QUOTE OF THE NOW

"Our life evokes our character. You find out more about yourself as you go on. That's why it's good to be able to put yourself in situations that will evoke your higher nature rather than your lower. 'Lead us not into temptation.'" Joseph Campbell

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Learning Character Description from Tom Rachman

For your amoosement:




What I Learned About Writing from Tom Rachman's The Imperfectionists - Character Description

The Imperfectionists is a series of related short stories, the tie-in being that they work, or are somehow related to, an English language newspaper in Italy. Because of the short story medium he has little time to establish each new character, but he does so quickly. In a page or two you have a good handle on them; they're nuanced and very real. And even the unlikable ones, I felt compassion for by the end.

Here's the first paragraph of Kathleen's story:


The first paragraph about the copy editor Ruby:


And one of my favorite stories was about an inexperienced, ineffectual young foreign correspondent who doesn't know the first thing about journalism, and the experienced journalist who swoops in, mooches off him, and steals his job:





No comments:

Reading

Hold Me Tight: Seven Conversations for a Lifetime of Love
Les années douces : Volume 1
Back on the Rez
My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey
Stupeur et tremblements
}