首页
登录
职称英语
Creative Writing[img]2014m9s/ct_etoefm_etoeflistz_0298_20149[/img] [br] What do
Creative Writing[img]2014m9s/ct_etoefm_etoeflistz_0298_20149[/img] [br] What do
游客
2025-02-06
32
管理
问题
Creative Writing
[br] What does the professor imply is the importance of flat characters?
Creative Writing
Narrator
Listen to part of a lecture in a creative writing class.
Professor
All right everybody. The topic for today is, well... we’re gonna take a look at how to start creating the characters for the stories you’re writing. One way of doing that is to come up with what’s called a character sketch. I don’t mean a sketch like a drawing. I guess that’s obvious. It’s, um ... It’s... a sketch is a way of getting started on defining your characters’ personalities.
To begin, how do we create fictional characters? We don’t just pull them from thin air, do we? I mean, we don’t create them out of nothing. We base them—consciously or unconsciously—we base them on real people. Or, we, um ... blend several people’s traits ... their attributes ... into one character.
But when people think fiction, they may assume the characters come from the author’s imagination. But the writer’s imagination is influenced by ... by real people. Could be anyone, so pay attention to the people you meet... someone in class, at the gym, that guy who’s always sitting in the corner at the coffeehouse .. . uh, your cousin who’s always getting into dangerous situations. We’re pulling from reality ... gathering bits and pieces of real people. You use these people ... and the bits of behavior or characteristics as a starting point as you begin to sketch out your characters.
Here’s what you should think about doing first. When you begin to formulate a story, make a list of interesting people you know or have observed. Consider why they’re unique ... or annoying. Then make notes about their unusual or dominant attributes. As you create fictional characters, you’ll almost always combine characteristics from several different people on your list to form the identity and personality of just one character.
Keeping this kind of character sketch can help you solidify your character’s personality ... so that it remains consistent throughout your story. You need to define your characters ... know their personalities so that you can have them acting in ways that’re predictable ... consistent with their personalities. Get to know them like a friend. You know your friends well enough to know how they’ll act in certain situations, right?
Say you have three friends, their car runs out of gas on the highway. John gets upset, Mary remains calm, Teresa takes charge of handling the situation. And, let’s say ... both John and Mary defer to her leadership. They call you to explain what happened. And when John tells you he got mad, you’re not surprised because he always gets frustrated when things go wrong. Then he tells you how Teresa took charge, calmed him down, assigned tasks for each person, and got them on their way. Again you’re not surprised. It’s exactly what you’d expect. Well, you need to know your characters like you know your friends ... if you know a lot about a person’s character, it’s easy to predict how they’ll behave. So if your characters’ personalities are well defined, it’ll be easy for you as the writer to portray them realistically . . . believably in any given situation.
While writing character sketches, do think about details. Ask yourself questions, even if you don’t use the details in your story ... uh, what does each character like to eat, what setting does each prefer. . . the mountains? The city? What about educational background? Their reactions to success ... or defeat? Write it all down.
But here I need to warn you about a possible pitfall. Don’t make your character into a stereotype. Remember, the reader needs to know how your character is different from other people who might fall in the same category. Maybe your character loves the mountains and has lived in a remote area for years. To make sure he’s not a stereotype, ask yourself how he sees life differently from other people who live in that kind of setting. Be careful not to make him into the cliche of the rugged mountain dweller.
OK. Now I’ll throw out a little terminology . . . it’s easy stuff. Major characters are sometimes called round characters. Minor characters are sometimes called ... well, just the opposite. Flat. A round character is fully developed. A flat character isn’t— character development is fairly limited. The flat character tends to serve mainly as a, um, a motivating factor. For instance, you introduce a flat character who has experienced some sort of defeat.. . and then your round . . . your main character, who loves success and loves to show off, comes and boasts about succeeding . .. and jokes about the flat character’s defeat in front of others . . . humiliates the other guy. The flat character is introduced solely for the purpose of allowing the round character to show off.
选项
A、They act more predictably than other characters.
B、They are difficult for readers to understand.
C、They help reveal the main character’s personality.
D、They are the only characters able to experience defeat.
答案
C
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://tihaiku.com/zcyy/3944861.html
相关试题推荐
EarthScience[img]2014m9s/ct_etoefm_etoeflistz_0305_20149[/img][br]Whatstart
EarthScience[img]2014m9s/ct_etoefm_etoeflistz_0305_20149[/img][br]Inthelec
EarthScience[img]2014m9s/ct_etoefm_etoeflistz_0305_20149[/img][br]Notlonga
CreativeWriting[img]2014m9s/ct_etoefm_etoeflistz_0298_20149[/img][br]Listen
CreativeWriting[img]2014m9s/ct_etoefm_etoeflistz_0298_20149[/img][br]Whatwa
CreativeWriting[img]2014m9s/ct_etoefm_etoeflistz_0298_20149[/img][br]Thepro
CreativeWriting[img]2014m9s/ct_etoefm_etoeflistz_0298_20149[/img][br]Whatas
[img]2014m9s/ct_etoefm_etoeflistz_0292_20149[/img][br]ListentoTrack48.[img]
Biology[img]2014m9s/ct_etoefm_etoeflistz_0285_20149[/img][br]ListentoTrack
Biology[img]2014m9s/ct_etoefm_etoeflistz_0285_20149[/img][br]Accordingtothe
随机试题
Ratherthanusingcustommachinetoolstobuildearlymodelsofnewparts,F
Accordingtothepassage,whatkindofenvironmentalproblemwillsandstormsbri
Theroll-callsystemhasbeencommonlyadoptedbycollegeteacherstochecks
Populationagingisatriumphofcivilization.Itisthe【C1】______consequenc
旅游业宏观经济效益的总量评价指标包括()。A.旅游业产值 B.旅游依赖度
③建立严密的声誉风险管理制度,主要以基层工作人员的良好执行为基础A.只有① B
外汇期货的蝶式套利,居中月份合约的数量等于近期月份和远期月份数量之和。()
贝尔面瘫与中枢性面瘫鉴别的主要依据是A:患侧口角下垂 B:上下唇因口轮匝肌瘫痪
可吸入颗粒物(IP)上能起催化作用的物质是( )。A.金属氧化物 B.甲醛
线粒体内膜两侧形成质子梯度的能量来源是A.各种三磷酸核苷酸 B.ATP水解
最新回复
(
0
)