Creating Characters
Page 26
paramedic
pediatrician
phlebotomist
physical therapist
physician
physiologist
physiotherapist
plastic surgeon
podiatrist
practical nurse
psychiatrist
psychologist
radiologist
radiotherapist
registered nurse
sexologist
speech pathologist
speech therapist
surgeon
veterinarian
wet nurse
witch doctor
X- ray technician
MISCELLANY
Aluminum siding salesman
Bible salesman
blackjack dealer
bookie
box office attendant
concession attendant
delicatessen owner
diamond merchant
floorwalker
forest ranger
fundraiser
gatekeeper
handwriting analyst
insurance investigator
insurance salesman
junk dealer
labor organizer
lighthouseman
lobbyist
minister
nun
nurseryman
pawnbroker
pool shark
priest
promoter
publicist
rabbi
ragman
roulette wheel operator
security guard
telephone solicitor
ticket agent
toll booth operator
tree surgeon
RETAIL STORE
buyer
cashier
department manager
display designer
sales clerk
shop owner
stock clerk
window dresser
... where one of the following is sold:
air conditioners
antiques
appliances
aquariums
art supplies
artwork
auto mufflers
automobiles
baby products
bakery goods
beds
bicycles
boats
books
building materials
burglar alarms
cameras
carpeting
clothes
coins
computers
cosmetics
doors
draperies
exercise equipment
fencing
fire alarms
flags
flowers
food
furniture
furs
gasoline
glassware
groceries
guns
gutters
hardware
health food
hearing aids
jewelry
kitchen cabinets
lawn care
light fixtures
linoleum
liquor
luggage
mattresses
mobile homes
monuments
motorcycles
musical instruments
office furniture
office supplies
pagers
paint
party supplies
refrigerators
software
sporting goods
swimming pools
tile
tires
tobacco
toys
trailers
trucks
uniforms
vacuum cleaners
water heaters
wedding supplies
windows
SERVICE
apartment manager
appraiser
astrologer
auctioneer
baby sitter
bill collector
bodyguard
bridal consultant
butler
career counselor
caretaker
caterer
credit counselor
cruise consultant
custodian
dating consultant
day care worker
delivery person
domestic
elevator operator
employment agent
escort
exterminator
fireman
fortune teller
fumigator
furniture mover
garbage man
gardener
gas man
groundskeeper
house cleaner
housekeeper
iceman
laundromat manager
lawn care professional
letter carrier
librarian
lifeguard
maid
marriage broker
marriage counselor
milkman
nanny
poll-taker
property manager
rainmaker
real estate agent
resume writer
social worker
telephone operator
tour guide
tow service operator
trail guide
TECHNICAL
aeronautical engineer
agricultural engineer
anthropologist
archaeologist
architectural engineer
astrochemist
astronomer
astrophysicist
automotive engineer
biochemist
biologist
biophysicist
botanist
bridge engineer
CAD/CAM operator
chemical engineer
chemist
circuit designer
civil engineer climatologist
cloud-seeder
communications engineer
computer consultant
computer engineer
computer operator
computer programmer
construction engineer
controls engineer
customer engineer
data entry specialist
design engineer
development engineer
diesel engineer
digital engineer
ecologist
electrical engineer
electronic engineer
enzymologist
experimental engineer
field engineer
geographer
geological engineer
geologist
geophysicist
highway engineer
HVAC engineer
hydraulic engineer
industrial engineer
information engineer
inorganic
laboratory technician
liaison engineer
loss prevention engineer
maintenance technician
marine engineer
mechanical engineer
metallurgical engineer
meteorologist
mill engineer
mining engineer
network engineer
organic chemist
package consultant
physicist
plant engineer
process control engineer
product engineer
programmer-analyst
quality control engineer
radar engineer
radiation physicist
radiobiologist
radiochemist
refrigeration engineer
research assistant
research engineer
rocket engineer
safety engineer
servo engineer
software analyst
software engineer
structural engineer
support engineer
systems engineer
technical writer
telephone engineer
textile engineer
tool engineer
transportation engineer
value engineer
wastewater engineer
TRANSPORTATION
air cargo pilot
air traffic controller
astronaut
baggage handler
brakeman
busdriver
cabdriver
chauffeur
conductor
co-pilot
flight attendant
ground crewman
jet pilot
P.A. announcer
radar technician
redcap
skycap
stationmaster
stewardess
stoker
stunt pilot
subway conductor
switchman
terminal manager
ticket-taker
13. Will the Character Face a Nonhuman Adversary?
The introduction of an adversary can establish fertile ground for exploring the nature of at least one character in the story. That character may be the hero or heroine, or it may not. In any event, the presence of an adversary gives the writer an excellent opportunity to explore just how far one character can be pushed before he rebels, or tries to negotiate, or asks for help, or becomes angry, or runs away, or just gives up and accepts what he feels he cannot change.
The adversary does not have to be human. Some adversaries cannot even be seen; some cannot be heard. Nevertheless, they can bring danger, or cause hardship, or instill fear, worry, or discontent. Some of them can take on an importance that makes them the principal villain—the movie Jaws represents one scary example, because a giant shark had developed a taste for humans and it was the constant threat of that creature on the screen that kept moviegoers on the edge of their seats. For the most part, however, nonhuman adversaries playa subsidiary role within a story, and only occasionally do they become full-fledged villains.
In selecting a nonhuman adversary, the writer is faced with such questions as these:
Will the nonhuman adversary serve as a temporary plot driver, or will it remain throughout most of the story?
What effect will it have on at least one of the characters in the story?
What will it force the character to do?
The purpose of this chapter is to present a brief profile of some nonhuman adversaries, the use of which might allow the reader or viewer to see the nature of a character in bold relief.
ANIMALS
Hollywood has been the unqualified master in developing animal adversaries to scare the pants off us. We have seen heroes and heroines threatened by killer bees, attacked by elephant-sized ants, stalked by tigers, circled by giant sea creatures, victimized by thousands of birds, and chased by saliva dripping wolves, just to name a few. The animal world is rich with potential adversaries, should the writer come to the conclusion that all of the human types have been exhausted (a misconception, surely).
Aside from outrageous examples like giant ants and murderous sharks, some excellent adversaries exist in the animal world, with the power to test the endurance and mental agility of human beings in a story. Turning from the monstrous to the mundane, what if a farmer keeps losing chickens to a fox that he can never seem to catch? Or what if his crops are being devoured by grasshoppers because he doesn't have the money for insecticide? What if it is discovered that the beloved park pigeons of a small midwestern town are carrying a disease that is deadly to humans? What if the neighbors are afraid to pass in front of someone's house because of a dog that likes to chase them? What if someone finds out that his house is being slowly eaten away by termites? And if the appearance of one cockroach disperses the guests at a well-planned party, will this initiate a war between the hostess and those critters that are crawling inside the walls of her house? Finally, it would be hard to convince a prisoner who is driven to despair by bedbugs that he is not the victim of nonhuman adversaries.
ATTITUDE OF AN AGE
All of the following traits are associated with human beings: strictness, leniency, neutrality, appeasement, ignorance, indifference, secrecy, violence, and wastefulness. As seen in the abstract, however, anyone of these traits can serve as the signature of a time period. A character may look at the broad-based immorality that is taking place around him and see it as highly destructive to all the traditions his country holds dear. In his eyes, at least, that immorality would appear as a nonhuman adversary, even though human beings are the ones who are causing it. Again, the character would see immorality as an abstract, rather than identifying one or more individuals as the responsible parties. Indeed, whenever a character believes that the attitude of an age is a threat to the future, that attitude is a nonhuman adversary. While the character may be helpless in his effort to do anything about it, his ability at least to see what is happening gives him an edge over those who are blind to the presence of the enemy.
BLIGHT
A character who lives in high-income suburbia would never know blight as a nonhuman adversary, but one who resides in a neighborhood that is changing for the worse certainly might. Someone who once loved his tree-lined city street, his well-kept apartment building, and all the quaint shops that used to dot his surrounding landscape might well be dismayed to see the encroachment of blight. When building after building becomes boarded up, when graffiti offends the eye, when the departures of the shopkeepers seem to multiply, when the streets develop potholes and the signs turn rusty, and when the crime rate increases, what effect might all this have on the character? And what about the landlord's investment as property values continue to decline? As a nonhuman adversary, blight can steadily approach and threaten a place that a character calls home.
CHANGE
When a fundamental change occurs in an established social, business, governmental, or educational structure, that change becomes a nonhuman adversary in the mind of a person who is far from ready to accept it. For example, the livelihood of the typewriter repairman was suddenly threatened by the advent of the computer revolution, just as candlemakers stood defenseless as light bulbs made them expendable. And small shopkeepers all over America have gone down swinging as they fought their elimination at the hands of huge shopping malls.
As a nonhuman adversary, change can come in the form of a modification, transformation, innovation, conversion, reformation, nonviolent revolution, reversal, restoration, an increase or decrease, or a separation. Whatever its particular nature may be, and whether or not it is first seen as a harmless trend that will eventually go away, it upsets our comfortable view of our world, our habit of believing that things will remain as they are. Each new trend threatens the status quo. New ideas saw away at the underpinnings of well-established standards. Questions chip away at long-held wisdom.
For the fictional character, the situation is no different. While he or she may sometimes identify someone who is responsible for the change, for the most part that change will be faceless and will often first seem to be a harmless trend that suddenly appears overnight. It is only later, when this nonhuman adversary becomes too big to ignore, that a character will either marshal his forces to resist it or surrender to the inevitable.
CONFINEMENT
To appreciate the concept of confinement as a nonhuman adversary, one need not restrict one's view to the obvious, i.e., imprisonment within a jail cell. Since confinement is the antithesis of freedom, there are many other examples, but they are more subtle. For example, consider the individual who feels trapped in a marriage. Even though that person's mate may be thoroughly loving and attentive—which, incidentally, the recipient may see as suffocating and even though no bars or fences stand in
the way of departure, that person may be obligated to remain with the spouse for any number of reasons, with children being just one of the possibilities. The enemy is not the spouse; instead, it is the inability to be free. Like the prisoner who sits behind bars, that individual may have no one to blame but himself for his predicament.
Confinement may appear as a nonhuman adversary when a worker feels trapped in a job that he hates; when a soldier is unable to leave the military until he is discharged; or even when, say, a city housewife is forced to move with her husband to the wide open spaces out West and she can no longer visit her neighbors, spend time in the shops, or hear the familiar voices of the street vendors.
DISASTER
This category of nonhuman adversaries provides the writer with several options. In the area of geological disturbance, for example, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are by far the most obvious. Landslides and tidal waves are also excellent possibilities. To date, no one has ever written a fictional account of the earth suddenly shifting on its axis. Not only would such an event cause damage far beyond anyone's imagination, but the ensuing tidal waves would reshape the land mass on the globe as well. In time, though, someone will tell such a story.
Because of the devastation that occurs as a result of a great geological disturbance—if it isn't great, it may have no value as an adversary—things like earthquakes and volcanic eruptions almost always take place near the end of the story. Indeed, this type of nonhuman adversary requires the writer to be especially skilled in the craft of leading up to the inevitable, for the reader or viewer must continually be made aware that something dreadful is likely to happen. Prior to the devastation, the writer should take advantage of the opportunity to develop his human protagonists and antagonists, among whom there may be a scientist or a prophet, trying to warn others of the impending disaster. Ofcourse, no one pays any mind. Then, at the proper moment in the story, the nonhuman adversary is unleashed, allowing the author to depict great panic, great heroism, and perhaps a smug "I told you so."
Nongeological disasters would include such things as a bridge collapsing or a dam bursting, as opposed to those disasters that may have a human cause, such as plane crashes and shipwrecks, even though any of these may come about as the result of bad weather. Again, what human reactions does the tragedy trigger? How does the nonhuman adversary bring the traits of a character into sharp focus?
DISEASE
Disease as a nonhuman adversary has long been a familiar story-making tool. It, too, can be used as either a plot driver or as a backdrop to a story. In the first instance, for example, the disease may be employed as an epidemic, which the hero or heroine may be trying to stop from spreading. People are warned, become infected, and try desperately to escape. The authorities show a lack of imagination, and an abundance of red tape ties everyone's hands. There is a race against time. And so on. All of it is a bit hackneyed, of course, but a good writer can make it entertaining reading or viewing nonetheless.