Consider Your Characters’ Age
Photo by Rod Long on Unsplash
Recently I was telling a friend how excited I was about the new coffee grinder I’d just bought: the unexpected quietness of its motor, the precision of its grind, how streamlined and pretty its design.
“I’ll take Things That Get Old People Excited for $500, Alex,” she joked as I waxed on.
https://writerunboxed.com/2025/03/25/consider-your-characters-age/
I am a #LabTech at Interdisciplinary Centre for Electron Microscopy (#CIME) of #EPFL.
I specialize in sample preparation for #ElectronMicroscopy. 
I also handle training on these techniques and the management of sample preparation labs.
In the past, I’ve worked in a variety of fields, including R&D, #photovoltaics, product and material #Characterization and #Reliability. 
Hi everyone,
It’s #introduction time. Thanks for having us!
We are the nanomaterials for BioImaging Group (nanoBIG) at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, focusing on the #synthesis, #characterization and application of luminescent #nanoparticles for #imaging and #sensing.
This includes research on #luminescene for remote #nanothermometry, the use of optical tweezers for trapping particles, and the development of contrast agents for near-infrared imaging and optical coherence tomography (#OCT).
#Molecular #characterization and #evolutionary #dynamics of #influenza A(#H1N1) strains isolated from 2015 to 2017 in North #India, Iran J Microbiol.: https://publish.kne-publishing.com/index.php/IJM/article/view/15358
Conclusion: The genogroup 6B continues to be the dominant circulating strain in Indian subcontinent region however the presence of pathogenic #mutations in the 2017 strains from north India underlines the importance of continued molecular #surveillance.
Food for thought for both #readers and #writers
#bookstodon #Characterization #CarlJung #JungianStudies #writing #storytelling
From Lead to Gold: The Alchemy of Character Arc With Carl Jung https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/alchemy-of-character-arc/
What makes a character feel most alive for other folks?
So often people say they need to know more about characters--they want to know EVERYTHING--but for me, that's really not it. After all, I often don't know that much about people in my real life! But I need to know _enough_ and it's fun to think about what can be enough.
And then, you know, I love flat characters too! (I adore fairy tales.). I think they can feel just as alive as the sort that we call "round" or "complex."
Some of that happens through implied or intuitive depth. (A favorite theory of mine!)
I haven't thought as much about this, but I think it probably happens through character change, as well. Which might part of why folks conflate dynamic and complex.
So we talked about how learning about a character's past deepens our understanding of her--that's one way to make a complex character. But Ali also gestured to what's next for her & if she might change--that's the creation of a dynamic character.
I think dynamic and complex (deep, round) are often conflated but are useful to separate. A character can be one or the other or neither or both.
Which kind do you like to write?
I got to interview Farah Ali about her beautiful debut novel, The River, The Town. We talked about building complex characters who make unexpected choices, writing about climate catastrophe, and the importance of hope.
Point of curiosity --
If I describe a character (male, middle-aged, ex-service with ptsd) as being a "venn-like presence" -- what does that evoke in your mind, in terms of his personality?
#Characterization of a #human #H3N8 #influenza virus https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38408394/?utm_source=Feedly&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=None&utm_content=1fgJURi2yzLesFml6et0Bb6krzs_FrNIYgPYVFN50JPwVNFg9s&fc=None&ff=20240226201417&v=2.18.0.post9+e462414
-- INTERPRETATION: Our data demonstrate that reverse genetics-generated A/Henan/2022 virus is a low pathogenic influenza virus (of #avian influenza virus descent) with some #antigenic resemblance to older human #H3N2 viruses and limited respiratory #droplet #transmissibility in #ferrets.
I wrote about the mysterious way flat characters come alive in fairy tales--and how to use that strategy in other sorts of stories.
It involves unexpected action and even keeping secrets.
What do you think? Can you handle characters you don't completely understand? Any other tricks for bringing life to non-POV or peripheral characters?
#Isolation and genetic #characterization of #MERS-CoV from dromedary #camels in the #UAE, Front Vet Sci.: https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2023.1182165 #research #enzootic #zoonoses #betacoronavirus #merbecovirus
I wrote about Addie Tsai's UNWIELDY CREATURES and vulnerability--how it can make us invest in characters even more than boring old likability.
What else makes you care about a character, especially if they're difficult for some reason or other? And what traits do you give your prickly characters to make readers want to stick with them?
#WritingCommunity #WritingConversations #Writing #Vulnerability #Likeability #Characterization #Frankenstein #UnwieldyCreatures
I'm thinking about all the ways characters put up a sort of armor to hide their true self & how that armor only makes us feel more intensely that there is vulnerability behind it. It can be so compelling.
Their armor can be toughness or defensiveness or cruelty or politeness or cheerfulness or naïveté or busy-ness or obsession with something that seems unrelated or just a general refusal to hear what is said. What else?
I wrote about a story from Farah Ali's The People Want to Live and the way a simple description can come to life through the layering of seeming contradiction.
#Books #Bookstodon #ReadingLikeAWriter #WritingCommunity #AmWriting #Writing #WritingCraft #FarahAli #ThePeopleWantToLive #Description #Layering #Contradiction #Characterization #TheLoft
3/ The scene in #StarWars #TheMandalorian immediately following the one I mentioned (about half-way in) has another good example, this one of #CharacterDevelopment.
[Spoiler free] Aside from the large group, Character A, who is trying to lead a mission & doubts they can do what needs to be done, ponders their task at hand. Character B gives them encouragement, by revealing why he has aligned with Char B.
In the process, we see not only Char A as more three-dimensional, but also learn about Char B's motivations for going on this mission in the first place, and for their recent previous unexpected actions in regard to Char A.
Give #characters time to ponder-- moments of self-doubt, introspection, reflection on past events, and strategizing for impending events.
You can use these "breather moments" between action scenes to focus on character building, #motivation, etc.
2/ The trick with this approach is to make sure the #dialogue sounds natural and not like exposition. There is an excellent example of this being done VERY well in the most recent episode (seven) of #TheMandalorian.
Two groups of characters who haven't spoken in years are sitting down for a meal. Their dialogue artfully brings everyone up to speed on the story so far-- including the folks like me, who haven't seen every episode of every #StarWars series ever.
Having "outsider" / "new guy" #characters also helps: They need things explained to them, and can act as a proxy for the reader/viewer.
@sethhalleway
1/ #Backstory for #characters and/or #plot can be done by having them meet up with someone they haven't seen in years, and referring to events of that era or before. It can also be used to catch up on the character. You can also insert some #WorldBuilding scattered throughout.
"Bob! You old so-and-so. What've you been up to since last we talked?"
"Well, Fred... Recently I saved the Ondari solar system from a giant space shark, and lost the love of my life to a two-headed alien from the planet Zargon. Overall though, my career as a space pirate has been doing fairly well. How are things with you? How are your three wives and four podlings doing these days?"
"Pretty good. Hey... Remember that night we got drunk at that space bar, and you met up with a Solarian Princess?" [Dialogue continues on to tell about their shared mutual past.]
