Writing

Character Descriptions

/ Ann Aubrey Hanson / 1 Comment

In July, I teach a new class at UCSD Extension, “Creating Memorable Characters.” I’m excited about this class because I believe passionately that characters make a novel. You can have a great plot, a great story, but any great plot or story is diminished by cardboard characters. Take Dan Brown’s books. Gripping, fun rides, but can you describe the characters in anything but caricatures? (No fair using Tom Hanks et al. I’m talking from the books.)

I’ve recently read several novels in which the authors feel the need to describe every character we encounter: hair and eye color, height, weight, body build, etc. Is this really necessary? Can’t they leave something to the reader’s imagination?

For example, if I were to describe someone as a New York thug, I believe I’ve covered the territory. My idea of a NY thug may not be the same as yours, but I’ve allowed you to imagine the character as you choose.

Sometimes, you don’t even need a physical description. If I give my villain #2 a lisp, you can provide the rest. The lisp gives you something to hang on to. It gives you a taste of who this fellow might be. It’s up to you to decide whether that lisp makes him crueler than he might otherwise have been, or whether it gives him a sensitive side, an ability to identify with vulnerability. As an author, I can make use of something like a lisp much better than I can make use of his being 5-foot-1o and blonde.

If size, shape, coloring, and race don’t matter, don’t tell the reader the stats. If you do tell, make sure to use that information at some point. In my current piece under development, my main character is sort of short. This matters for two reasons: 1) her partner is extremely tall, and 2) her height will make a difference in the story. But if she had been of average height, why would I need to state that, unless it proved important in the story?

Characters bring a story to life. A writer must see the characters in order to flesh them out, but the reader doesn’t need a snapshot of each character who filters through the story. If you write a description, make it mean something.

Colonel Sanders wore a white suit and sported a white goatee. There was a reason for that. It told us something about him. But telling us that Rahm Emanuel wears a suit means nothing, unless we are told that it is a suit that sells for multiple thousands of dollars and he pairs them with off-the-shelf shoes because of his bunions. THAT is a reason to describe his suits.

More on characters in my next posting.

Vision Prose

/ Ann Aubrey Hanson / Leave a comment

I was recently talking with an author friend (Meg Gardiner) about a book I recently read, a self-published book that screamed for a proper edit. When asked about the primary problem, I said it was “visual prose.”

Too often, writers envision what they are writing, sort of like running a movie in their minds, and then write what they see. This is what I term “vision prose.” Vision prose will kill a good story.

Here’s an example (created just for this blog, not quoting anyone else’s writing): Todd pushed his chair back, got up from the chair, and grabbed his glass from the table. He looked at Nyla with hatred and then turned and walked to the door. Realizing he still had the glass in his hand, he put it on the shelf, took hold of the doorknob, and walked through the door without a backward glance.

I’m not kidding. This is the kind of writing I sometimes have to edit, and, more often, find in published works.

How would I fix it? First, I’d ask the question: what’s the main point of the scene? Answer: Todd leaves in anger or disgust. We don’t care about the glass. If you put the glass in the scene, and show us Todd placing it on the shelf, it had better figure later in the story. Otherwise, leave it out.

We also don’t need to see him push his chair back before rising from the table, unless he does it slowly, with great deliberation, his anger building with each backward inch. If there isn’t some specific meaning to his pushing back the chair, don’t write it.

…. and there’s so much more, but I’ll leave it alone after I ask: How did he manage to walk through the door? Is he only protoplasm?

My suggested edit: Todd scraped his chair backwards, glaring at Nyla, and left without a backward glance.

Okay, so I could probably improve even that, but you get the gist. We don’t need a blow-by-blow description of each of his actions. Give us the meat and leave the fixin’s out.

Next: Describing a Character: Why and How?

I’ll Say It Again

/ Ann Aubrey Hanson / Leave a comment

I’ll say it again…I love my job!

I’m currently editing a book recounting the lives of people who had been exiled to the Russian Gulag. Fascinating reading about a population I knew little about, except through movies and novels. As I edit, I am coming to a new understanding of man’s inhumanity to man, and the repercussions of those actions across generations.

The work also causes me to lift my head and look around me, to view the world through a different lens, and to see how our world has changed and how, frighteningly, it has stayed the same.

I begin to question. Given ample food and shelter for every human on earth, would it be enough? Or would there always be those who rise up and try to rule, to exert power over others? I suspect the latter. So much of the cruelty I am reading about is caused not by need, but by greed and by the desire to be master over another.

Okay, so working on books like these don’t make me the best dinner companion, but what an education I receive with each book I edit. Expanding my horizons and making a living by doing so. Who could ask for anything more?

Next, editing a book about the ethics of abortion. Another great opportunity for insight, and another reason to decline my dinner invitations.

Thesis Editing

/ Ann Aubrey Hanson / Leave a comment

For several years now I have edited and proofed Master’s theses and Ph.D. proposals and dissertations for students at Pt. Loma Nazarene University in San Diego. Recently, I’ve extended my services to students at Capella University, an online university. I edited a proposal for one student, who then recommended me to three others, one of whom so far has recommended me to another.

I find that I thoroughly enjoy editing and copyediting these research papers, both because I am skilled in editing (expert in APA style and the Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS)) and also because of the variety of topics I encounter. One paper might concern African-American women and how long-standing experience with oppression has impacted their lives, leading to substance abuse. Another paper might concern the support and healing of couples who have suffered neonatal loss, with their child dying before birth or immediately after. A third might concern Hispanic men and the societal and cultural factors that lead to alcohol abuse. I learn a great deal while working on these papers, especially if I read some of the quoted sources to get a better understanding of what the students are trying to accomplish in their studies.

Meanwhile, editing in both APA and CMOS has become second-nature to me. I’m a natural editor. I think it’s genetic. I instinctively see and know what is correct or incorrect. It’s an odd gift, but it’s mine.