Can you follow a crazy character?

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What makes a fictional character likeable? I think Anne Tyler is a good example -- her characters are always nuts and usually somewhat unlikeable, but I love her books. Is it because she always gives you their entire life story, so you know exactly how they got to be the way they are? By the time I get to the end of one of her books, I always feel a little crazy, myself, because she has wrapped me up so completely in her dysfunctional world. Her novels always have a humorous edge, as well. Does that sort of fiction work for you?

-- Anonymous, August 02, 1999

Answers

Okay, shoot me, but I'm addressing something different --

Your comment, "The character was me."

The character wasn't "you." It wasn't a whole Beth. It was one tiny piece, one tiny segment, one moment in time in which "Beth" was a certain way.

Okay, now for your question -- I loved A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES, so I guess, yes, I can follow a crazy character.

The Pulitzer Prize committee also agreed.

Pooks

-- Anonymous, August 02, 1999


You're right, of course. I thought of the same thing (and in fact I think it's part of the problem with the story -- it's too little information, not too much).

-- Anonymous, August 02, 1999

Yes, I can follow crazy characters and stories about dysfunctional people and family situations. I think maybe they make some people uncomfortable because they see too much of *themselves* in crazy characters and families, and they don't want to own up to their own nutty ways of coping and rationalizing in the world, which I think we all have. Coping and rationalizing are what keeps us all from going postal or jumping off the GG Bridge, or both. The one and only time I ever went to a shrink, because it was a freebie when I was quitting a job where I'd been shit on much too long by a nutty boss, when I described my situation and a little tiny bit about my childhood to the therapist, he told me a was a freaking *expert* at coping and rationalizing bad situations, and it was my survival mechanism.

Hell, I thought, I don't need him to tell me this - *this* I already know. :)

Anyway, yes, that sort of fiction appeals to me. I can read about other crazy people and identify, even if the way they cope and rationalize is not the *exact* same way I do.

Judy

http://www.judywatt.com/

-- Anonymous, August 02, 1999


Get rid of the writing classes, it's already bad enough you're a lawyer. Think of all writing time you missed.

-- Anonymous, August 02, 1999

"the" writing time you missed.

-- Anonymous, August 02, 1999


Writing groups are not always for everyone... You are a good writer, screw the critism, write from your heart. Remember what you read in Bird by Bird... Anne Lammot who writes crazy loosely based on herself type of characters. My self I love it when the characters are off beat, it makes them more believeable ...

-- Anonymous, August 02, 1999

Beth, I laughed about this because the EXACT same thing happened to me in my UCLA writing class last year. Everyone told me how completely unbelievable my character's behaviour was when it was all I had done was record exactly how I remembered feeling in my life during the time I was writing about.

I love Annie Lamott (in small doses) and Anne Tyler (in large doses) for the same reasons I love journals - their real edge.

People aren't always doing the "right" thing, or thinking the "right" way, or behaving in a way that sitcoms and religion teach us we should behave. But they are still living successful lives, and going about their daily business and finding happiness.

We, the semi-crazies, the almost-neurotics, are rarely given sympathetic public portrayals. Hah.

Not that I include you in those catagories. But I consider my younger self to be all of those things and more.

-- Anonymous, August 02, 1999


It's funny that you mention Anne Tyler - I have heard that she is agoraphobic as well.

And I think there's a difference between a "crazy" character and an unlikeable character. Perhaps the crazy character is even more likeable because you have an explanation for the behavior.

-- Anonymous, August 02, 1999


Okay, so maybe that was the problem. My character was unlikeable AND crazy.

I definitely think there's a value in writing classes, though. I'm not sure how many I'll take, but I thought most of the exercises were good. Online journaling (and legal writing, for that matter) can lead to really bad habits.

-- Anonymous, August 02, 1999


Yes. I can. Though it does help if the character is sympathetic in their nutsiness. "Tom O'Bedlam" is one for example ... or more recently, trying to follow the chapters about Paul, who is an amnesiac and traumatized, in Tad Williams' behemoth work "Otherland." (It takes so long for a chapter to actually start giving you clues about who Paul really is, that each snippet is more like a self-contained short story until you start seeing the threads that tie Paul's story to some of the other plot-lines).

It all depends, I think, on each individual situation, in each work. Particularly the richness and depth of the story itself -- I mean if the story isn't much to begin with, then it can make it that much more difficult for an off-kilter character to carry it.

Then again, sometimes that's the saving grace of a story ...

And I'm just a little bit crazy all the time too, so heck, I'd wanna read about other nuts like me.

-- Anonymous, August 02, 1999



After all of this, you have gotten me very, VERY intrigued. I really would like to read that story, even if the leading character is crazy and unsympathetic.

BTW, don't let anyone fool you. Good writing doesn't just come from the heart. It really helps if you get a few pointers about style and structure, and I think signing up for that creative writing class was a pretty good idea. There's always something to be learned in classes like that, even if you only learn how you do not want to write.

Everyone else here does have a very valid point, though: you definitely have a way with words.

-- Anonymous, August 03, 1999


I'd like to read your story too! Obviously, I can't answer here until I've seen teh story in question. Please email it immediately. (insert smiley here.)

Sometimes I can follow a crazy character, sometimes not. I think it depends on whether I like the person. Sometimes it's really hard for me to read something where the character is self destructive (in the sense of losing opportunities, not of using drugs or whatever.) I remember finding it really hard to read The Bell Jar because (my memory is hazy here) she threw over her scholarship or whatever because she couldn't deal with it. That resonated too much with me, I think. I haven't ready any Ann Tyler but this is making me curious.

-- Anonymous, August 03, 1999


i love crazy characters. They are the best. I don't know what kind of craziness you are talking about here, though. If you are talking about characters such as Humbert Humbert (is that his name? it's been a while) in Lolita or Holden Caulfield in The Catcher in the Rye or even all the "crazies" in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, then certainly. Who wants to read about a boring character who is very grounded in reality anyway? I don't even think that way. Actually, I think I'd be a good character in a book since I'm kinda wacko myself. But, yeah, my point is that crazy characters make you think cause they approach the world from another perspective. If it is a first person narrative, it's even better. It allows the reader a sort of escapist fantasy, even, almost like in televisual culture, where the audience can safely slip into the shoes of someone who thinks/does things that the reader in his right mind would never really do. in short, it's a fantasy. but even fantasies are rooted in reality. so it all depends on how believable the "crazy" character is. cause we all secretly yearn to be crazy, to strip off our aura of coolness and become like the blowing wind.

-- Anonymous, September 03, 1999

i love anne tyler because she writes about my hometown, but i love john irving because his characters are so crazy they're believable and i love pat conroy because his characters are so real that they're crazy. crazy is good. it's my favorite sort.

-- Anonymous, September 06, 1999

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