Relevance in the Land That Won’t Stand Still
This morning I started listening to a an audio book of short stories by another author I’ve personally never encountered. This author that I have no intention of naming has won awards, teaches at a prestigious university, blah blah blah. The writing itself is strong, but the stories have what I consider to be a major flaw, at least if any sort of larger audience is intended for the work.
The characters are very difficult to give a damn about. They are mostly middle aged or older. They are not likable - so flawed in most cases you’d as soon they got hit by a freight train as cough up their stories - in a couple of words I sum it up, at least for myself: not relevant.
These stories have morals and messages, and the author is obviously a man of insight. That’s what, to me, makes it a shame he can’t seem to bring those messages to life with voices and characters that hold my interest, or don’t outright irritate me. Yes, I know that we write about different kinds of people, but there is a point of relevance - a point you have to reach and maintain - where your readers not only can understand who your characters are, what they are doing, and why - but can also feel that it is important to relate to it.
Stephen King has given me hundreds of older characters it was easy to empathize with, care about, and learn from. In his novel Insomnia almost all of the characters are elderly, but it doesn’t matter. He gives them life and vitality and “character” - and he brings that story to life. Some will - of course - argue that this is not one of his best books. I believe part of the disconnect on that is the absolute difficulty of bridging generational and cultural gaps in fiction.
You have to, though. If you want your voice to be heard, you have to know the world around you. You have to pay attention, open your mind, accept that your own view is not the only one, and learn from people and places that make you uncomfortable. The minute you fall into a “comfortable” life you might as well hang it up. You might develop a “comfortable” audience, but it won’t grow, take root in any younger segment of the culture, or leave any memorable mark on the world. The reason is simple - today’s world is already fading into tomorrow’s world. As a writer you have to have a foot in the past, a foot in the future, and walk that thin line as historian-prophet. You have to fight for your relevancy, usually against yourself - it’s not easy to stay in touch, even if you choose only a small area for that connection.
Yet - it’s essential. If you want the words to be magic; you need the proper ingredients for the spell. If you want your stories to mean something, first you have to gather them around you and get them to listen up - the readers - the young and the old, the timid and the bold - as many as you can send threads out to snatch.
You have to be in constant inner motion, because this world won’t stand still…
-DNW
10/7/08, 6:18 AM |
[...] Original post by David Niall Wilson [...]
10/7/08, 8:37 AM |
I think the point you’re trying to make is that these older characters don’t matter for some reason other than they’re old … but you stop short of saying why you don’t care about them.
Perhaps the reason the young hero is so attractive is that almost everyone has been 18 or so and those that haven’t, are about to be there.
But come on, David, dig a little deeper — tell us why you couldn’t identify with these characters.
10/7/08, 8:42 AM |
I thought that I did. The characters have no positive traits. They are not in any way dynamic, and the world is happening without them. Therefore, even though the events they experience are meaningful, you already don’t care what happens to them, and the “power” is lost. Those same older characters with some vitality and interaction with the world - or the times - or with some quality to endear them to the reader or make them “important” would work fine - without that spark they can’t hold my interest, or my empathy.
DNW