G’day mate, youse guys are da bomb
As you know, I watch soaps and I offer no apology for it. I realized the other day that while there is ample leeway for coming back to life, age-jumping and never going to the bathroom, I don’t understand the eradication of accents. It seems like the one thing the writers and actors could do to help a character maintain his or her identity through their 11 marriage, comas, under-cover agent careers and their surgical moonlighting gigs.
I remember the day on General Hospital when Mac Scorpio emerged out of Port Charles harbor as the brother of hero, resident Aussie, Robert Scorpio. I could barely understand poor Mac, he was such a believable bloke from down-under. And now, years later, he is still Mac Scorpio…same face, no amnesia, somewhat consistent storyline, but the accent is gone. Way gone. Forget the fact that the actor is from Chicago. This would have been one easy way for us to remember that Mac Scorpio is not a native Port Charlesian. OK, he’s Chief of Police, so maybe an accent wouldn’t work. But for me, it would be the thread that linked his past to his present.
Not that anyone asked me.
Of course I’m not surprised that the same thing has happened in Llanview, Pennsylvania and One Life to Live. Carlotta Vega was the very trusted maid of the rich and evil Dorian Lord for years. On the show she was, and is, Puerto Rican. She finally quit her maid job (YAY Carlotta) and opened a very popular diner. And over the years, while the dialog is peppered with Spanish, Carolotta no longer has an accent. At all.
I know that soaps are different from novels, but I think it’s hard to keep all the threads and sub-plots straight and consistent. I have not yet decided or figured out how I make sure that I haven’t changed/dropped/or put someone in a coma (not the reader, that’s another issue). I also know that accents fade in real life, but soaps are not real life — and neither are novels. In a book you may choose to have a character’s demeanor or accent change, but there would be motivation and reason. Or at least there should be.
What kind of methods or charts or notes or programs do you use to keep things consistent and growing organically? How do you make sure your character has the same accent at the beginning, middle and end of your story — unless the character is taking classes to get rid of it, of course. How do you take all the threads and weave them all without dropping any?
Hints? Thoughts?
LOL! I don’t watch soaps, but I DID watch GH during that era. Too funny!
I keep a sloppy notebook with all sorts of scribblings that help me remember little factoids. I trip up occasionally, I am sure, but now that I have a series (Magickeepers), I have a story bible and realize how important it is.
E
I used to watch DAYS. I don’t do a lot of subplots. Unless it’s absolutely vital for the main plot I don’t do it, because I often skim subplots in other books. I want to know what’s going on in the main plot, and too often subplots are “blah blah blah” to make the book longer.
Some books do the subplots well enough that it’s vital to the story and enriches it. But most of the time, I can skip it and not get to the end and go “huh? what?’ It all still makes sense, even without it.
Erica, I can SO do sloppy notebook! LOL.
Zoe, To me, subplots enrich a novel and the characters multidimensional. I don’t know that I’ve ever read a book without subplots. I have read books where subplots are dropped (hate that) but they usually still add to the story when they are part of it. Gives us a deeper look into a character, a world, a scene etc. I think I need that to have a fully developed experience while reading and writing. That, of course, is just me though.
Amy, I haven’t watched soaps in ten years but I watched it religiously during that time. I LOVED Mac Scorpio! Very strange that he no longer has his accent.
My first novel I had a sloppy notebook (more like sloppy post-its) but this time around I have a Word file with all my character bits. It’s too soon to tell which is more effective. I kind of miss having a sticky in my face reminding me of the little details.
Hmm . . . I can’t imagine a book without subplots. To me LIFE is full of subplots. I am never so self-absorbed that there’s not a half-dozen subplots of friends and their lives in MY life. But . . . I don’t know. I guess it would depend on the book.
E
Melanie: Love the line “I kind of miss having a sticky in my face reminding me of the little details.” A line only a writer could love!!!
Erica: Me either and ditto!
A
Ohmigosh, that is THE HARDEST thing about a story! I love them, though. I think of it as a fugue, but then, I see almost everything in terms of music, surprise, surprise.
I keep notes, too. Often, as soon as I open a thread, I might jot down the three or four words that will close the thread at the end. When I close it, I’ll check it off. I work very hard to make sure each and every thread is closed by the end, because in the past, endings have been a weakness of mine. I’m sure I drop some, though. It’s TOUGH!
When I go through the final read-through, I write down every thread, and make sure it’s developed and closed in a nice arc. I try to make sure each character has their own consistent rhythm in dialogue, and that they have an emotional arc. The interweaving and rhythm of subplots and threads is just something I grew more comfortable with as I wrote more stories, but… I don’t know. Holding a whole novel in your head is HARD! It’s why I wrote my post today, because if some of this stuff can happen instinctively after a quantity of books, it’s a lot easier.
(Did I go on too long? Sorry! Your post just hit one of my biggest struggles, and is exactly how I feel!)
PS: Loved Days back in ’90 – ’92.
Amy, I do have stickies with my two living rooms sketched out so I can keep them straight. One has a hallway & the other does not, and I don’t want to mix them up.
I love subplots as long as they feel like mini-plots. When they’re just padding I sometimes get annoyed, but I definitely couldn’t imagine books/movies/tv without them!
Melanie,
It’s funny but about half way through my WIP I realized that some of my secondary characters (not all) merely were there as cheerleaders for the MC. In my head they had lives and stories and motivation, but not on paper. That’s when I kicked “as if” into gear and wrote the rest of the story “as if” I’d set it up before hand, making notes of where I needed to go back to fill in the blanks.
Amy
My kids love GH, and I catch pieces of it as they watch, glad to see Laura back once again! Ah, the old Luke & Laura days. Oh yes, back to the post … I keep an outline of such things which I refer to very often to remind myself of certain threads, traits that must run thruout.
Joanne:
Ah, Laura just left for France. Leaves the door open for her to come back since she is no longer comatose. Thank God for experimental soap opera drugs!!
I did not make notes on my WIP when I started. Now I have them but only for the second half. When I go back for my revising and rewriting I will need to impart my current wisdom and implant my notes and ideas through the first half. I know that will make it better. Well, I hope it will!!
This post makes me feel very good about my addiction to Perez Hilton and Coronation Street.
You took me back writing about Robert Scorpio. I have been away from soaps for a while and recently have been watching with my mom when I visit her. We discussed the other day “where are all the accents coming from” The other thing I noticed that annoys me is the playing of music and it is loud. I know it is effective in movies but in every scene in the soaps it gets old.