Words Words Words

Characterization discussion: Internal Logic

Reesa — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 08:21:53 +0000

Among the many and ongoing interesting discussions at our home, we’ve been talking about the concept we’re calling “internal logic” for a character. Internal logic here means that, among other things: an action that to an outside observer appears irrational, wrong, or evil, from the internal viewpoint of the character will be a justified, logical, and right action to make. It’s a useful thing to examine for most characters, but especially helpful in creating believable antagonists in a story.

Tolkien got around the need to deeply explore this by creating a world where evil really did exist, and some creatures did things because they were bad evil things to do. In this sort of scenario, you don’t have to worry too much about internal consistency for a antagonist’s actions as long as you have the formula “evil is good”. Unfortunately, Tolkien’s many imitators have generally not done as well as he did, and these days most people who encounter the Evil Overlord stereotype are likely to assign a label of “campy” “trite” or “overdone” to whichever story has the latest iteration of the trope.

Another loophole to spending a lot of time with discovering a character’s internal logic is the “Rendezvous with Rama” effect. For those of you who haven’t read or don’t remember the original story *spoiler alert skip to the next paragraph* an alien ship passes through our solar system, refuels from our sun, and departs. We send a ship out from Earth to explore the large alien ship, see lots of really interesting things, and learn nothing much about the aliens who created the ship. It’s the ultimate story in creating aliens with very alien motives that have little to nothing to do with humans except in passing.*end of spoilers*

Similarly, in Steve’s book Issola, the Jenoine are massively powerful and very alien, doing things that from the view of both the reader and the characters are hard to understand. Since that’s rather the point, we don’t really need to understand further about the Jenoine’s internal viewpoint.

With both of these examples, the unfathomability is the point of both the alien ship and the Jenoine. With characters that come closer to human-like actions and understandings, internal logic considerations become more of a factor. The world from the outside-looking-in and the inside-looking-out are often far different for people, and even for non-POV characters you might need to know something about their internal motivations. So how do you depict this?

One of my own characters tends to organize their environment in ways that to my first impressions seem counter-intuitive. It’s not a way that I would organize things, and sometimes doesn’t seem to make logical sense from my perspective. However, when I ask myself “why would [said character] arrange their things in that way?” I nearly always have an answer that comes to mind that makes sense from the viewpoint and life experiences of the character. Even if the internal explanation for the room arrangement doesn’t make it directly onto the written page, the fact that I as the writer understand why the character does a certain thing means that it’s more likely to reflect that knowledge in little bits of characterization throughout the story that will bring that understanding to the reader.

-Reesa

What springs to mind is the skeptic’s mantra: Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proofs. As it applies to fiction, it seems to me that the more bizarre the thought processes of the character, the more you have to convince the reader that the character really does think that way. The fun part is: how do you do it?

I was remembering Will Shetterly’s first novel, Cats Have No Lord, in which the antagonist’s primary motivation was fear–he did all sorts of horrible things because they seemed to be the best way to keep himself safe–and Will sold it so thoroughly that I never questioned it. Will did it with a hint here, a comment there, which was enough to clue the reader in to what was going on. Generally, I like the “less is more” approach when practicable.

The most fun way to approach it, for me, is to fall completely into the head of that character, and then write it in first person from his POV (I did that in Agyar), but there have to be other ways. I’m wondering what other people have used, or noticed.

-Steve

Characterization discussion: Internal Logic

Watch This Space

skzb — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 00:15:18 +0000

Just a heads up: We’re going to be doing some fun things with the blog, and with my web site (dreamcafe.com), so the look will be changing. One thing we plan on is that the books on the blog will contain a link to discussion space here for each book (this in answer to the request about a discussion of The Rain In Spain), and in general there will be Tons Of Neat Stuff.

Watch This Space

TWoN Book 3 Chapter 8

skzb — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 12:16:49 +0000

Page 424: “When manufactures have advanced to a certain pitch of greatness, the fabrication of the instruments of trade becomes itself the object of a great number of very important manufactures.”

Page 436: “To hurt in any degree the interest of any one order of citizens, for no other purpose but to promote that of some other, is evidently contrary to that justice and equality of treatment which the sovereign owes to all the different orders of his subjects.” Delightfully contradictory when one considers that, by using the terms “sovereign” and “subjects” one is, ipso facto, assuming inequality.

Page 444: “Consumption is the sole end and purpose of all production; and the interest of the producer ought to be attended to, only so far as it may be necessary for promoting that of the consumer.” But the particular hallmark of capitalism–exactly what makes it capitalism and not something else–is production for exchange, rather than production for use.

Page 445: “A great empire has been established for the sole purpose of raising up a nation of customers who should be obliged to buy from the shops of our different producers, all the good with which these could supply them.” Ah, if only knew what the future held!

“It cannot be very difficult to determine who have been the contrivers of this whole mercantile system; not the consumers, we may believe, whose interest has been entirely neglected; but the producers, whose interest has been so carefully attended to; and and among this latter class our merchants and manufacturers have been by far the principal architects.”

TWoN Book 3 Chapter 8

TWoN: Book 3 Chapter 7

skzb — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 06:38:25 +0000

This chapter deals with colonies. Smith begins by discussing ancient Greek and Roman colonies, in order to contrast them with the colonies of his day. I don’t know enough history to be certain, but I get the feeling that the ancient colonies had nothing in common with the more modern ones except the name, so I’m not sure if the comparison is actually valid. Smith, in any case, does not seem to be a big fan of colonialism.

Page 421: “Projects of mining, instead of replacing the capital employed in them, together with the ordinary profits of stock, commonly absorb both capital and profit.” His point being that mining is risky, and therefore should not be especially encouraged by extraordinary laws lest it be harmful to the economy in general.

TWoN: Book 3 Chapter 7

TWoN Book 3 Chapter 6

skzb — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 09:12:02 +0000

This chapter deals with treaties of commerce. As one would expect, Smith wants as few restrictions on trade as possible, and makes a good case.

Page 410: “A direct foreign trade of consumption is always more advantageous than a round-about one; and to bring the same value of foreign goods to the home market, requires a much smaller capital in the one way than in the other.” This brings up again the whole issue of whether transportation adds value, or whether, on the contrary, a portion of the surplus value must be used for transportation. It makes a difference because, in the latter case, transportation reduces profit. Smith is somewhat contradictory on the issue. It may be that it is different in different cases: If I must pay to transport my corn twenty miles to market, whereas another farmer need only transport his two miles to the same market, I cannot charge more for my corn simply because it went further, hence the transportation reduces my profit. Contrariwise, goods shipped from Japan to US markets must always have a certain markup compared to the price of the same item in Japan. Interesting question.

TWoN Book 3 Chapter 6

Bagelfail

skzb — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 02:28:58 +0000

The other day, desiring a sort of snack to calm the rumblings of hunger, I bethought myself to consider the possibility of a bagel. As two of the three people living here eat bagels (the third preferring some sort of abomination that goes under a similar name but contains raisins), it seemed likely we had some. In fact, a quick examination of the table showed that we did, and one of them was quickly sliced in half and inserted into the toaster.

As our toaster is rather slow, I now had time on my hands during which to consider what to have on the bagel. Many things are good on bagels, but the first thing that always comes to mind is: cream cheese. I opened the refrigerator looking for that familiar silvery foil container, and I was delighted to find it at once. I removed it, and saw, to my dismay, that, while it did have the familiar silvery foil, it did not say “Philadelphia” on it. I considered that Reesa, whom I have always felt that I could trust in all matters, apparently did not deserve this trust when it came to picking out cream cheese. Though sad about this, I consoled myself with the thought that some other brand, though not the same, was liable to be palatable. I should add that I could not actually see the brand, as half of the contents had been used, but I could clearly see the absence of the familiar black oval and calligraphy that I had expected.

The bagels being now toasted, I wasted no time in spreading the spreadable unto the receiving object, and, this done, at once bit into it.

Let me digress for a moment.

I use a lot of different oils and fats when I cook; butter, vegetable oil, lard, bacon fat, and others. When in doubt, olive oil is my default for Western cooking; seasame oil for that which is more Eastern. I have a good supply of oils and fats used for cooking, so that, when in need, I can go at once to the one I wish. Each of these oils and fats comes in a container with which I am familiar.

I did not know that there is a sort of lard-like vegetable oil that comes in a container that is indistinguishable from that usually associated with cream cheese.

I relate this story as a warning to others.

Bagelfail

Iorich – Spoilers

skzb — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 08:59:36 +0000

Place to discuss Your Itch.

Iorich – Spoilers

TWoN Book 3 Chapter 5

skzb — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 08:39:46 +0000

p 392: “…every branch of trade in which the merchant can sell his goods for a price which replaces to him, with the ordinary profits of stock, the whole capital employed in preparing and sending them to market, can be carried on without a bounty.”

This is not the first time we’ve seen that phrase, “the ordinary profits of stock.” But what, exactly, does it mean? Smith appears to believe that, when money is productively invested, a certain amount of profit is natural and normal. What determines this amount? What is the percentage, and why? For someone so precise in other things, this vagueness really stands out. It goes back to his assertion, in Book 1, that the value of commodities comes from wages, rent, and profit. In fact, that is how (most) of the value is divided after the sale, but it isn’t it’s source of the value. There is no “ordinary profit of stock.”

Later, he makes another fundamental (thought perfectly understandable) error. On page 397, speaking of corn (ie, grain), he says, “It regulates the money price of labour, which must always be such as to enable the labourer to purchase a quantity of corn sufficient to maintain him and his family either in the liberal, moderate, or scanty manner in which the advancing, stationary, or declining circumstances of the society oblige his employers to maintain him.” And further down, “The money price of labour, and of everything that is the produce either of land or labour, must necessarily either rise or fall in proportion to the money price of corn.”

In other words, because grain is the staple food, it controls the price of labor, and the price of labor controls the value of commodities. But even in his day, the cost or price of labor (wages), insofar as it was determined by the cost of necessaries the worker, was also determined by the price of wool, leather, furnishings, cotton, and all of the other things consumed by the worker. Moreover, the value of a commodity is determined by the value of labor (measured in time), not the cost of labor. Raising the value of basic necessities effectively lowers wages, but this does not change the value of those commodities (whether expressed in labor-time, money, or even grain).

TWoN Book 3 Chapter 5

TWoN Book 3 Chapter 4

skzb — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 20:27:59 +0000

This very short chapter deals with drawbacks. I’d have had an easier time of it if I knew what drawbacks are. Next chapter is about bounties, and the same applies. As near as I can tell, a drawback is a refund of a portion of whatever duty is charged on export.

Page 389: “They tend not to overturn that balance which naturally establishes itself among all the various employments of society.” My problem here is that it doesn’t make sense to me to speak of some sort of natural balance of employments and then see interference by the State as external to this; the State is an integral, inevitable part of capitalism, and when it interferes in the market, it is (to the extent it does so successfully from the point of view of the capitalists) doing exactly what it is supposed to do. It is like trying to understand the movement of an orbiting body by examining the centrifugal force, but seeing gravity as an unnatural interference.

TWoN Book 3 Chapter 4

It is Emma Bull’s birthday

skzb — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 04:04:02 +0000

Those of us who know Emma, or have read her work, or heard her sing, think this is a very, very fine day, because we are all ecstatic to know there is a her in the world.

I can think of many national holidays that could be replaced by a celebration of the existence of Emma Bull.

It is Emma Bull’s birthday