Emerald's Rant About Dialog and Character Development

[Nikolas]

Likewise, I anticipate that books or movies about having children (or raising them, or losing them) will touch me deeper once I get my own children, no matter how well the writer conveys his feelings.

This is absolutely true!  I used to be able to watch any movie and never have more than a sniffle or a damp eye.  But now, having had a child, anything involving losing children, especially babies, to sickness, danger, or even just distance tears me up inside.  There was an episode of House a short time after the birth of my daughter that opened with a mother having a seizure while taking a bath with her baby and the father coming in to find the baby completely submerged in the bath.  I remember watching that, and pausing for an hour before I could get up the strength to watch the rest of the episode.

Heh...

!00% true! almost too true!

Damn fatherhood! 

[twin-moon]

Of course, you have to actually have some interest in the subject matter for it to really draw you in.

The base of good fiction is emotion. The main character(s) should have a clear goal and strife to try to achieve that goal in the course of the story.
Most if not all people connect to that, and once you've established the connection the setting can be as weird and farfetched as you like, as long as the characters remain realistic.

That's why greek tragedies are still performed on stage, Medea remains a strong and compelling story even when you didn't chop up your kids to take revenge on your ex.
I remember a book about a mathematician who discovers the solution to one of Fermats propositions. Now I'm not interested in mathematics at all, but it was one of the best books I've ever read because I could relate to that guy.

My conviction is that a good writer can make a good story on any subject. (The real problem is only marketing.)

[Andail]

Fermat's Last Theorem, by Simon Singh. Very entertaining popular science

[twin-moon]

Fermat's Last Theorem, by Simon Singh. Very entertaining popular science

That's interesting, I didn't know that episode of Horizon. The novel I meant (The Wild Numbers by Philibert Schogt) is obviously based on the story of Andrew Wiles.

[Stupot]

I don't think telling a story is the same thing as lying.
A lie is told to fool someone into believing in a falsehood.  When I buy a fictional novel or download a new adventure game I already know that what I'm about to read/play is a work of fiction.  Sure, a good author will try to create a sense of realism but he doesn't expect anyone to believe that the events actually took place.

Character development is something I've always struggled with, but it's the one part of storywriting I find most fascinating.  I think if you have good, deep characters then the story basically writes itself.

[miguel]

I would love to see a game beeing made based on Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose, you have all the ingredients there: sex, flagelation, murder, religion, history, weird characters, a detective and his aprentice, puzzles!!!

[Snarky]

You might be interested in The Abbey and Vespers 3D, then.

[miguel]

The graphics on the Abbey look just amazing, checking the vespers new 3d/if thing now (nothing one would not expect). thanks for the links

[vict0r]

Hmm... Where the hell did Emerald go?

[MoodyBlues]

Emerald, you made some great points:

1. Don't rush it. Mystery surrounding a character is never a bad thing. It actually generates interest in the characters, since it causes the questions to arise before they're answered. That's important. When a character you've just met starts spewing their whole life stories at you before you even know their name, it usually is a bad thing.

2. Always have a reason for developing the character. You may not have noticed, but most people in real life don't just start randomly giving their 'backstory'. Character development should fit into the context of the story - it shouldn't simply happen because an action sequence just ended and you want to wind things down.

Heck yes!  The audience doesn't need to know every little detail about all the characters, even if the author does.  Keeping some characters mysterious (as long as they're not cheesy, angsty anti-heroes) can catch the audience's attention.  That's part of the appeal of characters like Hannibal Lecter, Aslan, Gandalf, and Wolverine.  They have lives beyond the plot that the audience may never see, and you can't fit them into a tidy character sheet.