Iris Murdoch in 1963
[photo: Steve Brodie]
Creating a character is a fascinating process. I start with the exterior, a feature or expression, perhaps a habit or tic. Getting inside, working out what makes them tick, why they behave the way they do, is something I’ve got better at with practice. Murdoch said:
“People have obsessions and fears and passions which they don’t admit to. I think every character is interesting and has extremes. It’s the novelist privilege to see how odd everyone is.”
Absolutely. We are each a mystery to everyone except ourselves.
Read the first paragraphs of A Severed Head, The Sea The Sea, and The Philosopher’s Pupil.
Read here about the first edition of The Sea The Sea.
‘A Severed Head’ by Iris Murdoch [UK: Vintage Classics] Buy now
See these other famous people, reading & writing:-
Jack Nicholson
Madonna
George Orwell
And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
Famous writers, writing… #author Iris Murdoch via @SandraDanby http://wp.me/p5gEM4-AY
And sometimes we’re even a mystery to ourselves! Since I mainly write short stories, my characters don’t spend nearly as much time in my head as they would if they were part of a novel, but I still make an effort to understand why they act the way they do.
I was taught that your research and character work should not be on the page for everyone to read, but should inform everything that happens in the story. Like an iceberg. 🙂 SD
I like that analogy!
For me, to develop a character, I like think of something that is out of the ordinary. For example, I watched a film last night called ” Secret Window” with Johnny Depp and that movie is awesome! If you haven’t please, go see it!
I don’t know it but will look out for it now, anything with Johnny Depp [except The Lone Ranger]! SD