Characters: They Are Worthy!

One of my favorite scenes from the movie Wayne's World  occurs when Wayne and Garth spy rock gods Arrowsmith, begin groaning inarticulately, then fall prostrate before the band, raising and lowering their arms while proclaiming, "We're not worthy! We're not worthy!"

It's right up there with the two protagonists head-banging to "Bohemian Rhapsody."

But then again I also used to watch Gilligan's Island and Hee Haw...on purpose.

On a recent vacation I began thinking of that word worthy in a different context––in connection to a variety of sermons and writings by Minnesota pastor, scholar, and writer Greg Boyd where he talks about how every human being who ever was, is, and will be is of "immeasurable worth" to God; hence, the sacrifice of Jesus.

Boyd encourages us...rather, exhorts us..to see and have compassion for the invisible, to acknowledge our fellowship with the scorned and reviled, and to reject judgment of them in favor of loving them.

Now, I could get off on a spiritual treatise here, but that's for a different venue than The Write Wind. If you're interested in what Boyd has to say, I suggest three of his books: The Myth of the Christian Nation, Repenting of Religion, and Benefit of the Doubt. You may also hear him speak by clicking on the "Semons & Media" tab at whchurch.org.

What I would like to talk about here today is bringing this God-like attitude to your treatment of your characters.

It's a bit of a stretch, I know, but hear me out.

Just as the the Almighty formed the physical universe and all within it, you create the world of your story. You create the scene and all the people who inhabit it. For their sake, as well as for that of your readers and your own satisfaction, it behooves you to ensure and recognize that those people are, indeed, worthy. 

Too often, writers fill their stories or books with so many underdeveloped characters that if perchance one should show up later in the narrative, the reader is forced to scramble madly back through the pages to figure out, "Willie Armsdorfer? Who was that again? Was he the guy who ate fried okra during the demolition derby while wearing an orange fedora? Or was he the lawn tractor repairman's third cousin on his mother's side?"  

After vainly searching for hours, the reader's eyes glaze over, his fingers cramp up into arthritic balls, and he punts the book through the picture window while muttering not-so-vague obscenities.

The lesson to the writer: Don't turn your readers into book-punting, window-shattering,  arthritic curse mongers. The way to do this is to make your characters count.

How do you do that? Here are five ideas.

1. Know your characters. First, remember that in a metaphorical sense, you are God of your story. That means when it comes to the inhabitants, you are omniscient...or at least should be. You should know what the characters think, what they do, why they act, what their roles in the story are.

That being said, when it comes to describing these people,

2. Avoid the superficial. Yes, specific clothes, coiffeur, and possessions can help identify a person, but...Unless what a person wears reveals a person's propensity for dalmatian fur, unless his/her hairstyle symbolizes the pro-Siberian husky nature of the character's mother, unless you as a writer are getting mega-product-placement-dollars to identify the smart phone your protagonist uses, shut up and move on. Give the reader what is needed and get back to the story.

That does not mean be cursory in your description. It means look deeper and

3. Seek the unexpected. When Boyd talks about the people we walk by everyday as being invisible, he refers to our tendency to discount or ignore what those people have to offer the world, often to our own disservice. As bad as that is for humans in real life, it is especially wrong for the deity (the writer) of your imaginary universe.

As stated twice now, in your story's world, you are God. You must know what qualities these people have. Or how to discover them. To accomplish this, as the story progresses, dig until you find what the characters are hiding. Reveal it. Relish it. Use it.

When you are thoroughly acquainted with their true selves,

4. Assure that your characters contribute. If you're going to introduce a person into the story, make sure they intensify the atmosphere, the conflict, the rising action, the resolution...SOMETHING. 

How? There are lots of ways.

Maybe the fry cook at the truck stop gives a million dollars to the construction of a new hospital. Maybe the town drunk saves a little girl who falls through the ice at the skating pond. Maybe the babysitter actually sits on babies. Let your characters do something besides simply exist. 

Finally, learn one of the greatest lessons in life:

5. Less is more. Architect Mies van der Rohe used this sentence to strip design of decoration and artifice in favor of function. His buildings are noted for their spare, clean lines, their simplicity. 

In literature, the adage can apply to the number of characters in your story as well. A few characters that the reader grows to know and love (or detest, depending on your purpose) is preferable to plethora of bodies that meld into a mind-numbing mass of bleh.

The key, then, is to promote your characters from the scenery to the foundation of your narrative. Take, for example, the person in the yellow box in the picture above. Let us know who he is, what he is, and why the heck he's in the yellow box in the first place. In other words, take him out of the tinted yellow box and expose him to the clear world you created for him.

Let him know, as Stephen Tyler did for Wayne and Garth, "You're worthy! You're worthy!" Both your characters and your readers will thank you for the assurance.

As an added bonus, you might discover, as Greg Boyd tells us, we all have "immeasurable worth." Kinda good news, don't you think?