tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-121649472180371405.post3881012609439097756..comments2024-01-07T00:08:50.346-06:00Comments on Literary License (short reviews, real opinions): David Grossman on CharacterizationGwen Dawsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02802377594686973300noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-121649472180371405.post-16972346995103649852008-11-21T18:28:00.000-06:002008-11-21T18:28:00.000-06:00Grossman is definitely a thinking/calculating writ...Grossman is definitely a thinking/calculating writer, and I can see where that might not always be the best approach. Perhaps a certain impulsiveness is lost, but the sentence construction and narrative structure are pristine.<BR/><BR/>Gwen DawsonGwen Dawsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02802377594686973300noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-121649472180371405.post-49860154950950336762008-11-21T16:37:00.000-06:002008-11-21T16:37:00.000-06:00David Grossman is already on my shortlist as a res...David Grossman is already on my shortlist as a result of your glowing recommendation. I just wanted to say that my approach for conjuring characters is the opposite. <BR/><BR/>Start out with minimal details and embellish when necessary. (I should add that I'm somewhat bad about visual descriptions of characters. Many of the stories I have written have chracters whose age is never specified. And I'm happy with that. <BR/><BR/>Another trick I tried. Treat the character as one of the people I know in my life, and make modifications where necessary (the fan fiction approach?). There is a danger in trying to over-research and over-prepare and over-determine a character before you deal with the story. <BR/><BR/>On the other hand, I think Grossman's approach works splendidly for actors and backstories in TV series. I'm sure Joss Whedon went into exruciating detail about the backstories of all the characters in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, even though these details wouldn't appear in the show. <BR/><BR/>All I'm saying is, there are drawbacks to Grossman's method, especially in the novel. <BR/><BR/>Kundera comes to mind. He extolled this Diderot play, Jaques the Fatalist (great read btw) about how characters developed personality through action and plot. An author, he argues, can't predetermine characters; he or she just has to start out with a situation and let personality show through actions and reactions.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com