The art of storytelling, world building, and character creation

[roseproject]

Writers of fiction, comic book writers, screen writers, video game makers, storytellers of all sorts, let’s engage in some thought provoking discussion, shall we?

Does anyone feel the same way about creating stories as I do; a feeling I can best describe in the words of St. Pope John Paul II’s letter to artists:

“None can sense more deeply than you artists, ingenious creators of beauty that you are, something of the pathos with which God at the dawn of creation looked upon the work of his hands. A glimmer of that feeling has shone so often in your eyes when—like the artists of every age—captivated by the hidden power of sounds and words, colours and shapes, you have admired the work of your inspiration, sensing in it some echo of the mystery of creation with which God, the sole creator of all things, has wished in some way to associate you.”

Indeed, painters, sculptures, and artists of every kind feel this way, but in an even more potent way, I think, we storytellers feel this sensation. Not only are we creating a single piece of art to express an idea or designing a single character to help communicate this message to the viewer through a single piece of art, but we create entire worlds. We think not only of the character’s outward appearance, personality, or even just the character’s innermost thoughts, but what the character would do in every situation, how the character will grow, how the culture of his world affects him, what his intentions are in every situation we can think of.

A reflection of God’s creative mind when he created our own world and even when he created us. It is a movement of the soul to create something; not something that is out of necessity (even animals could do that), but to create something simply because it is a way for our souls to express ourselves; to create something for it’s own sake just as God created us.

Since this aspect of our souls is a spiritual one, it is right, I think, to believe that this aspect of our souls is eternal. I believe there will be ways of expressing ourselves in similar ways in the new earth, but I think it will be in a much more perfect way that will perfectly satisfy our bodies as well as our souls What do you think?

Do you ever feel closer to one character than another? Why do you think this is? Why do we feel close to characters at all even though they are not “real” in every sense of the word?

With certain characters I’ve created, not only have I created a character that I can relate to, but the more I develop them, the more they seem to live a “life of their own”. They are made of my own imagination, and yet they are not a complete persona of myself. They even manage to surprise me at times what they end up accomplishing in the stories I write!

I guess this too is similar to God’s creative process of us, we are “made in His image” and yet, we are a different creature from Him (God not being a creature, of course).

Whatever thoughts you have on the subject, let me know ^^

 

[Viki63]

I think you pretty much summed it up. “The hidden power of words . . .” I will write something and then read it later and am sometimes surprised at what it evokes. The power’s not in me, it’s in the words.
God must feel that way too. “The Word became flesh --”
I’m not a big fan of characters taking on a life of their own. If I want them to do something, they’ll usually do it, though it will change as they develop. For instance, my villain had to order someone’s death, so I had to explore what had made him able to do that. And then he indicated his indifference to human life by tossing his victim’s photo into a shredder. I hadn’t known he was going to do that.
I guess I’m not much like God, who gives us free will and then deals with the consequences. He is more creative, He can always find a way to bring good out of evil.