Hekiko
(?)Community Member
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- Posted: Mon, 16 Jul 2007 16:37:15 +0000
I've got this character, call him Joe who's got quite a destiny. At exactly 3:58 p.m. tomorrow, Joe will go into the basement of his sheltered suburban home and step on the rusty nail by the water heater and contract tetanus. It's not a pleasant destiny, and while he'll probably live, it's gonna hurt like hell, more than anything Joe's ever been through. And no one ever goes near that water-heater anyway, so why?
This is a question of motivation and destiny.
Oh, he's destined. It will happen. The (completely hypothetical) story says so, the Author says so. But the destiny, for the character, does not take the place of motivation.
Joe either knows about his destiny, or he doesn't.
Say that a homeless prophet grabs Joe by the arm on his way home from school today, and her sandpapery, crazy-cat-lady voice subsides to give way to an angel telling him of his destiny. Well, now Joe knows about his destiny. If he's got even a lick of common sense and a desire to avoid pain, he can stay out of the basement, or at least look underfoot and wear shoes while he's messing with the water-heater. To be even somewhat believable, he needs a reason to go down there. It can be external. His sister's been pissing him off lately, and she's in the shower at that time. The water heater malfunctioning for some reason. Or his mom is telling him to go down there, and her punishments can be worse than the risk of a rusty nail, right through the sole of his foot. It can be internal. Maybe he's the type of guy who when told something bad is going to happen, doesn't believe it. Maybe the Prophet told him that if he steps on this rusty nail and gets Tetanus he's going to cure cancer, or get a million dollars, and Joe wants to believe in destiny. Maybe he just likes pain, or the attention this will get him, without thinking about the actual effects.
If he doesn't know about his destiny, and the basement, down by the water-heater isn't a place he normally goes, why would he just happen to be in a place where a rusty nail will puncture his foot and give him tetanus?
Whatever it is, he needs a reason. It doesn't even have to be a smart one, just one that he can believe in.
Okay...maybe not needs. After all, a contrary wind could blow Joe down to the basement, and the rusty nail could fly towards the bottom of his foot. The point is, without a motive or a reason, it's not really believable that a character would subject themselves to the suffering that inevitably comes with any destiny.
The point is, for all that we authors create and control the characters and their situations, to be a really good piece of fiction, the readers need to at least be able to suspend their disbelief about why Character A, would put him or herself into unpleasant Situation B.
((See, see, my random spam thread did have a point!))
This is a question of motivation and destiny.
Oh, he's destined. It will happen. The (completely hypothetical) story says so, the Author says so. But the destiny, for the character, does not take the place of motivation.
Joe either knows about his destiny, or he doesn't.
Say that a homeless prophet grabs Joe by the arm on his way home from school today, and her sandpapery, crazy-cat-lady voice subsides to give way to an angel telling him of his destiny. Well, now Joe knows about his destiny. If he's got even a lick of common sense and a desire to avoid pain, he can stay out of the basement, or at least look underfoot and wear shoes while he's messing with the water-heater. To be even somewhat believable, he needs a reason to go down there. It can be external. His sister's been pissing him off lately, and she's in the shower at that time. The water heater malfunctioning for some reason. Or his mom is telling him to go down there, and her punishments can be worse than the risk of a rusty nail, right through the sole of his foot. It can be internal. Maybe he's the type of guy who when told something bad is going to happen, doesn't believe it. Maybe the Prophet told him that if he steps on this rusty nail and gets Tetanus he's going to cure cancer, or get a million dollars, and Joe wants to believe in destiny. Maybe he just likes pain, or the attention this will get him, without thinking about the actual effects.
If he doesn't know about his destiny, and the basement, down by the water-heater isn't a place he normally goes, why would he just happen to be in a place where a rusty nail will puncture his foot and give him tetanus?
Whatever it is, he needs a reason. It doesn't even have to be a smart one, just one that he can believe in.
Okay...maybe not needs. After all, a contrary wind could blow Joe down to the basement, and the rusty nail could fly towards the bottom of his foot. The point is, without a motive or a reason, it's not really believable that a character would subject themselves to the suffering that inevitably comes with any destiny.
The point is, for all that we authors create and control the characters and their situations, to be a really good piece of fiction, the readers need to at least be able to suspend their disbelief about why Character A, would put him or herself into unpleasant Situation B.
((See, see, my random spam thread did have a point!))
