From: Maia Cheli-Colando <maiacheli>
Date: Fri, 19 Jun 2009 22:20:27 -0700

I find I've been thinking of this month's topic in acting terms. There are at least two major modes in theater - one where you put upon the clothes, behaviors, mannerisms and the voices of a role, assembling your character from the outside in, but always slightly apart from it; and one where you begin from the inside, fusing the character against your own, and yours from it, and then build out. The flavor of approach carries into the acting moment, yielding different results.

As I read the character names given onlist, I realized that I was grouping them into two similar categories. Some of the characters struck me as an assembly of colors, while of others, I can "taste" their minds. It wouldn't have occurred to me to list the color-assembly-characters as protagonists in character-driven stories... because as much as I may find them enchanting, I don't know *who* they are. I don't know them from the inside out, nor do they seem knowable. Contrast, for example, Max of the Wild Things with Emily of New Moon. One is an exterior vision; one is highly interior.

I would have thought that a character-driven story might require a sort of consciousness, a knowability, to create enough agency to drive the book. Which doesn't mean that Max's character - behavior - doesn't move the Wild Things, and certainly, Mickey's character moves *In The Night Kitchen*... but. I see Max and Mickey through an exterior lens, so that that (or rather he, Sendak) is the mover of the story. The lens-maker is the driver, and you can taste his adult humor. In contrast, I see only Emily, not Montgomery. So Emily becomes the driver, for me.

Now, how much of this is me (or any given reader) and my ability to identify with a character? And how much of it is the author's ability to identify with, immerse themselves within, a character? It is not as simple as perspective; many young adult novels speak in first person but they don't
"sound full through" (think a body of water); the external lens is still present. I'd offer *True Believer* as another example of a character-driven novel; Jinny is particularly brilliant with immersive voice, I think. Something like Susan's *The Higher Power of Lucky* strikes me as utilizing both approaches simultaneously; I see Lucky from the inside and hear from the out.

So, if I see a distinction between a novel driven by the character -- with that character as a nearly alive, mobile agent -- and a novel driven by the colors perceived of the character by an external Voice/Sight, then what would the latter sort of story type be? :) And, how possible is it to have a picture book that was character driven, using my first description? What might that look like?

I just read this post to my very useful husband, who succintly summarized it as, "What is the difference between a character you inhabit and a character you observe?" -- and I add, is differentiating these two types relevant in defining a "character-driven" story?

Maia
Received on Sat 20 Jun 2009 12:20:27 AM CDT