Lew's AUTHOR BLOG

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Every once in a while, I re-read Elizabeth George’s book, looking for refreshment of old lessons and new perspectives based on where I am in my own writing.

Here are my 2017 Elizabeth George refresher notes, along with some notes to myself …

• Analysis of character is the highest human entertainment; each character is different and human character is the greatest of puzzles

• What we take away from a good novel is mainly the memory of character

• An event alone, nor a series of events, cannot hold a story together … only characters effecting events and events effecting characters can do that

• Real people have flaws … are riddled with doubts … make mistakes … have lapses of judgment … experience weakness

• Characters are interesting in their conflict, their misery, their unhappiness, their confusion … they are not interesting in their joy and security

• Give characters flaws and self-doubts … put them into conflict … allow them to grow and change … LMW: characters may also regress

• Create a written analysis of each major character … LMW: compare where Berthold & Anna are now with where they were before and where I expect them to be later

• Look for opportunities to relate something about a character’s past … expand the reader’s understanding … do so through the character’s words and actions, not by telling about them

• Personality quirks and telling details can have great cumulative impact on the reader’s perception of that character

• Create atmosphere … setting triggers mood … a character’s environment shows who he is … everything else is interpreted by the reader

• Your setting should be a place you and the reader want to know more about … LMW: Warsaw and Berlin in the 1930s … Auschwitz & Dachau … not a travelogue but as Berthold & Anna see them

• In rendering a setting, rely on telling details … put your place into action … details in motion

• Setting used to its fullest can elevate an ordinary scene into one which is unforgettable

• Use the climate of a location … weather, sounds, scents, animals … stimulate the reader’s senses and imagination

• Every person has an external landscape … a certain look, a way of acting, clothes, a house or office … all can pass information about the character to the reader … use specific and telling details … LMW: use Berthold’s SS uniform as a continuing motif

• A character’s internal landscape is revealed in momentary reflections … also longer monologues (whether spoken or thought), letters, diary entries

• Anything in a character’s environment can serve as an indicator of his internal landscape … LMW: Berthold’s recurring experiences of death … Dietrich … Mueller