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Creating Characters

Page 26

by Lauther, Howard


  paramedic

  pediatrician

  phlebotomist

  physical therapist

  physician

  physiologist

  physiotherapist

  plastic surgeon

  podiatrist

  practical nurse

  psychiatrist

  psychologist

  radiologist

  radiotherapist

  registered nurse

  sexologist

  speech pathologist

  speech therapist

  surgeon

  veterinarian

  wet nurse

  witch doctor

  X- ray technician

  MISCELLANY

  Aluminum siding salesman

  Bible salesman

  blackjack dealer

  bookie

  box office attendant

  concession attendant

  delicatessen owner

  diamond merchant

  floorwalker

  forest ranger

  fundraiser

  gatekeeper

  handwriting analyst

  insurance investigator

  insurance salesman

  junk dealer

  labor organizer

  lighthouseman

  lobbyist

  minister

  nun

  nurseryman

  pawnbroker

  pool shark

  priest

  promoter

  publicist

  rabbi

  ragman

  roulette wheel operator

  security guard

  telephone solicitor

  ticket agent

  toll booth operator

  tree surgeon

  RETAIL STORE

  buyer

  cashier

  department manager

  display designer

  sales clerk

  shop owner

  stock clerk

  window dresser

  ... where one of the following is sold:

  air conditioners

  antiques

  appliances

  aquariums

  art supplies

  artwork

  auto mufflers

  automobiles

  baby products

  bakery goods

  beds

  bicycles

  boats

  books

  building materials

  burglar alarms

  cameras

  carpeting

  clothes

  coins

  computers

  cosmetics

  doors

  draperies

  exercise equipment

  fencing

  fire alarms

  flags

  flowers

  food

  furniture

  furs

  gasoline

  glassware

  groceries

  guns

  gutters

  hardware

  health food

  hearing aids

  jewelry

  kitchen cabinets

  lawn care

  light fixtures

  linoleum

  liquor

  luggage

  mattresses

  mobile homes

  monuments

  motorcycles

  musical instruments

  office furniture

  office supplies

  pagers

  paint

  party supplies

  refrigerators

  software

  sporting goods

  swimming pools

  tile

  tires

  tobacco

  toys

  trailers

  trucks

  uniforms

  vacuum cleaners

  water heaters

  wedding supplies

  windows

  SERVICE

  apartment manager

  appraiser

  astrologer

  auctioneer

  baby sitter

  bill collector

  bodyguard

  bridal consultant

  butler

  career counselor

  caretaker

  caterer

  credit counselor

  cruise consultant

  custodian

  dating consultant

  day care worker

  delivery person

  domestic

  elevator operator

  employment agent

  escort

  exterminator

  fireman

  fortune teller

  fumigator

  furniture mover

  garbage man

  gardener

  gas man

  groundskeeper

  house cleaner

  housekeeper

  iceman

  laundromat manager

  lawn care professional

  letter carrier

  librarian

  lifeguard

  maid

  marriage broker

  marriage counselor

  milkman

  nanny

  poll-taker

  property manager

  rainmaker

  real estate agent

  resume writer

  social worker

  telephone operator

  tour guide

  tow service operator

  trail guide

  TECHNICAL

  aeronautical engineer

  agricultural engineer

  anthropologist

  archaeologist

  architectural engineer

  astrochemist

  astronomer

  astrophysicist

  automotive engineer

  biochemist

  biologist

  biophysicist

  botanist

  bridge engineer

  CAD/CAM operator

  chemical engineer

  chemist

  circuit designer

  civil engineer climatologist

  cloud-seeder

  communications engineer

  computer consultant

  computer engineer

  computer operator

  computer programmer

  construction engineer

  controls engineer

  customer engineer

  data entry specialist

  design engineer

  development engineer

  diesel engineer

  digital engineer

  ecologist

  electrical engineer

  electronic engineer

  enzymologist

  experimental engineer

  field engineer

  geographer

  geological engineer

  geologist

  geophysicist

  highway engineer

  HVAC engineer

  hydraulic engineer

  industrial engineer

  information engineer

  inorganic

  laboratory technician

  liaison engineer

  loss prevention engineer

  maintenance technician

  marine engineer

  mechanical engineer

  metallurgical engineer

  meteorologist

  mill engineer

  mining engineer

  network engineer

  organic chemist

  package consultant

  physicist

  plant engineer

  process control engineer

  product engineer

  programmer-analyst

  quality control engineer

  radar engineer

  radiation physicist

  radiobiologist

  radiochemist

  refrigeration engineer

  research assistant

  research engineer

  rocket engineer

  safety engineer
/>   sanitary engineer

  servo engineer

  software analyst

  software engineer

  structural engineer

  support engineer

  systems engineer

  technical writer

  telephone engineer

  textile engineer

  tool engineer

  transportation engineer

  value engineer

  wastewater engineer

  TRANSPORTATION

  air cargo pilot

  air traffic controller

  astronaut

  baggage handler

  brakeman

  busdriver

  cabdriver

  chauffeur

  conductor

  co-pilot

  flight attendant

  ground crewman

  jet pilot

  P.A. announcer

  radar technician

  redcap

  skycap

  stationmaster

  stewardess

  stoker

  stunt pilot

  subway conductor

  switchman

  terminal manager

  ticket-taker

  13. Will the Character Face a Nonhuman Adversary?

  The introduction of an adversary can establish fertile ground for exploring the nature of at least one character in the story. That character may be the hero or heroine, or it may not. In any event, the presence of an adversary gives the writer an excellent opportunity to explore just how far one character can be pushed before he rebels, or tries to negotiate, or asks for help, or becomes angry, or runs away, or just gives up and accepts what he feels he cannot change.

  The adversary does not have to be human. Some adversaries cannot even be seen; some cannot be heard. Nevertheless, they can bring danger, or cause hardship, or instill fear, worry, or discontent. Some of them can take on an importance that makes them the principal villain—the movie Jaws represents one scary example, because a giant shark had developed a taste for humans and it was the constant threat of that creature on the screen that kept moviegoers on the edge of their seats. For the most part, however, nonhuman adversaries playa subsidiary role within a story, and only occasionally do they become full-fledged villains.

  In selecting a nonhuman adversary, the writer is faced with such questions as these:

  Will the nonhuman adversary serve as a temporary plot driver, or will it remain throughout most of the story?

  What effect will it have on at least one of the characters in the story?

  What will it force the character to do?

  The purpose of this chapter is to present a brief profile of some nonhuman adversaries, the use of which might allow the reader or viewer to see the nature of a character in bold relief.

  ANIMALS

  Hollywood has been the unqualified master in developing animal adversaries to scare the pants off us. We have seen heroes and heroines threatened by killer bees, attacked by elephant-sized ants, stalked by tigers, circled by giant sea creatures, victimized by thousands of birds, and chased by saliva dripping wolves, just to name a few. The animal world is rich with potential adversaries, should the writer come to the conclusion that all of the human types have been exhausted (a misconception, surely).

  Aside from outrageous examples like giant ants and murderous sharks, some excellent adversaries exist in the animal world, with the power to test the endurance and mental agility of human beings in a story. Turning from the monstrous to the mundane, what if a farmer keeps losing chickens to a fox that he can never seem to catch? Or what if his crops are being devoured by grasshoppers because he doesn't have the money for insecticide? What if it is discovered that the beloved park pigeons of a small midwestern town are carrying a disease that is deadly to humans? What if the neighbors are afraid to pass in front of someone's house because of a dog that likes to chase them? What if someone finds out that his house is being slowly eaten away by termites? And if the appearance of one cockroach disperses the guests at a well-planned party, will this initiate a war between the hostess and those critters that are crawling inside the walls of her house? Finally, it would be hard to convince a prisoner who is driven to despair by bedbugs that he is not the victim of nonhuman adversaries.

  ATTITUDE OF AN AGE

  All of the following traits are associated with human beings: strictness, leniency, neutrality, appeasement, ignorance, indifference, secrecy, violence, and wastefulness. As seen in the abstract, however, anyone of these traits can serve as the signature of a time period. A character may look at the broad-based immorality that is taking place around him and see it as highly destructive to all the traditions his country holds dear. In his eyes, at least, that immorality would appear as a nonhuman adversary, even though human beings are the ones who are causing it. Again, the character would see immorality as an abstract, rather than identifying one or more individuals as the responsible parties. Indeed, whenever a character believes that the attitude of an age is a threat to the future, that attitude is a nonhuman adversary. While the character may be helpless in his effort to do anything about it, his ability at least to see what is happening gives him an edge over those who are blind to the presence of the enemy.

  BLIGHT

  A character who lives in high-income suburbia would never know blight as a nonhuman adversary, but one who resides in a neighborhood that is changing for the worse certainly might. Someone who once loved his tree-lined city street, his well-kept apartment building, and all the quaint shops that used to dot his surrounding landscape might well be dismayed to see the encroachment of blight. When building after building becomes boarded up, when graffiti offends the eye, when the departures of the shopkeepers seem to multiply, when the streets develop potholes and the signs turn rusty, and when the crime rate increases, what effect might all this have on the character? And what about the landlord's investment as property values continue to decline? As a nonhuman adversary, blight can steadily approach and threaten a place that a character calls home.

  CHANGE

  When a fundamental change occurs in an established social, business, governmental, or educational structure, that change becomes a nonhuman adversary in the mind of a person who is far from ready to accept it. For example, the livelihood of the typewriter repairman was suddenly threatened by the advent of the computer revolution, just as candlemakers stood defenseless as light bulbs made them expendable. And small shopkeepers all over America have gone down swinging as they fought their elimination at the hands of huge shopping malls.

  As a nonhuman adversary, change can come in the form of a modification, transformation, innovation, conversion, reformation, nonviolent revolution, reversal, restoration, an increase or decrease, or a separation. Whatever its particular nature may be, and whether or not it is first seen as a harmless trend that will eventually go away, it upsets our comfortable view of our world, our habit of believing that things will remain as they are. Each new trend threatens the status quo. New ideas saw away at the underpinnings of well-established standards. Questions chip away at long-held wisdom.

  For the fictional character, the situation is no different. While he or she may sometimes identify someone who is responsible for the change, for the most part that change will be faceless and will often first seem to be a harmless trend that suddenly appears overnight. It is only later, when this nonhuman adversary becomes too big to ignore, that a character will either marshal his forces to resist it or surrender to the inevitable.

  CONFINEMENT

  To appreciate the concept of confinement as a nonhuman adversary, one need not restrict one's view to the obvious, i.e., imprisonment within a jail cell. Since confinement is the antithesis of freedom, there are many other examples, but they are more subtle. For example, consider the individual who feels trapped in a marriage. Even though that person's mate may be thoroughly loving and attentive—which, incidentally, the recipient may see as suffocating and even though no bars or fences stand in
the way of departure, that person may be obligated to remain with the spouse for any number of reasons, with children being just one of the possibilities. The enemy is not the spouse; instead, it is the inability to be free. Like the prisoner who sits behind bars, that individual may have no one to blame but himself for his predicament.

  Confinement may appear as a nonhuman adversary when a worker feels trapped in a job that he hates; when a soldier is unable to leave the military until he is discharged; or even when, say, a city housewife is forced to move with her husband to the wide open spaces out West and she can no longer visit her neighbors, spend time in the shops, or hear the familiar voices of the street vendors.

  DISASTER

  This category of nonhuman adversaries provides the writer with several options. In the area of geological disturbance, for example, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are by far the most obvious. Landslides and tidal waves are also excellent possibilities. To date, no one has ever written a fictional account of the earth suddenly shifting on its axis. Not only would such an event cause damage far beyond anyone's imagination, but the ensuing tidal waves would reshape the land mass on the globe as well. In time, though, someone will tell such a story.

  Because of the devastation that occurs as a result of a great geological disturbance—if it isn't great, it may have no value as an adversary—things like earthquakes and volcanic eruptions almost always take place near the end of the story. Indeed, this type of nonhuman adversary requires the writer to be especially skilled in the craft of leading up to the inevitable, for the reader or viewer must continually be made aware that something dreadful is likely to happen. Prior to the devastation, the writer should take advantage of the opportunity to develop his human protagonists and antagonists, among whom there may be a scientist or a prophet, trying to warn others of the impending disaster. Ofcourse, no one pays any mind. Then, at the proper moment in the story, the nonhuman adversary is unleashed, allowing the author to depict great panic, great heroism, and perhaps a smug "I told you so."

  Nongeological disasters would include such things as a bridge collapsing or a dam bursting, as opposed to those disasters that may have a human cause, such as plane crashes and shipwrecks, even though any of these may come about as the result of bad weather. Again, what human reactions does the tragedy trigger? How does the nonhuman adversary bring the traits of a character into sharp focus?

  DISEASE

  Disease as a nonhuman adversary has long been a familiar story-making tool. It, too, can be used as either a plot driver or as a backdrop to a story. In the first instance, for example, the disease may be employed as an epidemic, which the hero or heroine may be trying to stop from spreading. People are warned, become infected, and try desperately to escape. The authorities show a lack of imagination, and an abundance of red tape ties everyone's hands. There is a race against time. And so on. All of it is a bit hackneyed, of course, but a good writer can make it entertaining reading or viewing nonetheless.

 

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