Getting Into Character: Seven Secrets a Novelist Can Learn From Actors (7 page)

We sat in silence until Derek listed into my view. He blinked and veered away from us, as though we’d just parked ourselves in the center of his path. I rolled my eyes at Alison.

To this day, I can’t tell you why I opened my mouth.

“Hi, Derek.” Amusement lilted my voice. Alison threw me a look.

Derek slid to a halt and jerked his head in our direction. It took him a moment to focus. “Hi.” He stared at me, waiting. I stared back. “What’s up?”

I dropped my gaze to his ankles. “Just wonderin’ what color your socks are today.”

“Oh.” He lifted his pant legs. “Brown and blue.”

It could have been worse. I’d seen him with one orange foot and one green. “Derek.” My tone sounded peeved. “
Why
do you wear different colored socks every day?”

Alison laughed in her throat.

“Who said socks have to match?”

I gave him one of my for-heaven’s-sake-Clarissa looks. “Like maybe the people who made them the same in the first place?”

He considered that. “Those people have no imagination.”

And with that, he took his leave.

Alison shook her head, watching him go. “That is one strange guy.”

Well, good for him. I’d asked a perfectly logical question, given Derek’s odd little dress mannerism. So why did I feel like he’d cut me down? “You know what makes him really weird? That he’s proud of his stupid socks.”

“I know.” Alison twisted her mouth. “You think he wears ’em to work?”

Derek had been working at a computer store in Albertsville ever since he’d gotten his driver’s license the previous year. His parents, who apparently doted on him as their “surprise” child late in life, had bought him an old car to get him back and forth.

“Guess so,” I said. “He goes after school, right?”

“Maybe like his boss doesn’t care? I mean, as long as he does the work. He’s supposed to be this computer genius.”

I frowned at her, perturbed that she’d said something favorable. “Well, hoo-fah.” My voice dripped sarcasm. “He thinks he’s so hot, but no way. I mean, a computer freak, how original.” With Bradleyville’s history of independent thinkers, you’d think our generation could have coughed up something better than Derek King.

I stewed about him for the rest of the school day.

Exploration Points

1.
How do Derek’s various unusual mannerisms work together to make him a unique character on the outside?
      

The “hunchbacked” way he sits is later reflected in the way he walks. He seems to be lost in his own world, not noticing people in his path. He doesn’t even think to match his socks. While minding his own business he’s pulled into a conversation in which two popular girls are making mild fun of him.

All these things could paint him as a weak person. But in his nerdiness, Derek manages to show surprising inner strength. He has an immediate comeback for Jackie’s comment that socks are made to be the same color. Plus
he
is the one who ends the conversation—and on his own terms. (Not that he takes any pride in that either—he was just done talking.) As much as Jackie, in her bad mood, cuts him down after he leaves, he clearly got the upper hand. She just doesn’t want to admit it.

2.
How does this introduction of Derek reflect his inner values?

Taken all together, Derek’s mannerisms paint him as quirky, all right. But where does that quiet strength of his come from? One of Derek’s inner values is: “My self-worth lies in my own acceptance of who I am.” He’s comfortable in his own skin. This core truth will show itself again and again through Derek’s choices. Yes, he’s different, but he doesn’t mind that. And he doesn’t care what people think of him or how he dresses. Until he begins to fall for Jackie—while watching her fall in love with someone else.

By the way, a question for you to answer: How does Jackie’s reaction to the conversation (“I stewed about him for the rest of the school day”) reflect her own inner value of feeling responsible for the well-being of her family?

Moving On

After going through the Personalizing process, you’re beginning to understand your characters pretty well. Knowing your characters is important, but it’s not an end in itself. Their inner values and resulting personality traits will play a big part in building your story. If you’re more of a plotter, you can start doing that right away. If you’re more of a “pantser,” your understanding of your main characters will now guide you as you write.

To see how your characters’ unique inner values can create action and conflict within your novel, turn now to Secret #2: Action Objectives.

SECRET #2

Action Objectives

ACTOR’S TECHNIQUE:

Through study of a role, an actor must determine the character’s objective—the thing he strives for—both throughout the play as a whole and in each scene. The objective must be stated in terms of a specific action, that is, a verb, rather than a general state of being or a noun. (For example, within a scene: “I want to hurry my roommate out the door so I can have some time to myself “ rather than “I want to be alone.”) This Action Objective will guide the actor in creating appropriate movements needed to carry out that objective.

NOVELIST’S ADAPTATION:

Before writing a scene, an author should first determine the Action Objective of each character. In other words, what do the characters want to accomplish in the scene? These objectives should be specific to the situation and unique to the characters. Often, two characters’ objectives will be at odds with each other. These objectives will provide clear motivation for the characters, giving rise to believable dialogue, action, and conflict.

In this chapter we turn from
who
a character is to
what
he or she wants to accomplish. Of course, these different facets can’t be completely separated, for a character’s inner values determine what the character wants, and vice versa. The truths you have discovered about your character(s) through Personalizing will play an important role here. Through the use of Action Objectives you will learn how the unique aspects of your characters can help plot your novel.

In
An Actor Prepares
, Stanislavsky talks about breaking down a play into smaller units or “Action Objectives” that guide the actor on a course toward a character’s overall “super-objective.” This super-objective is the specific goal for which the character strives throughout the story as a whole. In other words, it’s what the character
Wants
, with a capital W. Stanislavsky noted that any part of the play that did not relate to the super-objective would stand out as superfluous or wrong. Therefore, the better written the play, the stronger the pull of its super-objective.

The same principle is true for novels.

The Super-Objective As The Character’s Overall Desire

Before we examine our adaptation of Action Objectives for individual scenes, we first need to look at this concept of the super-objective, just as a contractor must review the plans for a house before beginning to build.

The super-objective, or overall Desire, of a character

provides the foundation for Action Objectives

in individual scenes.

The adaptation of this super-objective concept for novelists has led me to a story-building process I call the Four Ds. We’ll look at the Four Ds in terms of how they help define your main character and your central plot. Once you learn this concept, you can apply the Four Ds to other characters and subplots as well.

Both plotters and pantsers can find the Four Ds very helpful. If you’re a pantser, hang in here with me as the discussion begins to sound plotting-oriented. The Four Ds will allow you plenty of discovery room while providing just enough structure to ensure that you build a solid story.

The First D: Desire

Desire is the novelist’s equivalent of Stanislavsky’s super-objective.

Many times, authors build their stories based solely on conflict: “These are the problems my main character will face, and this is the outcome.” But what is the definition of conflict in a story? Conflict is
an obstacle that stands in the way of something desired
. This definition leads to a logical conclusion: to create the best conflict for your story, you should first know what your character desires.

Scenes are to a house what bricks are to a path. One leads to another in a purposeful way. There is a beginning to the path and an end. How the path is laid is determined by the desire of the one who created it. Is the path meant to meander through a beautiful garden so the various plants can be admired? Or is it a straight path, the quickest route from Point A to Point B? In the same way, in order for conflict to build scene by scene with natural progression, it must begin with a character’s Desire. That character has in mind something he wants, and he’s on a direct path to achieve it. Conflicts arise as obstacles to that Desire.

So before you begin the plotting—or writing—of any scene in your novel, you should first ask your protagonist: “What is the Desire deep within you that will drive your choices and actions through the entire story?”

Understanding your protagonist’s Desire will lead you

in creating points of conflict within your novel.

Again, even though we will focus on a single main character as an example, remember that main characters
and
important secondary characters should have a Desire. Conflicts between characters come into play when they are pursuing Desires that oppose one another.

Think of the Desire for your character in terms of your real-life friends. You know a friend not only by her appearance, her inner values, traits, and mannerisms; you also know her by her desires. One of the most important aspects of who she is lies in her deepest motivations. What does she want at this point in life? What does she strive for? This underlying motivation, or Desire, or super-objective, will drive her choices and actions.

If you take away nothing else from this book, please remember this point:
Know your protagonist’s Desire.

Countless times I’ve been asked by novelists, “What’s wrong with my manuscript? I had a great start, but now the story is faltering.” Ninety-nine point nine times this is what’s wrong: the author doesn’t know his character’s Desire.