Elements of Modern Storytelling: Character Development, A Guest Blog by Ken Johnson

By Stephanie Osborn
http://www.stephanie-osborn.com

Today we move on to a new element in the modern storyteller's tool kit: developing a character. But I've decided to let someone else lead off; Ken Johnson is a social scientist and what once would have been called a "loremaster," and he has chosen to analyze several of my own works of fiction with an eye toward how I created and developed the characters in them. We have had several interesting chats on writing and my philosophy and techniques, and he has taken them into consideration in penning what you are about to read.

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Ken:

I truly think it is a honor to be asked by Stephanie Osborn to write something for her blog.  She is an accomplished lady who has done more in her lifetime than five men could.  To be even considered means that you have a voice with something to say.  Indeed, that is rather reaffirming in today’s world.  So, it should go without saying that I see this opportunity as being extremely important when she asked me to write on the topic of character development. 

As a culturalist (social scientist), I try to stay aware of how art, music, literature, and other “relics” of a culture’s “archaeology” are symbolic of their values, beliefs, social protocols, etc.  “Are all of the lead characters men, women, or mixed?” “What is the age range of the main characters?”  “What is their education level?”  “What percentage of diversity is shown in the characters?”  “What is the character’s nationality?”  Such questions must be asked and contemplated in order to best understand how the character represents a given concept and point of view. 

Being that I also do art (paintings on feathers), as well as fictional writings, I also have to appreciate the artistic and technical nuances that take place with not only how the character is created but also as to how a character develops.  “What is his back story?” “What drives her?” “Has his emotional past changed him physically?” These questions and more color what will ultimately be the characters in print. 

I remember some time back, while researching for a forthcoming book on monster allegory, asking Stephanie about how she comes up with her stories.  She explained to me that she has to envision the character both before and after the story she is actually writing.  As she told me, oft times there are entire stories that she knows about her characters which never make it to print only because she knows the character that detailed enough that she can finally write about them.   

Indeed, my research of accomplished authors has revealed this intriguing commonality as being the foremost trait of sophisticated character development.  If you do not know your characters then how can you write about them?  For instance, in a story I am wanting to write, I have pieces to a character’s story that I can see almost as if it is a movie in my mind.  However, just as I can see these scenes there are also gaping holes in the storyline that I cannot see yet.  So, I cannot write the story until I know my characters inside and out.  For the writer, this can be maddening at times because there are untold, and oft times unfinished, stories clouding the mind and yearning to be free.   

This is one reason why I often prefer short stories and novellas because they are concise and often do better justice to the overall story and the characters involved.  The writers of shorter stories are not trying to meet some ambiguous word count minimum/maximum set up by a publisher.  Instead, they only set out to tell the story that they know. 

Sadly, television has corrupted writing to the point now that most writers are trying to play “screen writer” in their books rather than as authors.  Third person omniscient is now becoming status quo.  It is the equivalent of a watercolor artist narrating a painting as to why the paint flowed a certain way, why it blended the way it did, etc.  The narration ultimately becomes the main stage element and what is being narrated now takes a back stage.  When the reader knows everything about the characters then there is little surprise.  Thus, many authors compensate with more and more absurd situations rather than focusing their attention on practicing a modicum of restraint. 

The only caveat to this is when one writes about a genius.  Here, writers often try to make the character an enigma.  I remember researching out a number of authors recently who were talking about how to develop an ingenious character.  These experts all basically noted that time is something that is on the author’s side.  In other words, the “genius” character in the book may not have time to Google “hairy bottomed frog” to give a quip but the author does.  This allows for a character that seems almost supernaturally intelligent.  So, in such a case, you may have a scene where the genius asks a colleague how (s)he is doing, and gets a response as to something like, “I am fine as a frog’s hair split three ways!” only to have the genius retort by saying, “You know, there is actually a hairy bottomed frog in Africa which, during mating season, grows projections on its rump that looks like hair.  Even cut three ways, I dare say that it is anything but ‘fine.’  I guess we shall endeavor to make your day better then.”   

Other ways may also include the author leading the reader astray, and surrounding the “genius” with more simple-minded characters, so as to make the “genius” look even more intelligent by comparison to his or her surroundings.  In television, this is done all the time.  For instance, on the show “Endgame,” an agoraphobic, Russian chess grandmaster is left in his hotel solving cases.  As he tries to figure out the puzzle, the viewers are taken down multiple wrong paths only to have the grandmaster reveal the truth at the end.   

Verily, the core of any good character is research.  However, how you develop the character with this knowledge base can be done a number of ways.  Most authors like to do a linear development of characters.  But, a few will venture out and take a static point of view.  Linear development is nothing more than having the character(s) follow a given timeline of events where they grow and morph along the way.  A static development is where the character does not change, usually because it is so complex or formidable that change is nonexistent, and so then the story becomes one of how the character got that way to begin with. 

A great example of static character development is El Vengador.  As I once wrote in a Yahoo! Voices article on werewolf allegory, Stephanie changed paradigms as to what a werewolf represented.  However, she did this by taking the often underutilized static form of character development.  Until the end, the reader does not realize that the monster is a single, cursed being.  In the end, even though the killing spree and attacks never end, the true story was in depicting how the monster came to be, where he came from, and what motivates him. 

In contrast, the Displaced Detective Omnibus gives the reader a compilation of multiple books which takes the reader along a given time line where Sherlock Holmes is taken from his time and dimension and placed in our world during our time period.  While Stephanie gives insight into some of their thoughts, she refrains enough in the story so that you have to work to see and understand the characters independently for who they are.  In other words, she does not let the narrative overshadow the characters.  What is important to note about the series is the development of Sherlock.  In the book, he goes from being a very static, Victorian gentleman to being more animated.  Her taking into account cultural and temporal norms allows for unmalleable character to become dynamic.  Where his time required men to be almost asexual, he is now allowed to show passion and tenderness openly without the author sacrificing the traits that makes Holmes such an iconic character.

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Ken Johnson is an independent researcher and culturalist who typically writes on issues of culture, conflict, conservation, and literary allegory.  Starting college at the age of 16, Ken now holds a BA in Social Sciences, an MBA, and special certifications from the USDA and the Florida Supreme Court in the field of mediation.  Predominately a non-fiction writer, he has a book due out in August 2014 called Unbroken Circles SM for Schools. In 2005, he was commissioned as a Kentucky Colonel for his good works by the governor of Kentucky.  He has also been nominated for the Grinnell Prize as well as two media awards given by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology. 

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I'd like to thank Ken for his analysis of my works and my writing style. He does indeed have my thought processes correct, and to see someone else's take on my attempts at creating other beings has been fascinating!

-Stephanie Osborn
http://www.stephanie-osborn.com

Elements of Modern Storytelling: Romance, A Guest Blog by Kenneth Johnson

by Stephanie Osborn
http://www.stephanie-osborn.com

Today's guest blog on Romance as an element of modern storytelling is by Kenneth Johnson. Ken is an interesting individual. Principal Chief of the Florida Tribe of Cherokee Indians, Ken is also a polymath, a social scientist and culturalist. (J.R.R. Tolkien would have called him a "loremaster.") Ken Johnson is better known as "America's Culturalist." He writes primarily on issues of culture, conflict, and literary allegory. He is rather widely published in various magazines and webzines, and I thought his take on elements of modern storytelling would be intriguing and a bit different. I first "e-met" him after he read a couple of my books and contacted me; we met in person a few weeks later when I appeared at a convention local to him.

So let's sit back and see what Ken has to say.

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Kenneth:

As a reader, the greatest feat that a writer can accomplish is maintaining a point of view that captures, and retains, my interest throughout a storyline.   I am extremely particular when it comes to emotional vs. sensual writing.  Oft times, I could care less what the character is feeling emotionally and instead I want the writer to be talking about the textures, smells, sensations, etc. of the moment.  As a reader, romance therefore messes things up for me when it is employed.  By this I mean that romance tends to blur the lines and therefore it is very much like dropping a flash bomb in a room.  When done right, it re-grabs the attention of the reader, re-focuses it, and uses the romance as a carrier to a much more elevated storyline.  However, there is far too much bad writing out there and thus the romantic twist just ends up twisting the story so far out of whack that the reader gives up on the book altogether. 

Indeed, in many ways, romance is to a story what salt is like to food.  Too little can make for a bland story.  Too much can kill a story.  So, the writer has to get that Goldilocks scenario of getting things “just right” – which can become a daunting challenge.

Initially, the writer should spend a great deal of time contemplating both the correct timing as well as the correct type of romance to use.  The writer also needs to take into consideration the culture of the reader as well as the culture that the character represents.  Finally, the writer has a professional duty to contemplate and account for the impact that said romantic twist will have on the reader.

It is on this latter concept of professional responsibility to the impact of romance that I first want to address.   Social scientists have well established a link between visual and actual responses to both romantic and carnal/lustful situations.  Researchers have concluded that the subconscious brain cannot distinguish between actually seeing something happen and seeing something depicted in an audio-visual format on television or in the movies.   That is to say, “You know, but you don’t know,” because your conscious brain is saying, “This is a television show,” while your subconscious is like some teenager yelling out, “They’re really getting it on!”  Some researchers are now beginning to hypothesize that this response to stimuli also applies to the written word.  A select few are now going so far as to say that the written word may be even more sensual than real life, meaning that the subconscious brain would be even less likely to differentiate between writing and the real thing.  This hypothesis takes into account the power of human imagination.  Thus, a literary tryst may have a more physio-emotional impact on the reader than them seeing the real thing.  Such arguments have specifically centered around juvenile-based comics, teen fiction, and even young adult fiction due to the added issue of hormones which can potentially, and adversely, “color” feelings and perceptions.

Of course, all of this is all well and good but it is still just theory.  Quite possibly the greatest impact concern that a writer should have is the reader’s expectations.   For instance, if one is reading a story about an Amish farm, one really would not expect to read about how Helga got ravished by Jacob and ended up covered in chocolate sauce in some barn.  However, by the same token, Jacob taking Helga by the hand, courting her, and stealing a kiss might be something that the reader would more likely expect.  Therefore, the writer not only has to ask, “Would the character do this?” but the writer should also consider, “How will my readers react if this romantic twist plays out this specific way?”

Verily, it is the romantic type that matters as much, if not more, than anything else.  Ultimately, all romance can be broken down into six types or categories:  puppy love, teenage drama, young adult passion, erotica, secondary romance, and golden romance. 

By far the simplest concept to understand is the “puppy love” concept where intentions are pure even though comprehension and motives are likely underdeveloped in the plot line.  While it is the simplest to understand, this type of romance can be the hardest to write because it is so underdeveloped in its motives, rationale, etc.  For this reason, most writers never touch the topic unless in brief to provide a background story or some other accentual element to a much greater storyline. 

Teenage drama is a hot button issue now.  Like puppy love, it lacks rationale – but that is what makes it so great to use!  You can have love, hate, sorrow, etc. all tied in together because the readers are teenagers and they are feeling the ravages of hormonal changes. 

Young adult passion is becoming a more popular segment these days.  Indeed, a number of young readers are tired of carnal-focused romance stories and instead they want to experience the more sophisticated nuances of genuine love between two people who are now more mature and contemplating what to do with their lives. 

By far the greatest bulk of American romance is almost erotica based.  Some of the storylines being developed today are nothing short of something one would have expected from historical erotica writers like Anais Nin.  Such stories hone in on the frustrations of life and provide a release by one giving themselves over to cultural taboos.  But, again, audience and character background means everything.  As a Native American, I am used to intimate body parts being talked about in the casual.  However, the talk of breasts and such, in contemporary society, is deemed “intimate” and so this genre style can be fickle – especially if the writer has a diverse readership or only typically writes from one cultural vantage point. 

Of course, after a while, love oft-times will start to fade.  A growing trend in America is for middle-aged people to have two or more previous marriages in their histories.  So, romance writers have begun to focus on trying to write about reigniting flames in old relationships, finding the right relationship after a long-dead one has failed, etc. 

But, by far, my greatest love of romance storylines is the golden romance where love did not fade and a couple has held on to each other through the years to the point that it has blossomed into something that few people ever experience.  Using a real world example, I remember hearing a story of the late President Reagan.  He was in the final stages of Alzheimer’s disease and he decided to go on a routine walk with his Secret Service detail.  Walking past a person’s yard, he saw a beautiful rose.  When he tried to pick it, a Secret Service agent politely grabbed his hand and said, “Mr. President, this is not your home.”  To that, President Reagan replied, “I know, I am just getting this for my sweetie.”   For me, this is real romance.  I cannot imagine the horror of losing my mind.  It would devastate me.  Yet, through it all, he still wanted to show his wife love and affection with everyday simple gestures that contemporary society seemingly finds no value in anymore.  For this reason, golden romance is, in a way, much like puppy love – only matured.

Naturally, nothing matters more than timing.  You can have everything picked out and properly accounted for with the readers and characters and still mess up a good story with improper timing.  Simply put, you cannot have someone talking about Prussian military tactics one minute, and then having them in a loving embrace the second, without first properly setting the stage.  This is to say that romance happens on a very specific schedule. 

Case in point, golden romance can never happen between two teenagers because they are too young to understand it and appreciate it for what it is.  By the same token, two middle-aged individuals cannot suddenly break out in teenage romance because they should be old enough, and stable enough, that all of the, “I love you, I hate you, let’s make out, oh I feel so ashamed, let’s do it again,” erratic melodrama is well behind them.  

For this reason, the writer had better put serious thought into what type of romance takes what type of timing.  In the case of the Displaced Detective series, a lot of time had to expire for the two main characters, Sherlock and Skye, to get to know each other.  Even then, Sherlock had an inward battle he had to fight where he was nothing short of a cultural fossil trying to live in a new era with new norms.  This all had to play out.  Indeed, it was not until Skye nearly died that Sherlock had the emotional and traumatic stimulation needed for him to uncharacteristically break out of his cultural shell and engage in an atypical, erotic fashion.  Because both were older individuals, this type of romance had to quickly crescendo and move on to a more stable type of romance more fitting of their age and circumstance. 

Verily, when done right, there is no greater way for a writer to develop a storyline than by way of romance.  By its very essence, it is transcendental.  However, more so than with any other element, it has to be used in the appropriate amount, in the correct manner, and at the optimal point in time to give the story the most bang for the readers’ buck.  Some of the greatest stories of our era are won and lost in how the author handles romantic twists.

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Interesting point of view, and I had not thought of dividing up the different "types" of love before, nor of how they necessarily provide for different timing! 

If you'd like to read more of Ken's work, you can find a lot linked to his website: 

http://kenjohnson.americasculturalist.tripod.com/ -- enjoy!

-Stephanie Osborn

http://www.stephanie-osborn.com