The extrovert, the introvert, and emotions
I was with Eileen Robertson yesterday, going through the chapter I'm going to take to Dunford Novelists and read out there.
Eileen suggested putting the character in more fear earlier in the narrative. I've decided to take her advice, but it's not something I would have naturally done, and that got me thinking about extrovert and introvert characters.
I'm naturally an introvert. I'm to be found at the edge of parties and gathers, listening to others make most of the conversation. For years I thought I was just being lazy, not making the effort to connect, until I read Susan Cain's wonderful book Quiet : The Power of Introverts in a World that Won't Stop Talking. The book was a revelation for me, and on nearly every page I was saying "yes, that's me!".
That more controlled way of being in the world works its way through to my characters too. My heroes and heroines are rarely flashy, sound-and-fury types. I get subjected to enough of them when I'm out writing in my cafés during the day. So many younger people seem to have constructed their identities from copying loud and brash TV personalities.
No, my heroes and heroines wield quiet power. They're the ones working away in secret to overthrow the corrupt regime. They're people like Ren Hunter, diligently doing genetics and biological studies of dead kingcat cubs to work out what's going on. And Bryn Hunter, quietly working away for five years to produce a sentient AI.
Which sometimes gives me a challenge as a writer. I want to keep my strong, steady types, but I also need to put them in danger for the sake of my story, and have them react to that danger.
And that is where the natural introvert has to become more extrovert - or her characters do. That's when I need Eileen, and Carol Westron, to react to what I've written and tell me if it works.
Eileen suggested putting the character in more fear earlier in the narrative. I've decided to take her advice, but it's not something I would have naturally done, and that got me thinking about extrovert and introvert characters.
I'm naturally an introvert. I'm to be found at the edge of parties and gathers, listening to others make most of the conversation. For years I thought I was just being lazy, not making the effort to connect, until I read Susan Cain's wonderful book Quiet : The Power of Introverts in a World that Won't Stop Talking. The book was a revelation for me, and on nearly every page I was saying "yes, that's me!".
That more controlled way of being in the world works its way through to my characters too. My heroes and heroines are rarely flashy, sound-and-fury types. I get subjected to enough of them when I'm out writing in my cafés during the day. So many younger people seem to have constructed their identities from copying loud and brash TV personalities.
No, my heroes and heroines wield quiet power. They're the ones working away in secret to overthrow the corrupt regime. They're people like Ren Hunter, diligently doing genetics and biological studies of dead kingcat cubs to work out what's going on. And Bryn Hunter, quietly working away for five years to produce a sentient AI.
Which sometimes gives me a challenge as a writer. I want to keep my strong, steady types, but I also need to put them in danger for the sake of my story, and have them react to that danger.
And that is where the natural introvert has to become more extrovert - or her characters do. That's when I need Eileen, and Carol Westron, to react to what I've written and tell me if it works.
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