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Joined: 11/17/2011
Posts: 1016
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I wish the video showed the notebook in greater detail, but I get the picture.
Heath Ledger locked himself in a hotel room and created the character of The Joker, in sketches and notes. It looks fascinating.
I carry my own notebook around in my head, and in miscellaneous note files, but it would be interesting (and fun) to fashion something similar.
I think you must start with a well-explored, well-understood character and, with a plot in mind, be willing to let that character take you to places you had not intended to go.
Here's the link:
http://www.salon.com/2013/05/31/explore_the_detailed_diary_heath_ledger_created_for_his_role_as_the_joker/
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Joined: 6/18/2012
Posts: 228
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Interesting article.
Thanks for posting, Mimi.
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Joined: 11/17/2011
Posts: 1016
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Now I see this notebook popping up all over the place.
I have always thought that we have to explore character like an actor does, in preparation for a role. I hope that eventually someone puts the entire notebook online. I bet it's a real piece of art.
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Joined: 5/27/2013
Posts: 108
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Nice article, gave a glimpse into the man behind the Joker, so to speak. I do want to say, the actor who portrayed the Joker, also added alot of depth. Forgot his name, but he did it well.
I hope my characters come off the page that good. I drew inspiration from real people around me (I know, cheater). You know the saying, reality is stranger than fiction though. Having known them for 10+ years, it makes it easier to anticipate their thought processes, or reactions. I may not get them 100% right, I at least hope I do them justice....
Thanks again Mimi.
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Joined: 11/17/2011
Posts: 1016
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Alantis, that's not cheating at all. My Sly character is made up of a third me, a third my husband and a third out of thin air. That's how you build a truly depthy (my new favorite word, I stumbled across it somewhere) character, by observing real people with real quirks.
Then of course, I elaborate on it, and push it over the top. Cause my book is a manic screwball adventure, anything goes, so say I.
Some of my choices brought out the long knives in my reviews. My excesses are annoying to many, but, bottom line, my book, my rules. You and Perry both need to remember that. Take advice, consider it, and adopt what you feel comfortable with.
You're wondering, how can she say that after giving such obnoxiously insistent advice? Easy.
There's a lot of me in Sly. We're both, often, arrogant jerks. Let me quote from my story concerning his amusing multiple views on social class verses the self-made man (or cat):
"That such diverse opinions should co-exist within his small cranium did not give him pause. He assembled his arguments as it suited his purposes, and the moment."
That's me, to a T.
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Joined: 5/27/2013
Posts: 108
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I almost wanted to say 'Yes dear' to your post, before I remembered where I was.  I hear you Mimi. Point made. And I appreciate that "arrogant jerk" banter, or review. You make life on the site...........interesting.
I only hope I give the characters in my book the depth you talk about. I too have elaborated on them. I even got called out on one of them. Someone felt I over sold it. I am still tossing that around in my head, get back to you. I am glad it is not cheating, cuz if I had to make them all up, I might still be on my character sheet.
New word..........consider it stolen. And I look forward to your depthy response. HAHAHA
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Wow, love the video! Thanks for sharing Mimi. Makes me feel less abnormal. I made the mistake of showing one of my journals to a friend, and they said I should burn it, that it looked like it belonged to a serial killer. I did not get sad. It became a great tool to scare away boys. "Here, super duper, horrible date, wanna see my freaky journal, okay want a hug now " Lol, oh, but the one who stuck around, my boyfriend of four years, is now a sticky leech on my heart, and I, his fungus growing on his leg.
Atlantis, I think every writer draws inspiration from the people that surround them. In order to model human emotions in our characters, it only makes sense to utilize the traits of those we've observed. I just read a scene from a story I'm working on to my boyfriend. There's a jealous asshole in this scene, and after I finished, he looked at me all hurt and said, "Brock sounds like me." I really wanted to say, "Oh, so you finally admit your a jealous asshole." But, I said, "I have no idea what you are talking about hunny bunny."
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Joined: 11/17/2011
Posts: 1016
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Hi Toni! Glad you’re here. You seem to be a wise woman. I’ve seen another of your posts that impressed me mightily.
I base my characters on me, on my husband, on my family, on anyone I run into with interesting quirks, or simply behaviors that strike a chord, that give me an idea. You’ve got to scavenge as you may, to flesh out your creatures. There’s no other way to achieve the depth that will truly entrance.
I also steal, er, adapt, bits, set-ups, dialogue that sparks my imagination, from obscure third-rate work, and sometimes from the greats. (Henry James and his line, Don't neglect your opportunities to live, comes to mind. I took it and ran with it, in my sixteenth century adventure starring a talking cat.)
Yes, I pilfer right and left. But, after working it into my scheme, I end up owning it, every time, absolutely, no apologies necessary.
I am an avid follower of Book Beast, on Daily Beast. One writer (why don’t I ever write down the names?) stated: if you don’t steal, you never write anything good. Something like that, anyway.
My opinion, exactly. I have no shame. And whatever I snatch, it never fails to become an integral part of my vision and is often unrecognizable.
Not always, of course. If I ever get Sly! published, I will have to insert: Certain dialogue and descriptions, particularly of sea-going matters, of which I know zilch, were snatched from authors whom I am unable to name. I've worked on this for thirty years for my own amusement and, never believing it to be publishable, until the last few years I never kept records.
I look forward to reading your work.
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Joined: 5/27/2013
Posts: 108
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Well thanks to you both, I have been dreading the day someone I know reads anything I wrote and says, "Hey this is me," or "Hey this is about (so and so)." Yes, they are that obvious. And I feel semi uninventive considering I have created an entire world, magic systems, etc. Can't even create a personality? Maybe, just maybe, I can throw in some random, silly, ding bat.........Oh wait that would be....
That had me cracking up about the jealous asshole. My wife is not so subtle, which makes it all the more entertaining. She usually just flat out says it, well not the jealous part because that is not one of my billions of character flaws, but I have the second part down so well it hardly requires effort on my part.
And Mimi, don't worry about how you got the sailing info, you just hire someone to write this flowing bio about how you have spent the last 30 years engrossed in research to give your books a flare of reality, focusing for some years on sailing to grasp the intricacies of riding the waves on the power of the wind. See how good that sounded? (Bullshitter is another one of my flaws that comes without much effort)
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Joined: 11/17/2011
Posts: 1016
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Toni,
I see that The Fire in Fiction is on your list of favorite books. Why? You sound like a free-thinker to me, a kindred spirit. Not that I am familiar with the volume. I’ve never heard of it. But I am wary of any how-to advice. If I followed rules, I never could have written Sly!
Aside from throwing in anything that pops into my head, an irritating habit, I'm told, I am the ultimate Intrusive Author. I feel that it works, wonderfully, and no one but no one is going to change my mind.
The only book on writing that I really enjoyed was The Writing Life by Anne Dilliard. It is not a nuts-and-bolts examination, but a philosophical commentary. I wish I could lay hands on it. We have thousands of books in this house. It’s probably in a box in the crawl space. It’s a very comforting, and inspiring, read.
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@Mimi: Thanks for the kind words about my posts. I like how you used the term scavenge in your description of gathering ideas for characters. My journal is the vulture flapping around the heads of those around me, snatching their quirky eccentricities, lol I'll have to take a look at Sly when I get a chance. Nice tagline, Sylvester Boots sounds interesting.
Oh, the Fire in Fiction is absolutely fantastic. Donald Maass gives you ways in which to pump up your fiction. It's not really a how-to on the craft, more a how-to jack up your story with awesomness.
I have not read The Writing Life, but I do like a quote of Dilliard's: "Write as if you were dying. At the same time, assume you write for an audience consisting solely of terminal patients. That is, after all, the case."
@Atlantis: LOL, funny.
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this is a small bite on how i do my character building
http://www.apexbookcompany.com/2012/05/it-builds-character/
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