[PREV - GOTH_TRANSFORM]    [TOP]

FUNNY_HAT

                                             June 25, 2011

  Another phrase I picked up somewhere
  in my voluminous reading of genre fiction
  author interviews and such...

  "The funny hat school of characterization".

     The idea is that even if you can't
     do characterization at all, if you           And actually, it occurs
     have a character wearing a remarkably        to me that you can't
     funny hat, you can mention it every          just stick a funny hat
     time they're on stage, and so help           on anyone, the
     the reader keep track of who they are.       character has to be
                                                  someone who willingly
                                                  chooses to wear that
                                                  funny hat: a whimsical
                                                  drunken irishman let us
                                                  say, as opposed to a
                                                  sober, no-nonsense scott.


                                                  So: this tacky evasion of the
                                                  need to deal with character
                                                  might actually nudge you back
                                                  in right direction.


--------
[NEXT - BIG_HEAD]