Sweets For The Sweet (Spot)
by Cindy Layton
“We don’t see things as they are. We see things as we are.” — Anais Nin
“I Hate Myself For Loving You.”— Joan Jett
Our writing is influenced by our point of view. I understand, that’s not a revelation.
Except, when I say point of view I don’t mean it in a literary sense, like whose story is being told or whether you’re writing in the first person. I mean the writer’s own personal point of view.
Why do we write if not to advance a part of ourselves to the world? But our world view can sometimes color the way we characterize the people that populate our fiction. Do our characters sometimes speak too directly for us? Then they’re not themselves – they’re you. If they possess values in contrast to your own do they have to be so hateful? Is it better for them to be elusive to the reader or to be accessible and human?
How do we step outside ourselves to develop better characters and better story lines, free from our own bias?
In this article by David Robson from The Psychologist, the author cites research that examines how readers react to villains: “Kjeldgaard-Christiansen points out that if we can peek too far inside their minds, and we might get sucked in and begin to identify with them. This could be considered in light of ‘attribution errors’ – the less we know about someone, the more likely we are to assume that they are guilty and the more harshly we judge that guilt. If the author hits a sweet spot, however, we may find ourselves simultaneously appalled and enthralled, a delicious combination that causes us to root for evil doers like Mafia boss Don Vito Corleone in The Godfather (Keen et al., 2012).”
So, what’s the “sweet spot” for writers and how do we achieve it?
Anyone watch The Americans? This story about a family of Russian spies embedded in Washington, D.C. in the eighties, twists at our allegiances. At times we’re appalled by their violence and acts against the US. At other times we find ourselves rooting for them, even as the FBI closes in. We know Elizabeth, Phillip and their kids. We’re invested in their journey. Sometimes they show us how much they’re like us. Other times they show us how much they want us to believe they’re like us. The set up is complex, the characters are multidimensional, their dilemmas are politically and psychologically diverse, all at a time when Russia was (and now is) a highly charged topic. There’s a perfect confluence of high stakes and resonance, with a finger on the zeitgeist. This is the sweet spot defined.
How much do you trust your reader? Will they discern the layers of complexity in your antagonists?
How much do you trust your writing? Have you laid the groundwork for the reader to accept the humanity in your villains? Do we simultaneously hate to love them and love to hate them?
The answers to these questions will factor into a writer’s ability to navigate toward the sweet spot.
This is a great article that examines this issue in depth.
