Thin? Medium? Tall, short, dark, light? Bald? Ponytailed? Flexible? Stiff? Do they wear glasses or contacts or neither? Are their voices high, low, weak, strong?
Except in cases where it's germane to the story, or it's a major character, do you specify such physical characteristics? Do you think about them?
I tend not to, and I often think I should. A weakness in my writing is lack of physical description of people and places, with some rare exceptions. This may partly be inherent in writing plot-driven fiction. James Gunn, I think it was, said that science-fiction writers should avoid emphasis on characterization because of the nature of sf. (Or perhaps I'm - ho, ho - mischaracterizing what he said.) Certainly, characterization can be distracting when the plot should be moving along rapidly, with satisfying complications and resolutions. But at the same time, you want your characters to be real and the setting to seem real. It's a balancing act, and I often fear that I come down on the wrong side.
In movies and on TV, no one needs glasses, unless it's to show that the character is a nerdy scientist (knows everything about every field of science but nothing about the opposite sex, of course). No one has a hearing problem, unless it's a plot element. Nowadays, all the beautiful people, and many of ugly ones, come equipped with fearsome martial arts skills. Those are all conventions, but I find them distracting. Real and believable differences would help, even in action movies, and somehow one has to find the right balance so as to have such differences in prose fiction, as well.
11 comments:
Mine have strange habits. One has an eyebrow piercing. Another hates wearing shirts (I swear it's NOT a romance).
I think it makes it more believable, but I think it won't matter until the stories are done.
Of course, I agree that ever nerdy scientist with glasses is annoying, and I'm tired of 'beautiful' people on the movies and the television, because they all become 'the same.' Good looking to a fault, with few real 'believable' weaknesses or character traits. I mean, isn't age a trait? Isn't an eye that involuntarily twitches, or a heavy jaw, or well yeah you get the idea.
You writers need to look at the big picture, man! The less detail you give about how old your characters are, what they look like, what race they are, ee tee see, the more flexibility you give to HOLLYWOOD when they decide to make your masterpiece book into an awful major motion picture (and make YOU wealthy in the process). Or, you could just play it safe, and make your hero look just like Wil Smith...
I actually AM a nerdy scientist, and I don't even own any glasses. Perhaps if I did, I may have gone farther in my chosen field.
I never thought of making my hero look like Will Smith! Slaps forehead. That's a clever idea.
There does seem to be a parallel screen scientist sort, who is too non-nerdy -- too cool and hip and with it and grubby and undisciplined. Hollywood can't seem to depict scientists as ordinary people who happen to do science.
Maybe the beautiful sameness is the reason for the visible markers. Specs=nerdy scientist. (Male) villains always used to be ugly, but nowadays they're also often beautiful, so there's something else -- black t-shirt, ponytail. That doesn't show much respect for the audience, which might actually be able to tell who's who without those markers.
White lab coats. That's one that bugs me. Characters doing nothing that could damage their clothes wear white lab coats, because they're scientists of some sort.
In her job, my wife has to wear a white lab coat, and there's literally zero risk of anything work-related ruining her clothes.
Really? I guess I should stop ranting about that in movies, then.
I think I'll rant about suits and ties, instead.
p.s. An iep is an individual education plan. My daughter has a learning disability so she's entitled to an individual plan tailored to meet her needs. Mainly, taking tests in smaller groups, more breaks during standardized testing and in-class support.
It doesn't sound like much, but in a class with 26 kids, it helps a lot.
OIC. Now I understand what you were talking about. Thanks.
I do get into those aspects but my style differs from yours as I tend to write character driven pieces.
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