  Noticing Newbies
This week: Playing around with your characters Edited by: THANKFUL SONALI Library Class!  
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Many authors like to make character outlines.
Here's something that could give a unique perspective on this.
(PS - While this newsletter uses Potter characters as examples, non-Potterheads will be able to relate to it, too -- I've explained who the characters are.) |
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Dear Reader,
I run a Harry Potter discussion group, here in Bangalore (India). We meet face to face, once a month, to talk about anything Harry Potter.
Our most recent session got me thinking.
Instead of having a discussion on a given topic pertaining to Potter, as we usually do, we played a game. The game is called TWENTY QUESTIONS. For those who are not familiar with this game -- the 'clue-giver' picks a name from a hat. This name is of someone from the Potter universe. The rest of the participants have to then ask questions, to which the response can only be one of 'yes, no, maybe, I don't know'. Within 20 Questions and these cryptic answers from the clue-giver, participants have to guess the name of the character.
The discussions among the participants, while coming up with questions to pose, made me wonder -- could this be a new way of approaching a character outline? It wasn't necessarily the most obscure characters that were the most difficult to guess, but the most hard-to-label ones.
For example:
There's a character called Gellert Grindelwald, who used to be a friend of the hero, Dumbledore, in their youth. Later, the two friends parted, Grindelwald became a villain, and finally had a famous duel with his one-time friend, which Dumbledore won.
Now, this back-story is told to us against the main story of the current villain, Voldemort, and his battle against Dumbledore and Dumbledore's supporters. At one point, Voldemort wants a powerful wand which Grindelwald had once owned, but is now Dumbledore's. To protect Dumbledore from Voldemort, Grindelwald lies to Voldemort and is killed by him.
Now, the question asked in the game we played was: "Is the character a supporter of Dumbledore?"
The context of the question is -- is he a supporter of Dumbledore in the Dumbledore-Voldemort conflict ... but it isn't asked that specifically, and thus becomes grey. The character was-wasn't-was a supporter of Dumbledore, so does that rate a yes, a no, a maybe or an I-don't-know answer?
Interesting. A past conflict and a present conflict; two former friends pitted against each other; the evil one coming round and defending the good one at the end of his life.
Another example:
At Harry's school, Hogwarts, fifth-year students take external examinations. The examiners stay at Hogwarts for the duration of the exams.
The question asked, when the character was one of the examiners Griselda Marchbanks, was: "Was she a Hogwarts teacher?"
Well, no. She wasn't a Hogwarts teacher. She was an external examiner. However -- to be an external examiner, she must've been a teacher at some point in her career. And Hogwarts is the only school of Witchcraft and Wizardry in Britain. So, she must once have been a Hogwarts teacher. In any case, she was connected with teaching. And she had stayed at Hogwarts for the duration of the exams.
So -- is the answer to that question yes, no, maybe or I-don't-know? Given the entire gamut of characters to be narrowed down to one name, isn't this the best description of her? Or would it get misleading to say yes?
These non-labelled characters are what make a story come alive, a world ring true.
So try playing with your characters sometimes. See if you can slot them into yes-no-maybe-I don't know categories, and where that takes you!
Thanks for listening!
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Noticing Newbies: March 21, 2018 Issue [#8811]
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