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Fictional Narrative Basics - Character
Unit Completion Date: End of Week 5
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Fictional characters are not real characters, however. They are not bound by human rules. In most books on writing and literature, you hear a tremendous amount of talk about fiction providing a "slice of life" or a "glimpse of the human condition." Later on in the class we will take up this question a little more critically and see what assumptions underlie such statements, but for now, as writers working on first drafts and revision skills, it is enough for us to recognize that fictional characters are created and live out their fictional lives according to rules of fiction writing, not psychology and biology.
Often in critique you will hear the following exchange:
Student A: Your character would never do (blank).
Student B: But I know somebody who did. I saw it happen.
The students are confusing real people with fictional characters. Real people do plenty of things that don't translate well into stories, and fictional characters do and say things that real human beings would never do.
Unlike psychologists and (until recently) biologists, fiction writers can alter and control--even break--the rules of their field. The trick is in understanding the rules and learning to work with them effectively.
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