There's something about Mark Waid's writing that never quite sits right with me, even though I can articulate a dozen things he's doing very well. And I think what irks me is, one bit of advice he gives writers is: be mindful of how every character in your story wants something. Even the secretary who appears in just one panel wants something (even if it's just to go home on time), so you can round out your characters by remembering that they all want something. Or so Mark Waid claims.
There are two problems I have with that. The lesser problem: much of the time, a story is better served if you treat minor characters as basically tools to advance the plot; otherwise the story can lose focus. But that's manageable, and it's more a matter of not overdoing a thing. The larger problem is that a lot of main characters don't really operate as if there is something they want, so much as who they are. Like, Superman doesn't save people because he has a goal of reducing human suffering; it's just who he is. Thinking of it as something he "wants" makes him feel off.
And even thinking about people in my life, they're not so much about "I want this" or "I'm trying to accomplish that", so much as, they are who they are and they respond to circumstances as they come up. Those circumstances then might make them go and try to accomplish something, but that's not really the start of it; it's more of a response.
Anyway, that's my DEEP THOTS on Mark Waid, who really is a fantastic writer in so many ways and I do not like criticizing him.
You may be taking what Waid said over-literally. I think that Waid's point (and trick) is that REAL people are not merely props in Someone Else's Story; they all have motivations of their own. Remembering that helps you write them more realistically.
There's something about Mark Waid's writing that never quite sits right with me, even though I can articulate a dozen things he's doing very well. And I think what irks me is, one bit of advice he gives writers is: be mindful of how every character in your story wants something. Even the secretary who appears in just one panel wants something (even if it's just to go home on time), so you can round out your characters by remembering that they all want something. Or so Mark Waid claims.
ReplyDeleteThere are two problems I have with that. The lesser problem: much of the time, a story is better served if you treat minor characters as basically tools to advance the plot; otherwise the story can lose focus. But that's manageable, and it's more a matter of not overdoing a thing. The larger problem is that a lot of main characters don't really operate as if there is something they want, so much as who they are. Like, Superman doesn't save people because he has a goal of reducing human suffering; it's just who he is. Thinking of it as something he "wants" makes him feel off.
And even thinking about people in my life, they're not so much about "I want this" or "I'm trying to accomplish that", so much as, they are who they are and they respond to circumstances as they come up. Those circumstances then might make them go and try to accomplish something, but that's not really the start of it; it's more of a response.
Anyway, that's my DEEP THOTS on Mark Waid, who really is a fantastic writer in so many ways and I do not like criticizing him.
- HJF1
You may be taking what Waid said over-literally. I think that Waid's point (and trick) is that REAL people are not merely props in Someone Else's Story; they all have motivations of their own. Remembering that helps you write them more realistically.
ReplyDelete