All language subtitles for Masterclass Salman Rushdie Teaches Storytelling and Writing - 07.Bringing Characters to Life

[MUSIC PLAYING]

People say that writing
is a lonely occupation.

But actually when your
characters come to life,

you feel you're not alone.

You feel you're
with these people.

And they want you
to tell their story.

What I found always
is that there's

What I found always
is that there's

a certain moment in the
preparation for a book when

the character feels real to you.

In other words, when you
feel that they're alive.

This is what I mean by
starting to listen to them.

It's as if they're
talking to you,

and you're talking back to them,
and you're in a conversation.

What do they need in order
to be fully themselves,

and in order to be exactly
who they need to be

at that point in the story?

And I think, obviously,
there's a sense

And I think, obviously,
there's a sense

in which this is nonsense.

The character doesn't exist.

And it's all in
your head anyway.

And obviously you're
doing it all anyway.

I just think it's a useful--

even if it's only a way
of fooling yourself,

you know, it's a way of thinking
about what you're doing.

You don't want to feel the
writer pulling the strings all

the time.

You want to feel
that the-- you know,

the characters have a kind
of independent existence.

You know, you want to feel
that Anna Karenina is herself

and not just Tolstoy speaking
through her, you know.

and not just Tolstoy speaking
through her, you know.

You want to feel that the
characters in The Color Purple

are themselves with their
own thoughts and feelings,

and not just Alice Walker
projecting her vision

through them.

You know, and so this idea
of being in conversation

with your characters
is a way of helping

you to create characters
which don't look-- just feel

like your puppets, you know.

Which feel like they have
an independent reality.

Which feel like they have
an independent reality.

And that's very pleasing
to readers to feel that.

You can write a
character biography

if that's what works for you.

You don't have to, but
if it works, do it.

I mean, I write, in a
much more haphazard way,

notes for a character.

Even, like, phrases
they might use,

repeated language
that they have.

I just will write down, like,
a moment in their life that I

I just will write down, like,
a moment in their life that I

think I must remember,
because that's

a significant thing that I
need to make sure happens.

This whole process
of preparation

is valuable and
necessary in the same way

as in a historical
novel research

about the historical period
is valuable and necessary.

But there's a point at which
you have to put it aside.

There's a point at which
you have to say, OK,

now I'm going to imagine it.

And you don't need to be
endlessly looking back

And you don't need to be
endlessly looking back

at your biodata, you
know, or your research.

When you're actually
doing the writing,

you need to-- you need to feel
you have it already within you.

You know that stuff.

And so you can just write it.

You need to understand the
interiority of the character

in those terms of--

what has damaged them in
their lives, you know?

I mean, we are all,
every human being,

I mean, we are all,
every human being,

carrying some kind of damage.

You know, and it can be a
broken heart in a love affair.

It can be that you feel
your father didn't love you.

We all have bruises, you know.

We all-- we all carry
wounds through life.

And to some extent
those shape what we--

what we find ourselves doing.

Everybody in life has
something that pushes them

Everybody in life has
something that pushes them

in one direction or another.

It can simply be the desire
to take care of your family.

You know, it can simply be the
problem of earning a living.

It can be racial prejudice.

Or it can be some
deep need they have

in life, some ambition, some
dream, some hope, something

that they yearn for.

that they yearn for.

And you need to know
that about them.

Because then that gives you--

that's the story they need to
tell, you know, about whether,

in the end, they
achieve their dream,

whether the thing that they
yearned for comes to them,

or whether it doesn't.

And that's, in a
way, the difference

between a happy
ending and a tragedy.

between a happy
ending and a tragedy.

If you go through your life
yearning for something,

and you don't get it,
that's a sad life.

And it can be very dramatic
in a novel for people

to come very close to
the thing they want

and then to be cheated
of it in some way.

Or the other way around,
to be cheated of it

and then to find their way
back towards getting it,

whatever it may be.

One of the answers to whose
story is you telling--

One of the answers to whose
story is you telling--

are you telling,
will be-- will have

to do with your central
character very often,

or your central characters.

But there are specific things
that I think really help,

which are very banal
things you might think.

What clothes do they wear?

How do they dress?

Are they fashionable
or unfashionable?

Are they fashionable
or unfashionable?

Or just literally, what
kind of shirt do they wear?

If somebody wearing
a Hawaiian shirt,

that's not quite the
same person as somebody

wearing a Yankees shirt.

But in a way, it's easy to
start with the exterior things.

It's easy to start with, what
does a character look like?

Do they have a big nose?

You know, are they bald?

And as I say, what
clothes do they wear,

and how do they speak?

And work your way
inside, you know,

And work your way
inside, you know,

to try and see if those
exterior things, in some way,

are defenses or expressions.

You know, sometimes
somebody who is

very flamboyant on
the outside will

be doing it to hide
some real insecurity

and uncertainty about
themselves underneath that.

Sometimes it'll be because they
are flamboyant and extroverted.

So it could be both.

So it could be both.

And you need to
decide which it is.

And at that point, the
character will act, you know.

And the story will move forward.

One of the great lessons that
I was taught when I was still

at university, when I was
studying history-- my history

professor said to me
about writing history,

he said, you should never
write history until you

can hear the people speak.

He said, because if you
don't know how they speak,

He said, because if you
don't know how they speak,

you don't know them well enough.

And so you can't
tell their story.

And I think, excellent
advice for writing history.

But it also struck me as being
excellent advice for writing

fiction.

One of the questions
I ask myself always,

about every character, large
or small, is how do they talk?

Do they have an accent?

You know, an accent can
reveal social class.

It can also reveal race.

And it could also
reveal regionality.

You know, somebody from the
Deep South, from Mississippi,

You know, somebody from the
Deep South, from Mississippi,

isn't going to speak the same
way as somebody from Boston.

Another question is, how--

are they talkative?

Are they the kinds of
characters who have a lot

to say for themselves?

Or are they quite silent and
hard to draw out, you know,

people of few words?

Ask yourself, what kind
of vocabulary do they use?

Do they have-- do they
have a large vocabulary?

Do they have-- do they
have a large vocabulary?

Or do they have
quite a limited one?

That also will
tell you something

about their background
and who they are.

Do they use bad
language, or do they

resist the use of bad language?

And if you go through that and
know that about your character,

you've--

you've got quite a long way
to knowing who they are.