Question: Light and dark?

[Claire G]

Does anyone else's writing reflect the light and dark sides of themselves? I write both romance and psychological novels (in very different voices). I love the lightness of a love story, the feel-good factor, the happy-ever-after. Equally, I love the darkness of the side of human nature that we often hide, or which only comes out in extreme situations. Is it possible to show both in the same genre/novel? Can you think of examples? Is it easier in some genres than others?

 

[Jake E]

You can definitely do both. In fact one enhances the other.

 

[Claire G]

You can definitely do both. In fact one enhances the other.

I love that idea of enhancement. I guess it also adds nuance and complexity to a story so it's all the richer. All light or all dark is difficult to make work. Cormac McCarthy is the only one I can think of...

 

[TimRees]

It's never about me. My characters reflect black and white and all the colours in between... They come into my imagination complete and fully clothed and I learn about them as the story progresses. They are themselves...

What I find strange, even with intelligence agents who kill, when I arrive at the end of the story, I realise that there are no good and bad characters, there are just people doing a job.

Even in the novel A Seed Once Sown, William is a murder who kills trophy hunters, but he is also the hero of the piece...

 

[Eva Ulian]

@Claire G You're the ideal person to resurrect another "Jane Eyre".

 

[mickleinapickle]

We're all varying shades of light and dark... obviously all levels of luminosity. All stories should have characters with that mix.

 

[Claire G]

@Claire G You're the ideal person to resurrect another "Jane Eyre".

Ha! I'm not sure about that!

 

[Claire G]

It's never about me. My characters reflect black and white and all the colours in between... They come into my imagination complete and fully clothed and I learn about them as the story progresses. They are themselves...

What I find strange, even with intelligence agents who kill, when I arrive at the end of the story, I realise that there are no good and bad characters, there are just people doing a job.

Even in the novel A Seed Once Sown, William is a murder who kills trophy hunters, but he is also the hero of the piece...

It's interesting that your characters are distinct from yourself. My main characters tend to have an aspect of me in them. I wonder if this is to do with genre?

 

[TimRees]

It's interesting that your characters are distinct from yourself. My main characters tend to have an aspect of me in them. I wonder if this is to do with genre?

Possibly. Not sure. I have learned to stand back and not get in their way. I just set the stage. The characters that people my stories are all so different, the men and the women. The main characters are always trying to shine a spotlight on an aspect/flaw of society and I can identify totally with their ideology, but invariably, they appear in my imagination with back stories that are very different from each other and myself.

I like Vincent's (main character in Delphian) quote best when he says: 'There is no such thing as good and evil, there is just people.' I find that true in my stories...

 

[Hannah F]

It's interesting that your characters are distinct from yourself. My main characters tend to have an aspect of me in them. I wonder if this is to do with genre?

I don't believe it is to do with genre. I believe it's to do with experience and who's head you can get inside. Some of the characters will encompass bits of yourself and your experiences. Others will encompass bits of others in your life (or used to be in your life). I think that's one thing that distinguishes a particular author from another whatever the genre.

 

[Bloo]

Hiya, Claire...

I'm going for light and dark - but not within the same character like you did with Daisy. However, I'm putting both shades of characters and relationships in my very-unfinished novel.

I'm trying to infuse a bit of romance in my sci-fi. The opening chapters introduce the reader to three of them, actually.

The first is casual friends at the very beginning of a relationship (before they realize what's up). The lighter part of me is there. I do wish more of my life was like this. Chapter title: Serendipity. The couple gets a bittersweet HEA ending.

Three chapters later, I introduce an unmarried teenage couple. They share a stable yet secret romance. One of the characters is loosely based on a friend. Yet it could've been me in another life. The couple possesses some of my traits - and others I wish I had. There is more light then dark here. Chapter title: Not Alone. The couple gets a (hard-earned) HFN.

Finally, we meet a guy who gets a divorce notice delivered by a deputy. This relationship is over. The character is an amalgam of me and a family member. Some of my darkness resides here. Chapter title: Sucker Punch. No happy ending for this couple.

I use a table of sorts to help relate to my characters...

- beliefs I hold
- beliefs I could never hold
- beliefs I wish I could hold
- beliefs I wish I didn't have
- acts I would do
- acts I would never do
- acts I wish I could do
- acts I wish I hadn't done
- words I would say
- words I would never say
- words I wish I would say
- words I wish I hadn't said
- the person I am
- the person I am not
- the person I wish I was
- the person I wish I wasn't

This cheat makes it easier for me to build characters who aren't me. Maybe this'll help someone else relate.

I don't know how much of you informed the characters in Daisy Roberts. In any case, you did a good job of showing both light and dark. Are you working on going darker in another novel? I'd read that.

 

[Jake E]

I've always felt that protagonists should be monsters, but they know they're monsters so they control themselves.

Disclaimer: I don't mean monsters as in predators or being depraved. I mean capable of violence.

They should always be aware of the fact that they could, if they wanted to, solve problems by killing/harming/lying to someone, but they choose not too. Even if it would be simpler to succumb to those darker methods, they stand steadfast against it. But the temptation is always there. They are constantly fighting an inward battle. The darkness inside.

Sometimes a bad character who knows they're bad (i.e. a thief or swindler) redeems themselves because of this inner conflict. It makes for a rich story.

Characters who are good because they can't conceive the idea of evil are boring to me.

 

[Claire G]

How interesting @Bloo✒️ !

I often write characters with my traits but also, as you say, traits I WISH I had. Daisy definitely has a lot of me in - thank you for saying that I managed to show light and dark, it means a lot.

Your table is such a clever way to relate to characters! I've never thought of doing it so systematically. I'm quite instinctive in a lot of ways. Like @TimRees says, my characters just form themselves to a large extent.

Your novel sounds like something I'd want to read more of!

Yes, I'm writing darker novels! Psychological drama and suspense. It's fun switching between the light and dark of different genres.

 

[Claire G]

I've always felt that protagonists should be monsters, but they know they're monsters so they control themselves.

Disclaimer: I don't mean monsters as in predators or being depraved. I mean capable of violence.

They should always be aware of the fact that they could, if they wanted to, solve problems by killing/harming/lying to someone, but they choose not too. Even if it would be simpler to succumb to those darker methods, they stand steadfast against it. But the temptation is always there. They are constantly fighting an inward battle. The darkness inside.

Sometimes a bad character who knows they're bad (i.e. a thief or swindler) redeems themselves because of this inner conflict. It makes for a rich story.

Characters who are good because they can't conceive the idea of evil are boring to me.

Inner battles - yes! And the internal conflict can mirror the external. Both have an arc.

 

[Bloo]

How interesting @Bloo✒️ !

I often write characters with my traits but also, as you say, traits I WISH I had. Daisy definitely has a lot of me in - thank you for saying that I managed to show light and dark, it means a lot.

Your table is such a clever way to relate to characters! I've never thought of doing it so systematically. I'm quite instinctive in a lot of ways. Like @TimRees says, my characters just form themselves to a large extent.

Your novel sounds like something I'd want to read more of!

Yes, I'm writing darker novels! Psychological drama and suspense. It's fun switching between the light and dark of different genres.

You're welcome, Claire. And thank you for a novel that didnt waste my money - or my time. There were so many good bits in there. I didnt see the big reveal coming. I had to put the tablet down for a bit to let it sink in.

Do you know the '80s tune Love Vigilantes by New Order? The main lyrics end with a crushing reveal. The refrain repeats three times afterward, but now with a whole new meaning. The outro goes on for a full minute so you can process what the hell just happened.

That's what your reveal did to me.

The last scenes were believable and real. You paced the final stretch to the payoff exactly right. I got the ending I wanted

Only real gripe I have is with the blurb. I feel it gives away a bit too much. Thankfully, I didn't read it beforehand. I might've seen what was coming.

Anyhoo...I don't have the mental real-estate to let a character evolve on the page. I've only one personality, and sadly it's my own. So I resort to tricks that help me build characters with ingredients outside my makeup.

Love Vigilantes...

 

[E G Logan]

Is it possible to show both in the same genre/novel?

My experience suggests that may confuse potential agents.
No, I don't understand quite how either – 'oddly light-hearted' was a term used by one. Doesn't seem to have heard of light and shade...

 

[Claire G]

You're welcome, Claire. And thank you for a novel that didnt waste my money - or my time. There were so many good bits in there. I didnt see the big reveal coming. I had to put the tablet down for a bit to let it sink in.

Do you know the '80s tune Love Vigilantes by New Order? The main lyrics end with a crushing reveal. The refrain repeats three times afterward, but now with a whole new meaning. The outro goes on for a full minute so you can process what the hell just happened.

That's what your reveal did to me.

The last scenes were believable and real. You paced the final stretch to the payoff exactly right. I got the ending I wanted

Only real gripe I have is with the blurb. I feel it gives away a bit too much. Thankfully, I didn't read it beforehand. I might've seen what was coming.

Anyhoo...I don't have the mental real-estate to let a character evolve on the page. I've only one personality, and sadly it's my own. So I resort to tricks that help me build characters with ingredients outside my makeup.

Love Vigilantes...

Awww...thanks for reading, and for sharing the song. Wow.

Yeah, I'm rubbish at blurbs!

Your personality is wonderful

 

[Claire G]

My experience suggests that may confuse potential agents.
No, I don't understand quite how either – 'oddly light-hearted' was a term used by one. Doesn't seem to have heard of light and shade...

Wow. Really? What would they have made of Catch-22? I read it years ago (as a teen), and may have interpreted it incorrectly but I thought it was all humour until I realised the darkness beneath - and then it broke my heart.