Program Sample - Algonkian Novel Development and Writing Program

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MODULE IV READINGS AND ASSIGNMENTS

• Personality Types and The Counter Trait
• The Protagonist Transformational Arc
• Basics of Character Animation
• Sympathetic Character Factors in The Hook

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Personality Types and The Importance of Counter Trait

When it comes to sketching any or all of your major and minor characters in the novel, you might benefit from considering the basic personality types first. Let's look at a few of these (how many of you have met these people in the workplace?):

• The Ultra-Feminine (sexual, fussy, a princess)
• The Perpetual Victim (you gotta feel for her)
• The Feminist (she can do it better than he can, banner raiser)
• The Adventurer/Risk Taker (Ayn Rand meets Tarzan)
• The Stoic (rock faced, nearly unmovable, hiding something?)
• The Superstitious (the stars are not right, omens abound, ghosts knocking on door)
• The Classic Bad Boss (we all know this type)
• The Wise Leader (minus the bad traits of the classic bad boss)
• The Brown Noser (yes-man to boss, tyrant to underlings)
• The Temperamental Wiz (artist, creator, technical wiz, writer, etc.)
• The Martyr (sets themselves up to suffer, and basks in it)
• The Benevolent Monk (spiritual mentor, quick with bromides, herbalist on prozac)
• The Comic Relief (oaf, stumbler, comedian, etc.)
• The Eccentric (wide variety of quirky forms, e.g., Howard Hughes, Angelina Jolie)
• The Extrovert (show off, lively, outgoing, perhaps flamboyant)
• The Introvert or Loner (usually has a secret project underway, drinks alone)
• The Fearful (nervous perhaps, full of trepidation, doom)
• The Negative or Pessimist (looks for the dark cloud first)
• The Positive or Optimist (will only say something good, avoids critical evaluation)
• The Manipulator (they've been scheming all along, surprise!)
• The Passive-Aggressive (snippy, uncooperative, sabotaging)
• The Perfectionist (must be a loner or a leader to get along)
• The Mr. Personality (classic backslapping "Hail Fellow Well Met")
• The Ms. Personality (same as above sans backslapping, cheerleader in HS)
• The Problem Solver (give them a puzzle and step back)
• The Narcissist (oozing their agenda and desire like boiling hot syrup)

It's a relatively simple matter to use the categories above (and invent some of your own) to begin to sketch your characters, play with ideas, but first, you must consider the context, and before you do that, you must understand your story. Now, assuming the latter, let's pretend you are sketching a major sidekick character of some sort, and for their role in the story you wish them to be "The Eccentric" type above. Fine. Now you have a stereotype to work with. But wait! Let's throw a curve at the reader if possible, since that is always a great idea. You never want to be too predictable.

Consider, HOW can you make your eccentric different? Well the first thing to do is bestow a peculiar eccentricity upon them, one we haven't heard of before. Chelsea of Bridgehaven cannot eat her rice cereal in the morning until she listens to it pop with her old ear trumpet. Whatever. You get the idea. Next, WHAT IF you mixed the ECCENTRIC with another personality type, for example, the EXTROVERT. Now you have an eccentric extrovert. What would that be like? Chelsea of Bridgehaven, with much ado, invites her unlucky relatives staying overnight to listen to the pop-pop of rice cereal with her new gold-rimmed, black ebony ear trumpet. Well, you get the idea. Mixing stereotypes may help you to reform the stereotype into something a bit different. They may help you invent a counter trait.

What do we mean by counter trait? A trait or behavior of the character which seems, at the time, a bit out of character. The behavior or quirk surprises the reader. For example, the STOIC, after three gin and tonics, becomes an EXTROVERT show-off, or perhaps the known NEGATIVE personality interrupts a conversation wherein the participants are castrating male-female relationships to behave more like a POSITIVE or optimist, noting the beautiful and positive aspects of a good relationship.

This leads in a backdoor way to the pairing of conflicting emotions. What do we mean by this? In other words, let's say your major character possesses an ideal or overriding goal in their life, but something happens to create doubt. For much of her life, Judy Overstein has wanted to be an attorney, and while eating lunch in D.C. one day, happens to hear a table full of seasoned lawyers talking about how much they hate their lives. The classic seed of doubt is planted. She returns to her law school studies, fighting back the sudden doubt that now creeps into her spine. Before, she was confidently optimistic, but now that emotion and viewpoint competes with doubt and the viewpoints of others. What will she do?

What is your character's pair of conflicting emotions? Nothing like a good dose of internal conflict to keep us guessing.

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The Transformational Arc of Protagonist

While you're plotting your story you need to keep in mind the transformation of the protagonist, the phased development of their emotions and knowledge and values that takes place as the story evolves. But before you start mapping out your arc, realize that you cannot do so outside the context of your evolving plot line(s) and story elements. In other words, your plot line and protagonist transformational arc interweave as the dramatic tension rises and the complications, reversals, and stakes become defined.

Let's look at the flow below to see a UNIT OF TRANSFORMATIONAL CONFLICT (UTC) that takes place repeatedly during the evolution of the plot line:

PROTAGONIST STRUGGLES FOR PRIMARY GOAL => OBSTACLE PLACED => PRE-CONFLICT EMOTIONAL STATE => CONFLICT OCCURS => POST-CONFLICT EMOTIONAL STATE (MIGHT LATER RESULT EPIPHANY OR CHANGE IN PERCEPTION OR ATTITUDE ALTERATION)

How your protagonist responds to obstacles and conflict reveals their character, and if, with every UTC above, you reveal a little more change in the protagonist, a little more agony or resolve or confusion, then you are hard at work composing your transformational arc down to the last brush stroke. Indeed, you won't have the arc fully detailed until the story is done, but you can map the basics in a general way. Nevertheless, bottom line, it's your protagonist's response to conflict and dilemma and upcoming crisis that creates empathy with your readership.

Keep in mind these five A's as your protagonist reacts to the UTCs of the plot line:

• Awareness: Your character's consciousness that change or reinvention of oneself is necessary to respond to the conflict.
• Acceptance: Your character's emotional ability to let go of the old and move on to the new.
• Approach: Your character's creative exploration of strategic decisions; leading to and ending with their ultimate decision to act one way or another.
• Assemble: Planning and implementation of plan required to carry out their ultimate decision to act one way or another.
• Action: Acting one way or another in response to conflict.

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Basics of Animation, and Sherwood

Characters or story first? First of all, how can one possibly write an effective beginning unless one knows the tale? The story must be understood in its parts before the writer pens the opening narrative. Of course. And the characters must complement and fulfill.

Various opinions exist regarding author control over the impulsiveness of character. Some say characters should be saddled to carry the story forward, the final destination dependent on the characters themselves, i.e., throw the character dice and the story must follow. The effective author, however, fleshes characters with strength of story and nature while assuming the role of chessmaster, major and minor characters moving according to a greater scheme or plan, checking and mating one another as the story progresses, fitting seamlessly into the flow.

In the context of the novel, the animation of character occurs in two basic ways. It is either synergistically provoked, or story/conflict provoked--the latter by far making the strongest impression on the reader, for true depth of character is revealed only when the characters, narrator, antagonist or protagonist react to the major and minor complications, i.e., the conflict and/or difficult circumstance introduced by the story itself. In the The Great Gatsby, for example, Gatsby reacted to the manslaughter of Myrtle Wilson by accepting blame to protect Daisy, meeting his death because of it, while his nemesis, Tom Buchanan, reacted with cowardice and falseness. By their actions shall you know them!

Synergistically-provoked characterization refers to that complex synergy of manner, voice, appearance, attitude, reaction, anecdote, and whatever other elements the author applies to the character.

Sherwood Anderson was a master at quick and lively character animations of this kind, not only choosing unique characters but also involving them in anecdotes, social relationships, and other character reactions which aided greatly in portraying the character. Using these methods, Anderson was effectively able to render a character memorable despite the lack of powerful complication. For example, from Winesburg, Ohio we have Joe, portrayed by Anderson using the following methods:

• Backstory and description of what makes Joe special: he has lived with his mother, location of the house, father's occupation, a physical description, then an illustration of Joe's physical problem: "... one who walks upon his fellow men, inspiring fear because a fit may come upon him suddenly and blow him away into a strange uncanny physical state in which his eyes roll and his legs and arms jerk." Additionally, Joe would be "seized" with ideas, a need to change things for the better. This engages reader sympathy and concern.
• Physical aspects: Hands: "running a thin, nervous hand through his hair.
• Eyes: wide, rolling "with a strange absorbed light ..."
• Gait: rapid Smile: peculiar, glistening gold teeth; Manner: would excitedly pounce on people with his ideas and plans.
• Body: small, slight
• Short anecdote: Men are standing about discussing a local horse race when Joe bursts in on the scene and commences ranting on the subject of the local creek water. He finishes, turns around and goes about his business as if nothing had happened.
• Short Anecdote: Anderson moves back in time to recall an incident in which Joe had cornered George (the main character) and ranted and thrashed about the newspaper and how he could improve it if given the chance.
• Social Relationships: These balance out his eccentricity, make him well rounded for the reader's approval. Joe wanted to be a baseball coach, and the town approved. A baseball game is described, the excitable Joe urging his players on.
• Character revealed based on the reaction of others: Joe also has a love affair and must go to meet his girlfriend's relatives. The author notes their mean nature and the reader fears for Joe. Suspense is inherent at anticipation of the meeting; however, the relatives laugh, mesmerized by Joe's antics.

Because Joe is a minor grotesque of sorts, in that he is eccentric and odd, his portrayal easier, more memorable. Like Anderson, if you choose a character that maximizes the methods you use to portray them, you're ahead of the game, however, learning the methods utilized here is what matters. They can be applied again and again, towards fleshing any character, regardless of inherent oddity, or lack thereof.

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Sympathetic Character Factors in The Hook

If you've won a Pulitzer you might consider disregarding the advice in this section, but it's not advisable. Look at the percentage of novels on the shelf right now that concentrate on creating a character the reader will become concerned with without hesitation. Quite a few, yes? A novel hook with an interesting, unique, and sympathetic character will make agents sit up and take notice. This is vital to avoiding a rejection slip.

Examples of what we're talking about as follows. The name of the character in question follows the title and author. All of the factors listed appear in the first 10 to 15 pages.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

Christopher John Francis Boone

• A first-person narrative from an autistic 15-year-old protagonist: "My name is Christopher John Francis Boone. I know all the countries of the world and their capital cities and every prime number up to 7,057."
• He finds a dead dog with a garden fork sticking out of it and describes the scene in a detached, emotionless manner, until: "I had been hugging the dog for four minutes when I heard screaming." So this autistic child has a heroic capacity for caring and sympathy. He tells us he likes dogs because they are faithful and "they do not tell lies because they cannot talk." This gives us a sense that the character is moral--which becomes all the more poignant and sympathetic when he is unjustly accused by police of killing the dog.
• He decides to write a murder mystery about the incident. When his teacher Siobhan suggests that a murder mystery about a human might be more compelling, the boy protests that some dogs are cleverer and more interesting than some people. Steve, for example, who comes to the school on Thursdays, needs help to eat his food and could not even fetch a stick ... Thus the protagonist is revealed as a keen and objective observer of the world around him, and in hilarious fashion.

Summary

Talented and unique - Possesses a handicap - Shows compassion towards others - Possesses a moral sense - Undertakes a challenging task that requires brains and bravery

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The First Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom

Eddie

• Eddie is a wounded war veteran, an old man who has lived, in his mind, an uninspired life. His job is fixing rides at a seaside amusement park. The protagonist is old and infirm, yet polite and optimistic.
• As a kid, he fought to protect his older brother. Scrappy, brave, and protective.
• He likes kids, and they like him. He gives them candy and makes animal figures for them from pipe cleaners. These children are not the offspring of relatives or friends. They are kids that know him from the amusement park where he works. It is hard not to be sympathetic toward someone who likes kids and is kind to them.
• He is generous. He gives his last two $20 bills to a dishwasher so the man can buy something for his wife.
• On his 83rd birthday, a tragic accident kills him as he tries to save a girl from a falling cart.

Summary

Possesses a handicap - Protects the weak/shows courage - Generosity and compassion towards others - Brave and self-sacrificing

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The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

Lily Owen

• Anecdote: When Lily was four, she witnessed a fight between her mother and her father and intervened when she saw a gun in her mother's hand. In the scuffle of the fight, the gun went off; Lily was blamed for her mother's death.
• Anecdote: Lily awakens her father to see the spectacle of swarming bees in her room. When they arrive in her room the bees have vanished and her father, a mean and uncaring man, threatens to severely punish her if she ever again awakens him to anything less than finding the house in flames.
• Physical descriptions: Lily's hair is black, like her mother's, but is cowlicky and she looks unkempt because she's never had a woman in her life who could guide her in how to take proper care of herself. She's a fourteen-year old white girl, has almost no chin, but does have Sophia Loren eyes, even though this attribute isn't enough to get her noticed by even the loser-guys. She wears ill-fitting clothes she makes for herself in home ec. class at school because her father won't let her buy any new clothes.
• Personal Attributes: She's clever, imaginative and bright. The swarm of bees fascinates, rather than frightens her. One of her teachers tells her that she's very intelligent and she shouldn't settle for any career short of being a professor or writer. This sets her to reevaluating possibilities in her life because, prior to this, her highest aspiration had been to attend beauty school and become a hairdresser.

Summary

Brave and self-sacrificing - Victim of an antagonistic personality - Pitiable due to struggle to compensate for abusive antagonist - Possesses special gifts

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The Life of Pi by Yann Martel

Piscine Molitor Patel

• General Background: He was raised in Pondicherry, India, the small, formerly French-occupied section of India, at a zoo where his father was founder, owner, director, head of a staff of fifty-three, and which Piscine viewed as "paradise on earth." He was educated at the University of Toronto where he double-majored in religious studies and zoology.
• General Concern: The first two lines in the book, bring instant concern for him: "My suffering left me sad and gloomy," and goes on to say, "Academic study and the steady, mindful practice of religion slowly brought me back to life."
• Attitude toward Life: He has suffered a great deal in life, and reports and he has learned to adjust to the pain of being alive by accepting both the folly of success and the slight one feels when success slips from reach. He concludes that the reason death always hovers nearby is because of its love for life and we get the sense he loves life. He appreciates the abundance of resources he has access to and we're to assume this is a love cultivated through great deprivation.
• Personal Attributes: He's a hard-working, determined person who is very bright, very observant, and infinitely patient. He was the only one in his family who learned how to swim, but he was determined to learn because of his great respect for the man who wanted to teach him and who was responsible for his name, which he shares with a famous Paris swimming pool. He excelled in school and while gathering data for his degree in zoology, he concentrated on observing the sloth in its natural habitat because, "... its demeanour—calm, quiet and introspective—did something to soothe my shattered self."

Summary

Victim of "suffering" - He's a fighter - Introspective/observant/wise - Unique personality

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Bel Canto by Ann Patchett

Roxane Coss

• Special Attributes: Roxane is a gifted opera diva. She possesses a voice of crystalline clarity so richly textured everyone who hears her sing can instantly appreciate the wonder and beauty of her vocal talent. It matters little the background of the listener. They may have come to her performance with a well-trained ear or they may have no more understanding of music than can be gathered from a life spent slogging through the mud of a harsh jungle environment; they may have been listening to music all their long-lived lives, or they may be young children staying up past their bedtimes; they may be women, men or adolescents—no matter, gratitude for having heard her is universal among those who have had the privilege of hearing her perform.
• Reactions of Others: Men desire her. All of the men in attendance at the concert long to be included in the kiss given her in the dark by her accompanist. One of the most powerful businessmen in Japan has flown half-way around the world to be in her presence even as he dislikes traveling, dislikes celebrating his birthday and the occasion is his birthday, and dislikes being with large groups of people he doesn't know, which is the current venue. Over the five years that he's been aware of her talent, he has sought out her performances around the world. She obviously has a magnetic pull on people. Her accompanist willingly places himself as a shield between her and the invading guerrillas. Not until he is poked with guns does he relinquish his protective covering of her body.
• Physical Attributes: On the floor, her hair spread out around her in such a wondrous array, each terrorist makes a point of walking past her just to look at her beautiful hair. Her perfume is delicate yet intoxicating, again noticeable by the guerrilla soldiers even on this night when the air is pungent with the near-presence of death.
• Personal Attributes: She is generous with her talent and offers to sing in the dark before the assembled audience becomes aware of the horror of the circumstance they're in. As she lies on the floor, she removes the hairpins from her hair and places them on her stomach in case others can use them as weapons, giving us a sense that she is also a bit brave, another sympathetic character trait.

Summary

Unique talent/accomplished - Magnetic presence - Cherished by Others - Generous - Courageous

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Third Degree by Patterson and Gross

San Francisco Homicide Lieutenant Lindsay Boxer

• The protagonist is a successful woman in a traditionally male occupation (homicide detective), and she has earned the respect of her male colleagues.
• She owns a dog and talks to it as if it were a roommate. She uses her body to shield the dog from harm in a dangerous situation.
• She is brave; she goes into a burning building to save strangers. She risks her life to save a young child.

Summary

Successful - Gutsy - Loves Dogs - Risks Life to Save Others

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ASSIGNMENT:

• As with your antagonist, sketch your protagonist using all the categories above. Define them carefully, use anecdotes to illustrate their personality (make certain to have read WINESBURG OHIO before you do this). Pay special attention to the backstory. What is it? Where do they come from? What has their life been like before the story began? Also, note their "pairing of conflicting emotions" if appropriate. Not a bad idea, these conflicting emotions.
• Note at least five things in your first 10 to 15 pages that will make your protagonist (or a major character/narrator) sympathetic, interesting, and unique; and also note the context, i.e., what is happening in the scene(s) to make all this apparent. Show, don't tell.
• Note the "counter trait" for at least two of your major characters in your novel, and do so involving short anecdotes of 100 words or less.
• Note one UTC for your protagonist. Sketch it out based on the UTC flow, in 100 words or less.
• Referencing your story elements noted in Modules I and III, define the general nature of your protagonist character arc from beginning to end. Use the Six Act Two-Goal structure as an outline for separating your arc into segments. Your protagonist should endure at least seven general, though distinct, phases of emotional/intellectual change as the story goes forward.

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