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Monday 7 May 2012

What are your characters thinking?



I recently watched the film, 'I Don't Know How She Does It', based on Allison Pearson's novel (which I haven't read) and starring Sarah Jessica Parker (SJP). SJP's voice was used as a narrator and several of the characters, including SJP talked directly to the camera. This made the film seem like a documentary and I found it difficult to get lost in the story.

In films a character's thoughts are usually shown by their actions or through a confidante. Occasionally a first or third person narrator reveals a character's thoughts, which can ruin a film for me. I find Woody Allen gets away with it some of the time, although I prefer a narrator (ideally third person) to an actor speaking to the camera.

In early critiques of my novel, 'The Grandson' (a few years ago in writing classes), other writers used to say 'I want to know more of what Jessica's thinking'. Jessica is the heroine in my novel. Although I knew what she was thinking when writing earlier drafts, I didn't include as many of her thoughts as I needed to.

I wonder why a reader wants to know what a point of view character is thinking. Is it because this makes a reader feel closer to that character so they identify with them?

There's the question of how to get a character's thoughts into a novel effectively. I'm editing 'The Grandson' at the moment and my next step is to highlight Jessica's thoughts throughout the manuscript. I want to ensure that there's a balance throughout the novel, that I haven't included thoughts which are obvious to the reader (this is easy to do around dialogue) and that her thoughts don't contradict each other.

Do you need to remind yourself to include a point of view character's thoughts? Or do you have any other comments?

14 comments:

  1. Thanks for your memories of Siena on my blog, Anita. I shall have to read your book! As far as characters thoughts go, I put myself inside their head, and write down what I think they're thinking. I sometimes have to edit them out if I get carried away! Jean.

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    1. Hi Jean, it was lovely to see a post about Siena and the novel, A Summer's Lease! Thanks for your comment. I agree that it's easy to get carried away with a character's thoughts.

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  2. I tend to do what Jean (see above comment) does. In fact, I could have written Jean's comment myself!

    I find that when I write my character's thoughts on the first day, I edit most of them out when I go through them again the next day. It's easy to repeat yourself without realising it. I'm skilled at saying exactly the same thing in two different ways - and one of those ways is, therefore, de trop.

    Liz X

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    1. Hi Liz, thanks for your comment. I agree that it's easy to repeat oneself-especially around dialogue when it's already obvious what a character is thinking. I have to check that I'm putting the reaction to another character's dialogue/action instead.

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  3. Good post, Anita. I write in the first person, so you're in my heroine's head all the time, like it or not! I have to balance that out with the other characters' roles. But even then, sometimes I have to sit my heroine down and get her to think about where she is, what she's feeling about what's happened and anticipate what's going to happen or what she's going to do.

    We don't want to flood the reader with obvious stuff, especially when we're trying to intrigue them. It'all about balance.

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    1. Hi Alison, thanks for your comment. It's much easier to get into a character's head when writing in first person. I write in third person and found it challenging in early drafts to get my POV characters' thoughts into the novel effectively.

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  4. Good post, Anita, thanks. I'm not sure how I balance it, it's too early in the morning to analyse stuff :-) Xxx

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    1. Thanks for your comment Rebecca-you're up so early!X

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  5. I write first person, almost all the time, and I find it easy to show my MC's thoughts that way. Are you writing 1st or 3rd person POV? I think 1st person kind of forces you to open up your MC's mind for your reader.

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    1. Hi Kelly, I agree that writing in first person makes it easier to show a character's thoughts. I am writing in third person and at first found it difficult to show the thoughts effectively. I've worked it out now though thankfully-looking at other novels really helped.

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  6. Ruth Rendell writes psychological crime thrillers where you're always aware of the characters' thoughts, and she does it brilliantly.

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    1. Hi Cara, thanks for your comment *downloads a Ruth Rendell novel to Kindle*

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  7. I write in first person most the time, but I try not to get too trapped in internal dialogue. Having a best friend handy is always good to show what a character is thinking (although a little cliched).

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    1. Hi Talli, thanks for your comment. Writing in first person definitely makes a difference.

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