Character and Characterization
I’m finding Robert McKee’s distinction between character and characterization helpful as I work on my new novel. According to McKee, “Characterization is the sum of all observable qualities of a human being, everything knowable through careful scrutiny: age and IQ; sex and sexuality; style of speech and gesture; choices of home, car, and dress; education and occupation; personality and nervosity; values and attitudes…” But, he says,
TRUE CHARACTER is revealed in the choices a human being makes under pressure–the greater the pressure, the deeper the revelation, the truer the choice to the character’s essential nature.
from Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting
This distinction is something I didn’t consciously consider in my previous novel. I managed the distinction intuitively with several of my characters, but failed to do so with my protagonist. If I ever return to that novel, I might have a better chance at successfully rewriting it if I can better manage the distinction between my protagonist’s characterization (which I had pretty well) and her character (which I did not).
The story world and the characters of the new novel feel stronger every day. I’m getting closer to answers on the big choices my characters have to make and how those choices will change them. And I’m also getting closer to answers on structural issues like where to begin the story. Even which season of the year each event happens in is becoming clearer.
McKee stresses the importance of creative limitations in the book, and though it’s far from a new concept, I was finally ready to hear it. Perhaps that’s because McKee’s book feels like a celebration of a job worth doing. A task worth every dram of sweat, every moment of doubt.
I’m still, as he suggests, refraining from writing scenes and dialog, still concentrating on outlining scenes, writing about my characters’ lives and world, and imagining as many possibilities as I can. This license to imagine (rather than produce) feels good. And it feels as if I will, in due time, produce something much stronger, more vital, than ever before.