Making characters three-dimensional

[Doug Johnson]

This slide show suggests that you can learn a lot about creating characters from Pixar: interesting point of view.

http://www.slate.com/id/2133178/?nav=fo

 

[Miss Shelf]

That was difficult to read as the actual slide-show essay wouldn't fit in the window, so I couldn't read the bottom sentences, and not seeing any buttons I started clicking on the pictures, then realized the article continued with each picture, and I didn't see a back button so I read what I could.

I agree, it's hard to find a good book now, but I hardly think that animated movies will replace books as a form of entertainment. At least, that's how I interpret the article.

 

[Doug Johnson]

It made several points, but the one I took as the most interesting was that Pixar's characters were more interesting than most literary characters.

" For some years now, a number of American novelists have offered mostly contrived stories and cartoonish characters—Jonathan Safran Foer's or Nicole Krauss' cloying caricatures, Jonathan Franzen's simile-heavy stereotypes, Salman Rushdie's failed attempts to revitalize the novel with deliberately flat characters (they read instead like the author's failures of empathy), and so forth. Maybe one reason audiences flock to Pixar and other animated films is that they'd rather experience cartoon figures who operate with complex psychologies than unachieved literary characters who act like cartoons."

 

[Miss Shelf]

Yes, I got that much. Do you see this as a wake-up call for writers, editors, and such? Or is it simply someone's opinion that makes Pixar look good?

 

[Doug Johnson]

One man's wake up call, but I've often thought that The Simpsons and South Park get away with things that fiction writers can't.

 

[Doug Johnson]

It seems to be a thin line between characters and caricatures.

I think it's a thick line. Anyone can create a caricature in a couple of minutes. Compelling characters take an enormous amount of work and at least a little bit of talent.

 

[Miss Shelf]

You're starting to intimidate me!

 

[Doug Johnson]

You're starting to intimidate me!

Honestly, writing fiction is an enormous amount of work, about 99% of fiction writers are never published and the majority of those who are published don't make a significant amount of money.

 

[ValkyrieRaven88]

I agree with CDA. You definitely need outside input, from someone you trust to be honest. If that person says they can't identify with the character, try to figure out what you can do to make it better. Then once you've made revisions to your character, test it out on other people. (This is off the subject, but one time I joked to my guinea pig reader that I was going to kill off a major character and he nearly murdered me...guess he got really into it.)

 

[Vespertilio91]

...once you've made revisions to your character, test it out on other people. (This is off the subject, but one time I joked to my guinea pig reader that I was going to kill off a major character and he nearly murdered me...guess he got really into it.)

That's a funny story. I know people get really into what they read. I do. People read it, and if a good author can make it feel real, then they often feel as part of the story; something tragic like that often gets a lot of emotion.