Writing Lessons on BART

Today I only got through one short section, but I learnt...

Revealing character: There is nothing more effective in revealing characters than through what other people say about them. Take the following section from The English Patient, for example. This short section tells more about these characters than pages and pages of descriptions. There is nothing quite powerful as nicknames, and what people say about the other characters. Best if it is revealed casually.

"Who was your teacher?"
"An Englishman in Woolrich. He was considered eccentric."
"The best kind of teacher. That must have been Lord Suffolk. Did you meet Miss Morden?"
"Yes."
...."What was he like, Kip?"
"He worked in Scientific Research. He was head of an experimental unit. Miss Morden, his secretary, was always with him, and his chauffeur, Mr Fred Harts. Miss Morden would take notes, which he dictated as he worked on a bomb, while Mr Harts helped with the instruments. He was a brilliant man. They were called the Holy Trinity. They were blown up, all three of them, in 1941. At Erith."
The English Patient, pg 177-178

I am so impressed by the amount of information packed into this short little dialogue. We know not only who these people are, but we know their relationship. We know what people thought of them. "The Holy Trinity" is just pure genius.

Technique: The last sentence of the above passage is especially powerful. Punctuation is the key. Notice the pacing and pause. They were blown up, all three of them, in 1941. At Erith. The punctuation tells me how this sentence ws said and where the emphasis is. The "At Erith." is especially poignant. An almost unimportant detail, less important than being blown up, but emphasized so it tells me the state of the character's emotion as he says it.

Labels: Writing Lessons on BART