Friday, March 20, 2015

Reposting my first post - Bonding with a Literary Character

On March 22nd I will complete 5 years of blogging. Unbelievable, that five years have passed since I stepped into the world of Blogging. This is heavy duty nostalgia time for me. I still remember my first post and the nervousness and anxiety I felt. The eager wait for comments. I don't know why I feel like re-posting my first post today.

Though writing is largely a solitary activity, the writer literally lives on an island, scrawling away on sheets, or, typing furiously, isolated from family and friends for long and painful stretches of time, it’s also one activity that connects writers with a vast number of people (readers) instantly.

Our books act as the bridge that link us to people who bring their unique sensibilities to our work. I agree with another writer who said “books like water will find their own level.” Books are open to interpretations any which way. The characters that we have nurtured inside our feverish minds find other dimensions when they meet the readers.

Different readers glean different nuggets of wisdom from a literary character/book, depending on their personal perception. Whatever the reason for the bond between book\protagonist and the reader, the important aspect is that an emotional connection has been forged. A literary kindred spirit discovered. A relationship formed. These connections between reader and character are the barometers of the real success of a book. Not the number of copies sold, nor the clutch of awards won. Readers after all are the best critics, and their appreciation the real award.

To create a literary character that firmly entrenches itself into a reader’s mind is an extremely difficult task. A memorable literary character must appeal to each and every sense of the reader, not just tug, but play with their heartstrings, seduce them away from the million and one things clamouring for their attention, entice them into the world woven by the writer. Memorable literary characters leave strong traces of their presence inside a reader’s mind long after the book has been devoured. In the history of books there have been several such characters: Anna Karenina, Jane Eyre, Lata Mehra from Vikram Seth’s ‘ A Suitable Boy,’ Harry Potter to name just a few.

A character can achieve literary immortality if there is a strong sense of Empathy and Sympathy between the reader and the literary character. Because, when we empathize, or, sympathize with someone, albeit a literary character, concern for their well-being creeps in, a reluctant love develops. The warp and the weft of the reader’s life then entwines with the character’s. This ability of a character to attract the twin emotions mentioned earlier encourages the readers to be quasi participants rather than distant indifferent observers.

The character must invoke the feeling of oneness, there has to be a sense of similarity of experiences, similarity of emotions, of choices made, paths chosen, sacrifices done, between the reader and character. These aspects further cement the reader- character bond.

To create such characters is every writer’s dream. The character then becomes the voice of that generation of readers, a kind of a role model. There is a complete sense of identity between the reader and the literary character. “Hey that could be me, it’s is the story of my life,” the delighted reader nods his/her head. These characters are not only inspirational, they gently urge the readers to aspire for greater glories by acting as catalysts of change in the readers’ lives, and also, silently beckon the readers to visit them again and again. 

Isn’t this a measure of a successfully created character? Do you have any such memorable character that you completely bond with?

P.S. Let me tell you a secret. For the first few posts, I had not added any pictures because I did not know how to add pictures.

Here is the link to the first post.


13 comments:

  1. Congratulations on five years!
    Creating that universal character is difficult. One that connects with a lot of people. We just have to keep trying.

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  2. Awesome first post. Yes, it's hard to create these kind of characters but they are essential for helping our readers connect to our stories.

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  3. Blog years feels so much longer than real time...does it not? I've written a blog post about that. My first post wasn't even about writing. :)

    Congrats on the five years.

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  4. Has it been five years? My goodness, it's hard to believe. You one of the first blogs I started following. Reading this again, it's hard to believe you would have been nervous about posting this. It's such a wonderful post and so sums up what matters in a good book. Jane Eyre is one of my favorite literary characters of all time, and so is Sarah in A Little Princess. Their stories never get old to me because the characters are so memorable. Likewise Bladk Beauty. I really loved that horse!

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  5. Congratulations on those five years, I hope you enjoy many more of happy blogging. That was an awesome first post!

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  6. Congratulations Rachna! Hope you achieve many more milestones in this literary pursuit!

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  7. I didn't know how to link for the first six months after I started my blog! I do associate with the characters in some books I read. I hope I can create such characters myself sometime too.

    Destination Infinity

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  8. Congratulations on five years and going strong! Such a wise post!

    (I didn't know how to post pictures or add links when I first started. We've come a long way!)

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  9. Congratulations on five years and going strong! Such a wise post!

    (I didn't know how to post pictures or add links when I first started. We've come a long way!)

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  10. I have several secrets about my first blogging daze. Congrats on 5 years.

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  11. I remember this powerful post. :) Wow 5 years. Awesome Rachna

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  12. Thank you friends for all the blogoversary good wishes. You all are the reason this blog is going strong.

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  13. Congratulations on five years! And what a great first post! I love the line you quoted “books like water will find their own level.”

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