1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,455 [MUSIC PLAYING] 2 00:00:14,140 --> 00:00:16,379 Which comes first, the character or the story? 3 00:00:16,379 --> 00:00:19,170 There is no such thing as first. 4 00:00:19,170 --> 00:00:23,840 Because a person is what happens to them. 5 00:00:23,840 --> 00:00:29,750 So a novel is characters interacting with events. 6 00:00:29,750 --> 00:00:30,000 Characters don't just exist in isolation. 7 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:34,100 Characters don't just exist in isolation. 8 00:00:34,100 --> 00:00:38,660 You're finding out who they are through how they interact, 9 00:00:38,660 --> 00:00:41,930 through the decisions they make, through how other people treat 10 00:00:41,930 --> 00:00:45,470 them, through how they react to how other people treat them, 11 00:00:45,470 --> 00:00:49,970 all of these interactions that change us, 12 00:00:49,970 --> 00:00:55,430 that reveal us to ourselves, that reveal us to other people 13 00:00:55,430 --> 00:00:58,070 and therefore to the reader. 14 00:00:58,070 --> 00:01:00,000 So somebody-- let me see, let's give them 15 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:02,300 So somebody-- let me see, let's give them 16 00:01:02,300 --> 00:01:04,250 an automobile accident. 17 00:01:04,250 --> 00:01:07,250 They run over their neighbor's cat. 18 00:01:07,250 --> 00:01:09,560 Do they tell? 19 00:01:09,560 --> 00:01:12,230 Do they pretend somebody else did it? 20 00:01:12,230 --> 00:01:14,900 Do they dispose of the body? 21 00:01:14,900 --> 00:01:18,000 Or here's a real live thing. 22 00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:21,380 A person we know is bothered by a skunk. 23 00:01:21,380 --> 00:01:22,910 So they set a live trap-- 24 00:01:22,910 --> 00:01:26,030 a live trap for a skunk, you can't see in. 25 00:01:26,030 --> 00:01:27,200 And they caught the skunk. 26 00:01:27,200 --> 00:01:29,090 They could hear it inside the trap. 27 00:01:29,090 --> 00:01:30,000 So they put it into their car. 28 00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:31,070 So they put it into their car. 29 00:01:31,070 --> 00:01:34,390 They're going to drive it far, far away out into the country. 30 00:01:34,390 --> 00:01:36,920 They took the trap out, they put it in a field. 31 00:01:36,920 --> 00:01:38,450 They stood well back. 32 00:01:38,450 --> 00:01:41,540 They pulled the string and out shot their neighbor's prize 33 00:01:41,540 --> 00:01:45,770 Persian and disappeared into the woods. 34 00:01:45,770 --> 00:01:47,540 What do they do? 35 00:01:47,540 --> 00:01:49,460 Do they confess? 36 00:01:49,460 --> 00:01:51,290 Do they pretend it never happened? 37 00:01:54,006 --> 00:01:55,630 Well, if you're like most other people, 38 00:01:55,630 --> 00:01:57,190 you will pretend it never happened. 39 00:01:57,190 --> 00:01:58,860 [CHUCKLING] 40 00:01:58,860 --> 00:02:00,000 Because you'd be so embarrassed. 41 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:01,270 Because you'd be so embarrassed. 42 00:02:01,270 --> 00:02:04,810 You don't know, necessarily, what 43 00:02:04,810 --> 00:02:07,000 new facets of your character are going 44 00:02:07,000 --> 00:02:11,320 to reveal themselves until you put them in new situations. 45 00:02:11,320 --> 00:02:15,700 When the Titanic is going down, would you 46 00:02:15,700 --> 00:02:17,425 have jumped into the lifeboat first? 47 00:02:25,390 --> 00:02:28,940 How do we know what we know about characters anyway? 48 00:02:28,940 --> 00:02:30,000 How do we know what we know about people? 49 00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:31,460 How do we know what we know about people? 50 00:02:31,460 --> 00:02:33,510 There's the impression you have of them, 51 00:02:33,510 --> 00:02:35,600 and then there's the impression that you 52 00:02:35,600 --> 00:02:38,120 feel they are trying to create. 53 00:02:38,120 --> 00:02:41,280 And then there's the impression that other people have of them 54 00:02:41,280 --> 00:02:44,130 in the book, within the book. 55 00:02:44,130 --> 00:02:46,400 So you may think they're quite charming. 56 00:02:46,400 --> 00:02:49,730 And another character, someone in the book, 57 00:02:49,730 --> 00:02:53,950 may have a jaundiced view of that person. 58 00:02:53,950 --> 00:02:57,900 So their actions, what other people say about them-- 59 00:02:57,900 --> 00:03:00,000 which may or may not be true-- 60 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:00,500 which may or may not be true-- 61 00:03:00,500 --> 00:03:02,570 and what they themselves say-- 62 00:03:02,570 --> 00:03:05,850 which may or may not be true-- 63 00:03:05,850 --> 00:03:10,150 and then our own ruminations and thoughts about them. 64 00:03:10,150 --> 00:03:12,580 We're going to want to know how old they are. 65 00:03:12,580 --> 00:03:17,790 We're going to want to know how frowny or smiley they are. 66 00:03:17,790 --> 00:03:26,940 We're going to want to know what gender they are at that moment. 67 00:03:26,940 --> 00:03:30,000 We're going to want to know if they are dressing to impress. 68 00:03:30,000 --> 00:03:32,880 We're going to want to know if they are dressing to impress. 69 00:03:32,880 --> 00:03:35,280 We're going to want to know if they are dressing 70 00:03:35,280 --> 00:03:38,790 in a way that is too young or too old for the age 71 00:03:38,790 --> 00:03:40,230 that they are. 72 00:03:40,230 --> 00:03:42,360 So when is their birthday? 73 00:03:42,360 --> 00:03:43,860 What are their friends like? 74 00:03:43,860 --> 00:03:45,240 What are their hobbies? 75 00:03:45,240 --> 00:03:48,510 Have they had any traumatic experiences? 76 00:03:48,510 --> 00:03:50,630 Do they have maybe some obsessions? 77 00:03:50,630 --> 00:03:52,050 Are they in love? 78 00:03:52,050 --> 00:03:53,790 So all of these things can be part 79 00:03:53,790 --> 00:03:55,110 of building your character. 80 00:04:07,710 --> 00:04:11,570 Here is something that I like to do when I have a novel that's 81 00:04:11,570 --> 00:04:16,279 taking place over time and therefore is set in the past 82 00:04:16,279 --> 00:04:19,089 and involves a number of characters. 83 00:04:19,089 --> 00:04:21,860 I like to write the months of the year 84 00:04:21,860 --> 00:04:24,650 down the side of the page, on the left hand side. 85 00:04:24,650 --> 00:04:27,030 I like to write the years across the top. 86 00:04:27,030 --> 00:04:29,055 And I like to put in the characters' birth 87 00:04:29,055 --> 00:04:30,000 dates and also important world events that happened. 88 00:04:30,000 --> 00:04:33,610 dates and also important world events that happened. 89 00:04:33,610 --> 00:04:36,560 So then I always know how old they are in relation 90 00:04:36,560 --> 00:04:39,600 to one another, in any given year, 91 00:04:39,600 --> 00:04:42,380 and what was happening in that year 92 00:04:42,380 --> 00:04:45,750 and how old they were when those things were happening. 93 00:04:45,750 --> 00:04:49,740 That way, not only do you know what astrological symbol 94 00:04:49,740 --> 00:04:50,460 they are-- 95 00:04:50,460 --> 00:04:53,350 (LAUGHING) so useful. 96 00:04:53,350 --> 00:04:57,780 But you also know how old they are in relation to one another 97 00:04:57,780 --> 00:05:00,000 exactly, so you don't get that mixed up. 98 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:01,290 exactly, so you don't get that mixed up. 99 00:05:01,290 --> 00:05:04,620 And you also know how old they are in relation 100 00:05:04,620 --> 00:05:08,240 to important world events. 101 00:05:08,240 --> 00:05:13,480 So how old was your character on 9/11? 102 00:05:13,480 --> 00:05:16,950 If they were 12, that probably made a pretty deep impression 103 00:05:16,950 --> 00:05:18,040 on them. 104 00:05:18,040 --> 00:05:20,670 If they were two, it probably didn't. 105 00:05:20,670 --> 00:05:24,790 All of those things you like to know about their background, 106 00:05:24,790 --> 00:05:30,000 you can keep control of them with a handy chart like that. 107 00:05:30,000 --> 00:05:30,150 you can keep control of them with a handy chart like that. 108 00:05:36,370 --> 00:05:40,030 Have you given the reader enough clues? 109 00:05:40,030 --> 00:05:42,580 Have you given the reader enough? 110 00:05:42,580 --> 00:05:44,320 When I finished writing "Alias Grace," 111 00:05:44,320 --> 00:05:47,360 I had three of my editors in Toronto, 112 00:05:47,360 --> 00:05:49,060 and they all read the text. 113 00:05:49,060 --> 00:05:53,410 They all had the impression that the landlady was plump. 114 00:05:53,410 --> 00:05:56,910 I said, I've specifically made her very thin. 115 00:05:56,910 --> 00:05:58,450 She's run out of food. 116 00:05:58,450 --> 00:06:00,000 And they said, well, we didn't pick that up, because we always 117 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:01,450 And they said, well, we didn't pick that up, because we always 118 00:06:01,450 --> 00:06:04,660 think of landladies as not being thin. 119 00:06:04,660 --> 00:06:06,520 I said, well, I guess I have to make it 120 00:06:06,520 --> 00:06:08,439 more obvious that she's thin. 121 00:06:08,439 --> 00:06:09,730 So I put in some more thinness. 122 00:06:12,270 --> 00:06:15,780 Because people will leap to their own conclusions, 123 00:06:15,780 --> 00:06:18,130 if you don't give them enough clues. 124 00:06:18,130 --> 00:06:21,559 There are authors who feed their characters a lot. 125 00:06:21,559 --> 00:06:24,225 And then there are other authors who never feed their characters 126 00:06:24,225 --> 00:06:25,980 at all. 127 00:06:25,980 --> 00:06:28,530 So Dashiell Hammett, for instance, his characters 128 00:06:28,530 --> 00:06:30,000 drink and smoke a lot. 129 00:06:30,000 --> 00:06:30,270 drink and smoke a lot. 130 00:06:30,270 --> 00:06:31,950 But they never eat. 131 00:06:31,950 --> 00:06:36,260 You never catch them eating, which was kind of like him. 132 00:06:36,260 --> 00:06:39,420 Dickens, they ate very specifically. 133 00:06:39,420 --> 00:06:41,700 Food is quite important in his books. 134 00:06:41,700 --> 00:06:47,130 It's usually quite odd food or not enough food 135 00:06:47,130 --> 00:06:50,070 or sometimes very lavish food. 136 00:06:50,070 --> 00:06:52,560 It's never just meat and potatoes. 137 00:06:52,560 --> 00:06:55,610 The food is there for a reason, it's telling us something. 138 00:06:55,610 --> 00:06:59,610 There are similarly authors who are not interested in clothing. 139 00:06:59,610 --> 00:07:00,000 I'm quite interested in their clothing. 140 00:07:00,000 --> 00:07:02,400 I'm quite interested in their clothing. 141 00:07:02,400 --> 00:07:06,420 And I want their clothing to be accurate for the period, 142 00:07:06,420 --> 00:07:10,050 but I also want their clothing to say something about them. 143 00:07:10,050 --> 00:07:12,150 Henry James is pretty good on clothing. 144 00:07:12,150 --> 00:07:15,120 He likes describing how people look. 145 00:07:15,120 --> 00:07:22,220 Particularly women, he likes describing their ensemble 146 00:07:22,220 --> 00:07:23,710 and what it says about them. 147 00:07:30,620 --> 00:07:32,580 People always were asking me, why 148 00:07:32,580 --> 00:07:36,120 do you write so much about women, blah, blah, blah. 149 00:07:36,120 --> 00:07:41,220 And because I'm lazy was apparently not 150 00:07:41,220 --> 00:07:42,750 an adequate answer. 151 00:07:42,750 --> 00:07:47,940 So I decided to write "Oryx and Crake" entirely from the point 152 00:07:47,940 --> 00:07:50,700 of view of a male person. 153 00:07:50,700 --> 00:07:53,700 And the first question that I was asked, of course, 154 00:07:53,700 --> 00:07:57,850 when it came out, was why didn't you tell it through a women? 155 00:07:57,850 --> 00:07:59,580 Wouldn't you know. 156 00:07:59,580 --> 00:08:00,000 So Jimmy from "Oryx and Crake," at the beginning of the book 157 00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:03,150 So Jimmy from "Oryx and Crake," at the beginning of the book 158 00:08:03,150 --> 00:08:05,940 finds himself living in a tree and believing 159 00:08:05,940 --> 00:08:10,440 that he's the only kind of our human being left on earth. 160 00:08:10,440 --> 00:08:13,770 And in his vicinity are some new and improved versions 161 00:08:13,770 --> 00:08:15,900 that don't have any of our faults, 162 00:08:15,900 --> 00:08:17,640 that are very non-aggressive. 163 00:08:17,640 --> 00:08:21,300 So Jimmy has control of his whole book. 164 00:08:21,300 --> 00:08:24,750 And what sort of a character is he? 165 00:08:24,750 --> 00:08:29,850 Well first of all, we realize that he is not a math genius. 166 00:08:32,580 --> 00:08:36,150 Although he exists in a part of society in the future 167 00:08:36,150 --> 00:08:40,080 where being a math genius is highly prized, 168 00:08:40,080 --> 00:08:41,340 those are not his skills. 169 00:08:41,340 --> 00:08:43,470 He's a word guy. 170 00:08:43,470 --> 00:08:48,670 He is somewhat neglected by his parents. 171 00:08:48,670 --> 00:08:52,470 He has a best friend who is a lot more of a genius 172 00:08:52,470 --> 00:08:54,930 than he is, which wouldn't be that hard. 173 00:08:54,930 --> 00:08:57,870 But he has a good heart. 174 00:08:57,870 --> 00:09:00,000 Although he has commitment problems, he has a good heart. 175 00:09:00,000 --> 00:09:02,700 Although he has commitment problems, he has a good heart. 176 00:09:02,700 --> 00:09:05,580 And therefore, he's the one who ends up 177 00:09:05,580 --> 00:09:11,340 as the shepherd and protector of the new group of people 178 00:09:11,340 --> 00:09:15,540 that have been created and are so non-aggressive. 179 00:09:15,540 --> 00:09:20,490 So they need a sort of shepherd, and he's 180 00:09:20,490 --> 00:09:23,430 the one chosen for the job. 181 00:09:23,430 --> 00:09:27,030 Because although no genius, he has a good heart. 182 00:09:27,030 --> 00:09:28,630 So I wrote this book. 183 00:09:28,630 --> 00:09:30,000 And because I always pass my books under the eyes of experts 184 00:09:30,000 --> 00:09:35,880 And because I always pass my books under the eyes of experts 185 00:09:35,880 --> 00:09:39,240 to make sure I haven't made any frightful mistakes, 186 00:09:39,240 --> 00:09:41,190 they saved me from things. 187 00:09:41,190 --> 00:09:43,020 That would have been useful for a few books 188 00:09:43,020 --> 00:09:47,080 that I have read by men that have women characters in them. 189 00:09:47,080 --> 00:09:51,300 They should have let some woman read that book and say, 190 00:09:51,300 --> 00:09:54,240 that is not how you put on pantyhose. 191 00:09:54,240 --> 00:09:56,580 You know, you don't stick both feet out and pull them 192 00:09:56,580 --> 00:09:57,390 on like this. 193 00:09:57,390 --> 00:09:59,730 (LAUGHING) They're not trousers. 194 00:09:59,730 --> 00:10:00,000 So fundamental, really basic things like that. 195 00:10:00,000 --> 00:10:03,810 So fundamental, really basic things like that. 196 00:10:03,810 --> 00:10:06,570 So I let somebody read my Jimmy book. 197 00:10:06,570 --> 00:10:10,700 I gave it to a young man with commitment problems, 198 00:10:10,700 --> 00:10:12,600 of about the same age. 199 00:10:12,600 --> 00:10:17,500 And he gave me two helpful hints. 200 00:10:17,500 --> 00:10:21,660 First of all, he said, don't say, "what in the fuck." 201 00:10:21,660 --> 00:10:23,004 Say "what the fuck." 202 00:10:25,790 --> 00:10:26,490 Accurate. 203 00:10:26,490 --> 00:10:30,000 And then he said, that's not how you smoke a joint. 204 00:10:30,000 --> 00:10:30,995 And then he said, that's not how you smoke a joint. 205 00:10:30,995 --> 00:10:33,610 [LAUGHTER] 206 00:10:33,610 --> 00:10:35,750 Ask the experts. 207 00:10:35,750 --> 00:10:37,777 So I said, but what about the rest of it? 208 00:10:37,777 --> 00:10:39,610 You know, what about the character of Jimmy? 209 00:10:39,610 --> 00:10:48,600 And he said, well, (HUMMING) how did you know? 210 00:10:48,600 --> 00:10:51,930 So I thought that was a yes. 211 00:10:51,930 --> 00:10:53,370 So these kinds of things. 212 00:10:53,370 --> 00:10:56,070 It's often these small details that 213 00:10:56,070 --> 00:10:59,640 may trip you up because you've never thought about them. 214 00:10:59,640 --> 00:11:00,000 But if you're writing from the point of view somebody 215 00:11:00,000 --> 00:11:02,550 But if you're writing from the point of view somebody 216 00:11:02,550 --> 00:11:06,030 who isn't you, it's just as well to pass that 217 00:11:06,030 --> 00:11:11,550 beneath the eyes of somebody more like that person. 218 00:11:11,550 --> 00:11:14,750 That's a pretty good helpful hint.