, 80, 81, 86, 87

Vietnam, 38, 75, 95

Viewpoint character, 66, 128, 155,

158-160, 165, 167, 170, 171 Viewpoints, trading, 155 Villain(s), 28, 34, 68, 70, 73, 86, 87,

89; understandable, 91, 92 Vindication, 89 Violence, 29

Vision: of hope, 17; of the world, 133 Vocabulary, 126, 127 Voice(s), 126-28, 132, 139, 143, 145,

149; narrative, 130; natural

style, 128; neutral, 167;

presentational, 138; underlying,

128

Volunteer, 83, 84 Vonnegut, Kurt, 78, 101, 135, 163 :

Waiting for Godot, 65

Walk-ons, 59-62

Wall, The, 135

Ward, Artemis, 143

Watergate, 54

Wells, H. G., 146

Westerns, 48, 50

Wexford, Inspector, 94

"What If?," 39

Wheel of Fortune, 137

"Whole Life," 111

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, 12

Wiggin, Ender, 78

Will: act of, 121; own, 121; to change,

121

Willing suspension of disbelief, 134 Witches, 88, 104, 120 Withholding information, 150 Wizard of the Pigeons, 95 Wolfe, Gene, 22, 149 Wolfe, Nero, 12, 85, 147 Woman Under the Influence, A, 91 "Wonderful Stories," 40 Wondering, 39, 40 World According to Garp, The, 111 Writer(s): attitude, 139; competence

of, 15; earn the title of, 1;

mystery, 150; objective of, 17;

representational, 135, 138;

screen, 135, 140; style, 139 Writing: good, 132; persuasive, 37;

presentational, 138, 139;

representational, 138, 139 Wuthenng Heights, 54, 73, 120

XYZ

Yourself, ideas from, 29

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

No one had ever won both the Hugo and the Nebula Award for best science fiction novel two years in a row -until 1987, when Speaker for the Dead won the same awards given to Ender's Game. He has since completed that trilogy with the novel Xenocide, and he's hard at work on his Home-coming series. But Orson Scott Card's experience is not limited to one genre or form of storytelling. A dozen of his plays have been produced in regional theatre; his mainstream novel Lost Boys enjoyed great success; his historical novel, Saints (alias Woman of Destiny), has been an underground hit for several years; and Card has written hundreds of audio plays and a dozen scripts for animated videoplays for the family market. He has also edited books, magazines, and anthologies; he writes a regular review column for The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction; he publishes Short Form, a journal of short-fiction criticism; he even reviews computer games for Compute! Along the way, Card earned a master's degree in literature and has an abiding love for Chaucer, Shakespeare, Boccaccio, and the Medieval Romance. He has taught writing courses at several universities and at such workshops as Antioch, Clarion, Clarion West, and the Cape Cod Writers Workshop. It is fair to say that Orson Scott Card has examined storytelling from every angle.

Born in Richland, Washington, Card grew up in California, Arizona, and Utah. He lived in Brazil for two years as an unpaid missionary for the Mormon Church and received degrees from Brigham Young University and the University of Utah. He currently lives in Greensboro, North Carolina, with his wife, Kristine, and their three children, Geoffrey, Emily, and Charles (named for Chaucer, Bronte, and Dickens).