All language subtitles for Masterclass Margaret Atwood Teaches Creative Writing - 07.Bringing Characters to Life Through Detail

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Which comes first, the
character or the story?

There is no such thing as first.

Because a person is
what happens to them.

So a novel is characters
interacting with events.

Characters don't just
exist in isolation.

Characters don't just
exist in isolation.

You're finding out who they
are through how they interact,

through the decisions they make,
through how other people treat

them, through how they react
to how other people treat them,

all of these interactions
that change us,

that reveal us to ourselves,
that reveal us to other people

and therefore to the reader.

So somebody-- let me
see, let's give them

So somebody-- let me
see, let's give them

an automobile accident.

They run over their
neighbor's cat.

Do they tell?

Do they pretend
somebody else did it?

Do they dispose of the body?

Or here's a real live thing.

A person we know is
bothered by a skunk.

So they set a live trap--

a live trap for a
skunk, you can't see in.

And they caught the skunk.

They could hear it
inside the trap.

So they put it into their car.

So they put it into their car.

They're going to drive it far,
far away out into the country.

They took the trap out,
they put it in a field.

They stood well back.

They pulled the string and out
shot their neighbor's prize

Persian and disappeared
into the woods.

What do they do?

Do they confess?

Do they pretend
it never happened?

Well, if you're like
most other people,

you will pretend
it never happened.

[CHUCKLING]

Because you'd be so embarrassed.

Because you'd be so embarrassed.

You don't know,
necessarily, what

new facets of your
character are going

to reveal themselves until you
put them in new situations.

When the Titanic is
going down, would you

have jumped into
the lifeboat first?

How do we know what we know
about characters anyway?

How do we know what
we know about people?

How do we know what
we know about people?

There's the impression
you have of them,

and then there's the
impression that you

feel they are trying to create.

And then there's the impression
that other people have of them

in the book, within the book.

So you may think
they're quite charming.

And another character,
someone in the book,

may have a jaundiced
view of that person.

So their actions, what other
people say about them--

which may or may not be true--

which may or may not be true--

and what they themselves say--

which may or may not be true--

and then our own ruminations
and thoughts about them.

We're going to want to
know how old they are.

We're going to want to know
how frowny or smiley they are.

We're going to want to know what
gender they are at that moment.

We're going to want to know if
they are dressing to impress.

We're going to want to know if
they are dressing to impress.

We're going to want to
know if they are dressing

in a way that is too young
or too old for the age

that they are.

So when is their birthday?

What are their friends like?

What are their hobbies?

Have they had any
traumatic experiences?

Do they have maybe
some obsessions?

Are they in love?

So all of these
things can be part

of building your character.

Here is something that I like
to do when I have a novel that's

taking place over time and
therefore is set in the past

and involves a
number of characters.

I like to write the
months of the year

down the side of the page,
on the left hand side.

I like to write the
years across the top.

And I like to put in
the characters' birth

dates and also important
world events that happened.

dates and also important
world events that happened.

So then I always know how
old they are in relation

to one another,
in any given year,

and what was
happening in that year

and how old they were when
those things were happening.

That way, not only do you
know what astrological symbol

they are--

(LAUGHING) so useful.

But you also know how old they
are in relation to one another

exactly, so you don't
get that mixed up.

exactly, so you don't
get that mixed up.

And you also know how
old they are in relation

to important world events.

So how old was your
character on 9/11?

If they were 12, that probably
made a pretty deep impression

on them.

If they were two,
it probably didn't.

All of those things you like
to know about their background,

you can keep control of them
with a handy chart like that.

you can keep control of them
with a handy chart like that.

Have you given the
reader enough clues?

Have you given
the reader enough?

When I finished
writing "Alias Grace,"

I had three of my
editors in Toronto,

and they all read the text.

They all had the impression
that the landlady was plump.

I said, I've specifically
made her very thin.

She's run out of food.

And they said, well, we didn't
pick that up, because we always

And they said, well, we didn't
pick that up, because we always

think of landladies
as not being thin.

I said, well, I guess
I have to make it

more obvious that she's thin.

So I put in some more thinness.

Because people will leap
to their own conclusions,

if you don't give
them enough clues.

There are authors who feed
their characters a lot.

And then there are other authors
who never feed their characters

at all.

So Dashiell Hammett, for
instance, his characters

drink and smoke a lot.

drink and smoke a lot.

But they never eat.

You never catch them eating,
which was kind of like him.

Dickens, they ate
very specifically.

Food is quite
important in his books.

It's usually quite odd
food or not enough food

or sometimes very lavish food.

It's never just
meat and potatoes.

The food is there for a reason,
it's telling us something.

There are similarly authors who
are not interested in clothing.

I'm quite interested
in their clothing.

I'm quite interested
in their clothing.

And I want their clothing to
be accurate for the period,

but I also want their clothing
to say something about them.

Henry James is pretty
good on clothing.

He likes describing
how people look.

Particularly women, he likes
describing their ensemble

and what it says about them.

People always were
asking me, why

do you write so much about
women, blah, blah, blah.

And because I'm lazy
was apparently not

an adequate answer.

So I decided to write "Oryx and
Crake" entirely from the point

of view of a male person.

And the first question that
I was asked, of course,

when it came out, was why didn't
you tell it through a women?

Wouldn't you know.

So Jimmy from "Oryx and Crake,"
at the beginning of the book

So Jimmy from "Oryx and Crake,"
at the beginning of the book

finds himself living
in a tree and believing

that he's the only kind of
our human being left on earth.

And in his vicinity are some
new and improved versions

that don't have
any of our faults,

that are very non-aggressive.

So Jimmy has control
of his whole book.

And what sort of
a character is he?

Well first of all, we realize
that he is not a math genius.

Although he exists in a part
of society in the future

where being a math
genius is highly prized,

those are not his skills.

He's a word guy.

He is somewhat neglected
by his parents.

He has a best friend who
is a lot more of a genius

than he is, which
wouldn't be that hard.

But he has a good heart.

Although he has commitment
problems, he has a good heart.

Although he has commitment
problems, he has a good heart.

And therefore, he's
the one who ends up

as the shepherd and protector
of the new group of people

that have been created
and are so non-aggressive.

So they need a sort
of shepherd, and he's

the one chosen for the job.

Because although no genius,
he has a good heart.

So I wrote this book.

And because I always pass my
books under the eyes of experts

And because I always pass my
books under the eyes of experts

to make sure I haven't made
any frightful mistakes,

they saved me from things.

That would have been
useful for a few books

that I have read by men that
have women characters in them.

They should have let some
woman read that book and say,

that is not how you
put on pantyhose.

You know, you don't stick
both feet out and pull them

on like this.

(LAUGHING) They're not trousers.

So fundamental, really
basic things like that.

So fundamental, really
basic things like that.

So I let somebody
read my Jimmy book.

I gave it to a young man
with commitment problems,

of about the same age.

And he gave me
two helpful hints.

First of all, he said, don't
say, "what in the fuck."

Say "what the fuck."

Accurate.

And then he said, that's
not how you smoke a joint.

And then he said, that's
not how you smoke a joint.

[LAUGHTER]

Ask the experts.

So I said, but what
about the rest of it?

You know, what about
the character of Jimmy?

And he said, well,
(HUMMING) how did you know?

So I thought that was a yes.

So these kinds of things.

It's often these
small details that

may trip you up because you've
never thought about them.

But if you're writing from
the point of view somebody

But if you're writing from
the point of view somebody

who isn't you, it's just
as well to pass that

beneath the eyes of somebody
more like that person.

That's a pretty
good helpful hint.