BUILDING CHARACTER – Bringing People (And Aliens) to Life Through Words - Part 3

In Part 1of my Building Character blog posts, we discussed how a character’s unique traits will determine how they react to anything and everything in the story. I gave a list of 14 things that make a character unique. You can read that post here. In Part 2, we dove deeper into three of them: experiences, perspective, and beliefs. You can read that post here. In Part 3, let’s discuss the unique ways our characters can sense their world.  

SENSING THE WORLD

Whether on Earth, another planet, or in a spaceship, your characters will sense their worlds differently. Everyone is familiar with the five basic senses of vision, hearing, smell, taste and touch. But did you know there are other senses?  

Proprioception is the perception or awareness of the position and movement of the body. Dancers and athletes can be very in tune with where their body is in space.

Intuition is the ability to know something without any proof. It’s sometimes referred to as a “gut feeling,” “instinct,” or “sixth sense.” Right-brain people seem to be more intuitive because the right brain is visual and processes information in an intuitive way. Left-brain people processes things in an analytical or logical  way.

Sometimes, people don't even perceive senses the same way most of us do. People with synesthesia (si·nuh·stee·zhuh) can see sounds as colors or associate certain sights with smells. There’s a plot bunny for you!

Other senses your animal or alien characters could have are: 

Thermoception - the sensation and perception of temperature.
Magnetoception - ability to detect a magnetic field to perceive direction, altitude or location. In the Survival Race series my telepathic aliens are sensitive to EM Fields. It scrambles their brainwaves.
Echolocation - ability to determine orientation to objects through interpretation of reflected sound (like sonar).
Electroreception - ability to detect electric fields.
Infrared Sensing - ability to sense infrared thermal radiation
Hygrorecption - ability to detect changes in the environment’s moisture content.

I’m sure you can research even more. The point is to think about your characters and make them unique in how they sense the world around them.

How do your characters see their world? Do they notice geometric shapes and patterns? Do they notice color? Do they notice light and shadow? Do they see its beauty or the ugly in it? This can also stem from their perception, which we discussed in the earlier posts. Does your character not see the world at all?

Are your characters touchy/ feely? Do they hug everyone or touch others when they talk? Are they tactile or kinesthetic learners? Kinesthetic learners need to move. They wiggle, tap, swing their legs, bounce, and can’t seem to sit still. They learn through their bodies and their sense of touch. They have excellent “physical” memory. They learn by doing. They are often gifted in physical activities like running, swimming, dancing, and other sports. They are often coordinated and have excellent proprioception.

Do your characters have a heightened sense of smell? My daughter loves fragrance, essential oils, and men’s cologne. Some people don’t. If your character has animal traits—like a werewolf or dragon does—or your character is an animal, you’ll want to be sure to incorporate their strong sense of smell into their characterization.  

Have you given thought to your character’s taste? We tend to like the foods we grew up on because we’ve grown accustomed to those flavors. For example, Americans consume a lot of sugar. Japanese don’t. Therefore Japanese candies and cookies are not as sugary and sweet as American treats. I noticed this difference on my travels to Okinawa, Japan. Okinawa donuts are not as sweet as ours. Can your characters taste things that are sweet, sour, salty, bitter, savory, or maybe they can’t taste anything at all? I lost my sense of taste and smell when I had Covid-19. It was an odd sensation, but thankfully I got it back. Some people have more tastebuds than average and are called supertasters. What kinds of foods would your alien race eat if they were supertasters? What would they eat if they had no taste buds?

How does your character hear things? Let’s take music as an example, and I’m not referring just to what is pleasing to your ear or the kind you like: classical, rock, country, heavy metal, rap, reggae, etc. Did you know people listen to music differently? I didn’t learn this until my drummer son, who is 22 now, was a teenager in high school. He loved heavy metal music and wanted me to listen to some with him. After a few minutes this was our exchange.

Me:  “These lyrics are terrible.”
Son:  “Oh, I don’t listen to the lyrics.”
Me:  “You don’t hear all this swearing?”
Son:  “No.”
Me:  (Assuming he’s fibbing because he doesn’t want to get into trouble with Mom.) “Then what are you listening to?”
Son:  “The beat.”
Me:  (Surprised) “You really don’t listen to the lyrics?”  

Nope. He wasn’t. He enjoyed the exciting rhythm of the double base drum and the snare and symbols and toms.

I’m a story teller. I love words. I love lyrics, which is why I get irritated when song lyrics don’t make sense or I can’t understand the lyrics and have to look them up and realize I’ve been singing my own mondegreen (a misinterpreted word or phrase resulting from mishearing song lyrics). So I then asked my daughter, a ballet dancer, what she hears to when listening to music. She replied, “The way the song as a whole sounds on the ear. And then I listen to the words.” It makes sense a ballet dancer would hear the melody as I believe ballet arm movements (port de bras) move with the melody. A tap dancer would be very beat oriented.

Keep in mind the best way your character would express something based on how they sense the world.

I hear what you’re saying. (Character may be an aural/ auditory learner)
I see what your saying. (Character may be a visual learner)
I know what your saying. (Character may be a logical person or shows cognitive intelligence)
I feel you. (Character may be an intuitive person or shows emotional intelligence).

Understanding how our characters sense their world allows us to write richer characters. 

Miscommunication between characters who don’t understand how their partners sense their worlds can be fun. However, be sure to help them learn to understand how their partners sense the world by the end of the story, as better communication will lead them on the path toward their happily-ever-after. 

 

K.M. FAWCETT

Romance with a rebel heart

www.kmfawcett.com

 

World-building gives a story depth

Hobbiton

One of the nice things about writing science fiction and fantasy is that you get to play God/dess and create your very own worlds. On the other hand, one of the worst things about writing science fiction and fantasy is that those worlds you've created have to be believable. Readers have to feel like they're there and that this is a real place, with alien cultures that make sense displaying believable, if very different, behaviours.

It's easy enough to find courses to teach the art of world-building, but I don't think you need to go far to see some stunning examples – both the very best and others where a little more thought would have been nice.

Let's start with Star Wars. Yes, I know the movie first appeared in 1977 and therefore, its making was dictated by the mores of the time. But that's a trap SF writers have to keep in mind, not just when it comes to tech, such as space ships, but how a society may change in the future. There were only two important women in the first trilogy – Princess Leia and Mon Mothma. The Imperial troops were all white males – as were the rebels. Oh – except for one white female in the control bunker on Hoth in The Empire Strikes Back. At least there were some non-humans in Return of the Jedi but not very many. Disney has addressed that issue so we find a better mix of body types in the last several films, with non-humans in the rebel cohorts. It was one of the things I liked about Rogue One, where female pilots flew X-wings, and non-white people had starring roles. They didn't have to fake American accents, either. Ben Mendelsohn spoke with his normal Australian accent and Diego Luna kept his Latino tones. And different accents are what I would expect from a million different worlds.

Star Trek did much better at diversifying its fleet, despite having aired before Star Wars. Casting a black woman as Lieutenant Uhura was brilliant. Nichelle Nichols became an inspiration for many black girls growing up in the US.

But for both franchises, the world building was often… shall we say a bit ordinary? Just about all the worlds we were shown had essentially the same gravity and atmosphere as good old Earth. No breathing apparatus or special clothing needed, no bouncing around in low gravity. Back in the day, Star Trek's aliens were unconvincing, possibly because of limited special effects capability. Greek Gods seemed to show up quite often, which got around the problem of having to dress up as aliens. It's fun to watch early episodes of Doctor Who with the cardboard sets and the terrible costumes for (say) the cybermen – or even the daleks, who could be evaded by walking (running) up a flight of stairs. Mind you, R2D2 had a similar problem. Which goes to show if you write a good story, the fans will fill in the gaps.

Still, I like it when I don't have to keep reminding myself that it's just fantasy.

Which brings me to the very best fantasy world I've ever come across: Professor Tolkien's Middle Earth.

For me, The Lord of the Rings was a book that I could not put down. I was inveigled into Tolkien's world from the very first page and devoured the words at every waking moment until I'd finished. Then I started again.

The One Ring inscribed in Elvish script

Part of the fascination was the setting was so convincing. Hobbits were real, living in a real, bucolic world. Elves were real, slightly ephemeral beings with flowing robes, flowing hair, flowing script, and an affinity with nature. Dwarves were the part of the rocks upon which the mountains are built, short and stocky and strong, with written script to match their architecture. I could follow the adventures on the map. Here was Tom Bombadill's house; here was Fangorn Forest; here the Lonely Mountain; here Mount Doom.

Tolkien was a bit different from your average author. He invented languages – whole scripts – for the elves and the dwarves, although he borrowed from runes and old Nordic, and dare I say, Arabic for Elvish script. He filled in their back story from the elder days, to the extent of writing another book (The Silmarillion, which I confess I could not finish), and he drew maps. I'm not suggesting that authors need to go to those lengths – but the detail is what makes Middle Earth real. That's one of the great things about Peter Jackson's movie trilogies, LOTR and the Hobbit. Using Tolkien's words, Jackson's designers were able to create totally different cultures for the hobbits, the elves, and the dwarfs. For humans, we see different life-styles for the Rohirrim and the men of Minas Tirith.

An author can learn a lot from studying books and movies that worked for them and analysing why. And, as I've suggested, it's worth considering the bits where you consciously decided to overlook that glaring error. For example, Han Solo's famous 'Kessel run in twelve parsecs' remark. Or being able to cross interstellar space without a working hyperdrive. You might not think that little mistakes will matter, but somebody WILL notice.

Thror's map, with Dwarvish inscriptions

Drawing maps is a great idea. In Linnea Sinclair's book, Hope's Folly, just about all the action takes place on a space ship and the ship's unfortunate design is one of the issues making the problems the MCs encounter even worse. She drew a picture of the ship for that reason, to make sure the action happened as it should. I drew maps and diagrams for The Iron Admiral so I could see where locations were in relation to each other.

For me, detail is telling. One reason I like Jack McDevitt's Alex Benedict series is just that. Benedict is an antiques collector, plying his trade amongst the stars in a far-distant future where civilizations have come and gone, a bit like a present-day collector searching for artefacts from Egypt or Rome. McDevitt gives little details of the history of the objects Benedict collects, and a few sentences about the culture that left them behind. It gives the story depth.

And a story with depth is one a reader will remember and want to read again and again. My very shabby copy of The Lord of the Rings is a testament.

 

 

 

 

Why I love The Mandalorian

Without in any way minimizing the importance of the Covid-19 pandemic, I'll bet most of you are stuffed to pussy's bow with articles on the subject. I certainly am. So, this week I've been using my self-imposed social isolation to revisit some favourite shows.

I've started my second viewing of The Mandalorian which goes to show I really enjoyed it. Although I'm a Star Wars fan, I don't enjoy everything the franchise churns out. The prequels left me underwhelmed and I despised The Force Awakens. I haven't seen the last offering yet. It will happen in the fullness of time. But I did think Rogue One was excellent. And all of that got me to thinking. WHY did I like The Mandalorian so much?

 I expect anyone who's interested has probably already seen the show. This post isn’t going to be littered with spoilers – or at least I don't think so. But if you haven't seen the show yet and spoilers are a concern, please leave quietly and close the door behind you.

So… why does The Mandalorian work? Lots of people waving their hands around are shouting 'Baby Yoda!!!' And I can't deny that's part of the appeal. He's cute and powerful and very much just a kid. In that respect I think he's very well written (We're saying 'he' – but he could be a 'she', couldn't he?) The eyes and ears are very expressive – child-like yet, wise. And the behaviour is kid-like, too.

But for me it was more about the richness of the show's setting. 

The Mandalorian is set in a universe after the demise of the Empire. Removing Vader and his Emperor would have started the process but it would have taken years for the still-powerful Empire to fall completely – and even more for the New Republic to take over. Out there in the frontier regions pockets of Imperial loyalists would use what muscle they still had. We see Imperial stormtroopers in grubby white armour co-existing with bounty hunters and bandits. Law and order is sporadic and local. I can imagine this is the sort of thing that would have happened as the Roman Empire crumbled so I find that setting eminently convincing, made more so because I know what happened in the past.

The producers have called upon bits and pieces from the earlier movies without thrusting the analogy down our throats as was done in The Force Awakens. (Desert planet, cute droid, orphan kid, planet-killer death ray etc etc. Don't get me started.) 

In one of the earliest scenes in episode one Mando strides through a frontier town and we spy a creature being roasted on a spit. It's the same species as the nasty little critter we saw in Revenge of the Jedi sitting next to Jabba in his palace, enjoying Leia's torment. When Mando takes on the bounty, he is assisted by Kuiil, an Ugnaught who had been indentured to the Empire. The Ugnaughts appeared in The Empire Strikes Back in Cloud City, scavenging parts which turned out to be sections of C3P0, who had been blasted by Imperial troops. IG-11, the bounty-hunting droid which features in the Mandalorian, first appeared on the bridge of the star destroyer Executor in The Empire Strikes Back when Darth Vader sent out bounty hunters to find the Millennium Falcon. And so it goes.

What's nice about these characters from the past is that this show enables them to be more than bit players. Kuiil comes across as a real person with a past and some amazing skills. In the second episode, Mando's ship is looted (not trashed) by Jawas in a sand crawler. We all remember them from A New Hope when they picked up R2D2 and C3P0.

Characters like Cara Dune work, too, because they're placed in context. Cara was a Rebel shock trooper during the war with the Empire. When peace broke out she couldn't adjust and became a bounty hunter. She comes from Alderaan, which as we all know was blown to bits by Grand Moff Tarkin and the first Death Star. I can imagine, after that sort of history, she would have trouble settling down. I was especially impressed with the way she worked with Mando in their support of a village against bandits who had obtained an Imperial AT-ST. The episode was reminiscent of The Magnificent Seven. 

The other thing Disney did was learn from the failure of Solo. The movie itself wasn't bad - but 
fans couldn't accept anyone but Harrison Ford as Han Solo.Danny Glover as a younger Lando Calrissian wasn't quite as fraught with danger, but even so.

But back to The Mandalorian. So many of the episodes evoked "Star Wars" without in any way regurgitating the storyline. Sure, as with all Star Wars stories, you have to turn your credibility sensors right down when it comes to physics. I'll add that while the earlier episodes are spaghetti westerns in space, later episodes hint at something more that I hope will come out in the second series, due (I think) in October.

I'm looking forward to it - and I'd love to know what you thought.

LOST IN SPACE? GET A BIBLE!

Laurie’s post about swearing in SFR this week made me think about the alien vocabulary my characters have been accumulating in the four books (and one short story) of the Interstellar Rescue series universe. There’s the swearing, of course, but I’ve developed a few alien terms for creatures that don’t exist on Earth, for example, and for religious, political or philosophical concepts, too.

The IR universe is a pretty full one after nearly a decade of writing, so there are planets (complete with cities and topographical features of note) and sectors of space and jump nodes that take you here and there. There are historical events, like famous skirmishes between the Rescue teams and the bad-guy aliens, or the discovery of the jump node transportation system (and the destruction of the home world of the alien species that discovered it). Each of my characters has a backstory, too, of course, that fits into the history of the universe. 

The series bible: not divinely inspired, just organized!

How to keep all of this information straight? Well, it’s pretty clear I should have graduated long before now from my “system” of scribbled notes and sketches with computerized notes for each book. I need a genuine series bible. Only lack of time and pure laziness/terror has prevented me from organizing all the material I work with in creating my IR universe into a coherent reference that both readers and the author can depend on.

What would I include in my series bible? In no particular order:

--A glossary of terms. This would be both of alien words and any pseudo-scientific terms I’ve invented, such as “mindwipe,” the term I use to describe what the Grays do to their captives to erase their emotions and memories of Earth.

--A list of places. Planets, space stations, significant jump nodes, cities/towns, colonies, topographical sites of note, such as the Sea of IzRa, to which characters might refer.

--A rough map of the “galaxy.” A number of jump nodes are mentioned in the series, as well as their relative distance from place to place in ship-days. The map would give readers a way to visualize where the nodes and places are in relation to each other. This would in no way be a real map of the galaxy, just a look at where things are relatively.

--A list of major characters. This wouldn’t be exhaustive and would only give the briefest details about the character—in which book they first appeared, planet of origin, relation to others, etc.

--A list of species. A description of the characteristics of each sentient alien species that appears in the series. Descriptions of creatures like the psoro (a Barelian “buffalo”) or the targa (a Thrane wildcat) will be found under the glossary, not here.

I’m sure there are other pieces of information that should be included. As I’m assembling my bible, they’ll make themselves known. I do know this is one of those tasks that I’ve put off too long. No doubt there will come a day when one of my readers will notice I’ve put a planet where it doesn’t belong. Before that happens, I’d better lay it all out in Scripture!

Cheers, Donna