Friday 8 June 2018

WRITING: Re-introductions and Character

So I'm reading "Before They are Hanged" by Joe Ambercrombie, which is the second book of the "First Law" Trilogy, and as such all the major players have already been introduced in the first one.

But the one thing I've noticed is the way Joe re-introduces these characters to the reader: he makes it seem quick and easy.

The first time we hear from Jezal is in the following passage:
Jezal gave vent to a ragged sigh. Why on earth the old man had undertaken to enlighten him was past his understanding. The towering self-interest, perhaps, of the mildly senile was to blame. In any case, Jezal was unshakable in his determination not to learn a thing.
It's also Jezal's perception of Bayaz, first of the Magi who is the "old man" being referred to here. The use of the word ragged to describe his sigh gives a tell about his mannerisms, and directly how he feels about this situation. Us being told he doesn't want to learn a thing reveals how he thinks about things that aren't already known to him. He has things figured out already.

This one shows us what he thinks about the setting, Calcis:
Jezal glanced around him, unimpressed in the extreme. If history was nothing more than age, then Calcis, ancient city-port of the Old Empire, was plainly rich with it. If history went further—to grandeur, to glory, to something which stirred the blood—then it was conspicuously absent.
This is how we find out about the city, through his perspective, and how he simply doesn't care for it's past and history. Through his apathy we learn about the setting itself. This is the first time we really hear anything about Calcis in the series.

Let's take a look at Brother Longfoot, their navigator, along with Logen Ninefingers, in conversation. We already know that Logen is a badass, but this is how we are re-introduced to him:
Brother Longfoot grinned over his shoulder at this sorry display. 'How are your injuries progressing, my friend?
'Painfully,' grunted Logen, through gritted teeth.
'And yet, I suspect, you have endured worse.'
'Huh.'
The wounds of the past were many. He'd spent most of his life in some amount of pain, healing too slowly from one beating or another. He remembered the first real wound he'd ever taken, a cut down his face that the Shanka had given him. Fifteen years old, lean and smooth-skinned and the girls in the village had still liked to look at him. He touched his thumb to his face and felt the old scar. He remembered his father pressing the bandage to his cheek in the smoky hall, the stinging of it, wanting to shout but biting his lip. A man stays silent.
That last part - A man stays silent was a superb line. What we learn is that Logen carries a great weight of the past with him, and that he's lived a hard life. He's also one to meet expectations, and not exceed them. He knows his place. All of this with one paragraph.

I'd like to examine these more since I think this is a useful technique when writing short stories. Get to the point with the characters. Who are they, what motivates them, and what do they care about?

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