Character Context
While I was working on the next book, I got some feedback that one of the characters seemed like a jerk.
I tried a minor fix to explain his motivations, but it's over-explained and needs tweaking.
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This is about the knowledge of the characters and their relative happiness/unhappiness, which I did not show enough of for context.
Character A is unhappy with his circumstances. He sees the larger world beyond the little Island he lives on and envies others the material wealth they have. He hides the considerable fortune he's made from his family while he is still young enough that his parent can just take control of it.
My reader got the impression that this added an unpleasant tinge to the character, because the family lives in very crowded circumstances, sharing an old, crumbling house with their aunts, uncles and cousins, more than a dozen people packed into the house.
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This is definitely a cultural thing too--not that I grew up poor (I didn't), but I did grow up here in the Philippines, and even being driven back and forth from home to school in one of the family's cars, one can't avoid seeing all these less well-to-do families living in squatter towns. Or even just going around the University of the Philippines checking out rooms for rent in private homes. There are families here in the Philippines where 4 or 5 or more kids + parents all sleep in one room.
In a bit of total class disjunction, I once went to a collection of historical homes now owned by a very wealthy family that buys and restores them.
They've turned these houses (some of them from the slums--gotta love urban decay) into a tourist attraction, moving them to a resort hotel at the beach. During the tour, the guide explained that prior to the purchase and restoration of that particular house, there were tons of squatters that had contributed to its decay, and in the very room we were standing in, 14 people shared it as living space.
And now, for the price of many thousands of pesos, one can rent that house for a few nights to relax in, with its beautiful hardwood floors, all these antique furnishings, and a very unhistorically modern bathroom.
Talk about a microcosm of the Philippines--an intimate connection between extreme poverty and extreme wealth.
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So, my perspective on character A's life is not the same as the average American's and I didn't really think about that. Given that I'm writing for western publishers and thus a western audience, I really need to!
Thus, character A. He chases material satisfaction because he wants a life his family can't give him. However, his family is not unhappy, and they don't think of themselves as poor--they know there is a larger world out there, but it does not matter to them as much, it almost isn't real.... because most of the other Tribal families they know on this fictional Island live in humble circumstances too, and in many ways, they live better than a fair number of them.
The happiness and unhappiness of a character is not just about a desire that is met or not met, but also whether or not the character regularly contacts others who have those same desires fulfilled.
Character A wants to go to an expensive college on the US mainland. He wants his own car, he wants expensive clothes, he wants the lives of the many people he reads about online he wants to be like--successful tech entrepreneurs and celebrities. He immerses himself in the knowledge of these things his family does not have, and so his unhappiness, the motivation that drives him, is intensified in a feedback cycle.
Character A's sisters and cousins mostly won't be able to go to the local university, nevermind a top 10 school in the USA. Their existence is rooted in the family fishing boat, in taking the fish to market, in their local community. The same circumstances, but while one character feeds his unhappiness, the others around him negate it and can't understand his desires.
Character A does not think he is depriving his family by not sharing his hidden money. To him, they are happy as they are, and he feels that he is the one who doesn't belong.
And yes, before he turned 18, he was terrified that his mother would just take his money from him, for the sake of the rest of the family.
Now all this stuff is material I have to have in the chapter where that character is introduced, but in a way that is not just an info-dump or lazy introspection.
Sigh, editing.
I tried a minor fix to explain his motivations, but it's over-explained and needs tweaking.
---
This is about the knowledge of the characters and their relative happiness/unhappiness, which I did not show enough of for context.
Character A is unhappy with his circumstances. He sees the larger world beyond the little Island he lives on and envies others the material wealth they have. He hides the considerable fortune he's made from his family while he is still young enough that his parent can just take control of it.
My reader got the impression that this added an unpleasant tinge to the character, because the family lives in very crowded circumstances, sharing an old, crumbling house with their aunts, uncles and cousins, more than a dozen people packed into the house.
---
This is definitely a cultural thing too--not that I grew up poor (I didn't), but I did grow up here in the Philippines, and even being driven back and forth from home to school in one of the family's cars, one can't avoid seeing all these less well-to-do families living in squatter towns. Or even just going around the University of the Philippines checking out rooms for rent in private homes. There are families here in the Philippines where 4 or 5 or more kids + parents all sleep in one room.
In a bit of total class disjunction, I once went to a collection of historical homes now owned by a very wealthy family that buys and restores them.
They've turned these houses (some of them from the slums--gotta love urban decay) into a tourist attraction, moving them to a resort hotel at the beach. During the tour, the guide explained that prior to the purchase and restoration of that particular house, there were tons of squatters that had contributed to its decay, and in the very room we were standing in, 14 people shared it as living space.
And now, for the price of many thousands of pesos, one can rent that house for a few nights to relax in, with its beautiful hardwood floors, all these antique furnishings, and a very unhistorically modern bathroom.
Talk about a microcosm of the Philippines--an intimate connection between extreme poverty and extreme wealth.
---
So, my perspective on character A's life is not the same as the average American's and I didn't really think about that. Given that I'm writing for western publishers and thus a western audience, I really need to!
Thus, character A. He chases material satisfaction because he wants a life his family can't give him. However, his family is not unhappy, and they don't think of themselves as poor--they know there is a larger world out there, but it does not matter to them as much, it almost isn't real.... because most of the other Tribal families they know on this fictional Island live in humble circumstances too, and in many ways, they live better than a fair number of them.
The happiness and unhappiness of a character is not just about a desire that is met or not met, but also whether or not the character regularly contacts others who have those same desires fulfilled.
Character A wants to go to an expensive college on the US mainland. He wants his own car, he wants expensive clothes, he wants the lives of the many people he reads about online he wants to be like--successful tech entrepreneurs and celebrities. He immerses himself in the knowledge of these things his family does not have, and so his unhappiness, the motivation that drives him, is intensified in a feedback cycle.
Character A's sisters and cousins mostly won't be able to go to the local university, nevermind a top 10 school in the USA. Their existence is rooted in the family fishing boat, in taking the fish to market, in their local community. The same circumstances, but while one character feeds his unhappiness, the others around him negate it and can't understand his desires.
Character A does not think he is depriving his family by not sharing his hidden money. To him, they are happy as they are, and he feels that he is the one who doesn't belong.
And yes, before he turned 18, he was terrified that his mother would just take his money from him, for the sake of the rest of the family.
Now all this stuff is material I have to have in the chapter where that character is introduced, but in a way that is not just an info-dump or lazy introspection.
Sigh, editing.
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David Ramirez SFFWriter
As Facebook winds down its free organic reach, I'm exploring other places to begin posting regularly.
I've thought about messing with blogspot and tumblr, but I'd prefer something with a more naturall ...more
I've thought about messing with blogspot and tumblr, but I'd prefer something with a more naturall ...more
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Of course I would encourage him to attain his goals, but if a sibling needed, say, a new net for the fishing boat, or surgery, I would think he should share the money!