Creating a distinctive look that isn't a knockoff of something else

[Stephen Palmer]

Dreamhunter was lucky - I only saw my muse once, and briefly!

I wonder if female authors look at men in the same way...

 

[dreamhunter]

Well it wasn't stalking in the usual sense of the word. More like, just lounging away on a luxurious hotel sofa, velvet it was too. Glancing at the newspaper every once in a while, pretending to be someone waiting for someone.

You know, I saw the hotel's front office manager speaking to her, and I was absolutely sure from the look on his face, and the way he was looking at her, that he was thinking much, much more than just the words she was actually saying.

I still have a vague memory of her face and body. Gosh, if I could command myself to dream of her at will ... now then ...

 

[The Judge]

I wonder if female authors look at men in the same way...

No. Not this aspiring one, anyway. On the other hand, the kind of men I see are more LLoyd George than George Clooney.

J

 

[J-WO]

Ha, I'd like to see Clooney's smoldering good looks get us through the great war. I don't think so...

 

[Sarahsque]

Dreamhunter was lucky - I only saw my muse once, and briefly!

I wonder if female authors look at men in the same way...

I do! And I am doing that for my first novel. However, I don't "study" them as thoroughly as dreamhunter seems to, but in a sense where I let their features tell me the story and develop a background. I do however, look out for a certain feature that brings the character to life like a scar or a certain habit they have.

 

[Xelah]

I don't know, I'm following dreamhunter's lead. Maybe I'm doing something wrong here, but she's closed all her blinds so that I can't see in when I drive by every ten minutes and she's gotten a restraining order.

 

[dreamhunter]

Geeeee! Feels so goood to be a role model for others.

 

[dreamhunter]

I don't know, I'm following dreamhunter's lead. Maybe I'm doing something wrong here, but she's closed all her blinds so that I can't see in when I drive by every ten minutes and she's gotten a restraining order.

There's a good reason for that. You see, she's the type who likes to walk around the whole house ... you know ... au naturelle.

In the kitchen, frying the hamburger ... in the sitting room, watching the telly ... in the bedroom, of course, just lying there ... everywhere.

With the cool autumn breeze caressing her skin ... loving every bit of her ... from her head ... to her mid ... to her toe ...

 

[Pyan]

That'll do...

Back on topic, please.

 

[Window Bar]

Fortunately we live in a flambouyant time. Fifteen minutes at a street corner or shopping center (perhaps armed with a digital camera) should go a long way toward finding a look.

And don't stop with a look. Sometimes the fragrance or the sound is even more meaningful. No one wanting to do a Darth Vader imitation would run to the store for a black hat and cape, he'd simply begin breathing, "Khaaaah, khaaaah..." and we'd know who he meant.

-- WB

 

[Toby Frost]

Don't try to superimpose something on your people in the hope it will make them seem cool

Quite. Try reading Poppy Z Brite's Lost Souls if you're not a goth and you'll see how true this is. By about page 30 I had turned into a Monty Python Yorkshireman and was barking "Stop flouncing about, you big nancy!" at the page.

Overall I'd agree: props aren't needed unless they are absolutely vital to the story and, I would suggest, often work best when they impact negatively on the character. Also, bear in mind that they can turn a character into a caricature. One of my main characters is a girl technician: whilst I freely accept that she has a lot of "tomboy mechanic" in her (and is a parody of it) she doesn't have a signature item like goggles, because doing so would push her that bit closer to being just a stereotype.

Also, please please don't have characters do things because it looks/seems cool (for some reason urban fantasy really suffers from this). Not everyone's definition of cool is the same, and I firmly believe that characters earn their cool instead of being created with it. A character who earns their cool by being believeable, 3D and interesting is great, but a character who is created cool runs the serious risk of being just a Mary Sue.

 

[Sarahsque]

That does make sense. But what if a prop was there to tell you something that the writer doesn't. For example:
Someone who constantly has a yo-yo rolling in and out of his hand could tell you the character is a smoker wanting to quit or agitated for a smoke.
Or a character that plays the harmonica - it has no relevance to the story but it's gives you a feel or aid you to picture the character in a different way.
A scar is overly used and I probably wouldn't go there but it also is a trait that makes a character mysterious and give a writer a chance to bring in another's story.
As for being "cool" - I would always look for something new and unpredictable.
For me, a character with imperfections is the way to go (Personality wise)

 

[Xelah]

I'm not sure everyone that's posting here is on the same page. There's doing something, and then there's overdoing something.

You could give a character a leather jacket.

And you could give a character a leather jacket, an AK47, muscles like Ah'nuld, a tattoo that says "born to kill" and a car that turns into a tank that fires plasma bombs, and then give him a pet lava-shark that wields shotgun-chuks.

All I was really looking for was something quick that says something about the character without having to launch into a 10 page thesis on it, but still stick out in people's minds. I keep a poker chip in my pocket because I have pent up energy and need to get rid of it without bothering anyone.

 

[J-WO]

Yep, its how you go about it. A leather jacket is useful when you don't know what this character whos about to appear in your story is actually about. Latching on to an object in order to get a handle on its owner (and developing them from thereon in) is fair enough--its a method that works for a lot of actors--but one has to be mindful of the jagged rocks of gimmickry.

 

[J-WO]

And you could give a character a leather jacket, an AK47, muscles like Ah'nuld, a tattoo that says "born to kill" and a car that turns into a tank that fires plasma bombs, and then give him a pet lava-shark that wields shotgun-chuks.

Send this as a synopsis to Baen books!

 

[Xelah]

Send this as a synopsis to Baen books!

I did, they told me they would only consider publishing if I signed a contract to do a spin off about my alien-iguana-cheetah-cyborg-villains... I'm not doing that.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

All I was really looking for was something quick that says something about the character without having to launch into a 10 page thesis on it, but still stick out in people's minds. I keep a poker chip in my pocket because I have pent up energy and need to get rid of it without bothering anyone.

Creating a character and writing a novel isn't as easy as that!

 

[Xelah]

Creating a character and writing a novel isn't as easy as that!

I didn't say it was, I was investigating the possibility of augmenting the visual aspect of a character without just tacking something on.

 

[Peter Graham]

All I was really looking for was something quick that says something about the character without having to launch into a 10 page thesis on it, but still stick out in people's minds.

In which case, the short answer is "don't do it".

A prop is a prop, irrespective of whether it is subtle or overdone. If you are saying "will a prop say something about a character to save me the bother?", the answer is "no". This is because we all see props in different ways. For some reason, most people appear to think that sunglasses are cool. Unless it's actually sunny or they have an eye problem, I think that anyone who wears sunglasses as a fashion statement just looks like a prat.

The prop needs to be put in context. Take your example of a poker chip. Without an explanation as to why someone is carrying a poker chip, my assumption would be that they are (or wish to be seen as) a high rolling gambler.

So, you can't create a distinctive look that gives every reader precisely the message you wish to convey without also giving the explanation as to why they look that way. Characters need to have their individual quirks and idiosyncracies to be credible, but that is largely achieved through allowing the reader to get inside the character's head.

Regards,

Peter

 

[Chinook]

I think what some folks are more than just hinting at is that there is greater stimulus for the reader to understand (and even relate to) the protagonist's character than the way they look. The way it was explained to me by an editor I knew, was that prose should either move the plot along, reveal character's traits and motivations (motivations which may give the plot meaning), or describe some of the surroundings (AKA "world-building"), and that's it. The idea is to keep the reader reading, and wanting to turn pages rather than distracting or befuddling them, or worse yet frustrating them with unnecessary oddities. The gist of it is, if it doesn't add value or move the plot along, leave it out.

You could give the guy a toe fetish. Arrgh! Now I've said too much!