Writer's Workshop: In Little Things; or, Chemistry · 4:58am Mar 18th, 2017
The idea for this Writer's Workshop came to me on accident. I was answering a question about characterization (using my three-Aspect method, naturally), when I stumbled onto a characterization staple that I've essentially overlooked. It's also a common term that you may not really understand: "chemistry." Who better to talk about character chemistry than the writer with a major in chemistry? (It's true. Double major. Tell your friends.) So let's explore the chemistry of character interaction together!
In chemistry, one of the first things you learn is the Periodic Table. With just a few elements, we can understand the behavior of a grand variety of materials. Perhaps more important, however, is that the properties of these elements repeat in regular patterns. (Hence the "period" of the table.) By knowing the properties of the nearby elements, we can predict the properties of unknown elements.
Characters aren't made of protons and neutrons, but they do fall into common archetypes with familiar patterns. If your character is calm and collected, what else can we guess about them? They're probably very rational, very truth-oriented. Their failure mode is probably that they are stern and strict, and they can't take a joke. Not every character fits all of these patterns, but if you're creating a new character, there's a good chance they're in that mold.
But that's not the interesting part of chemistry. The part that really matters is when you start mixing elements together. Chemical reactions turn two separate elements into a brand-new compound! Take sodium, a gray metal that reacts violently with water, and mix in chlorine, a deadly green gas, and you get... harmless table salt. (Well, harmless unless it starts corroding your iron.)
Narrative chemistry is much the same. Making interesting characters has its charms, but making interesting relationships is writing on an entirely different level. You get real conflict, real storytelling potential, when you bring two characters together and figure out what their interaction is. I don't want you to be under the impression that every character interaction is adversarial: far from it! Rarity and Fluttershy don't fight (most of the time, anyway). Instead, the complement each other: Rarity helps Fluttershy open up, and Fluttershy helps Rarity slow down and appreciate silence
Think about these relationships as their own character, distinct from its component characters. Consider, for example, Applejack. Next, consider Rainbow Dash. Now, consider the relationship between Applejack and Rainbow Dash. There's something there that's not quite AJ nor RD. The competitiveness, the oneupsmanship, the need to be right. These things existed in our characters before, but they're multiplied when the two interact. Or how about Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy? One line, just one line, and we begin to see the way these two jive. Pinkie turns almost motherly (does "avuncular" work for aunts?), whereas Fluttershy actually shows some attitude. In a very real sense, the relationship transforms them.
But this doesn't happen in a vacuum. For this, we return to chemistry. Most chemical reactions don't start just because you put the two reagents together. You need activation energy, a small spark to get the process started. With just the tiniest addition of energy, you can start a reaction that will expend much more energy than you put in.
It's the same with characters. I often say something to the effect of, "Put these two together and watch the fireworks," but it's not that simple. You'll more than likely need a spark, some conflict or question to get the characters responding to each other. Pick something that troubles one character, and see how the other character takes it. Do they try to soothe their friend, or do they laugh at the other's suffering? If character A proposes a solution, does character B try to help, play devil's advocate, or violently resist? (The same two characters might do all three, depending on the situation.) It's up to you to figure out the nature of the relationship.
Relationships are so great in stories because they're subtle. While the main plot is moving forward, you can show the dynamics of a relationship in little things the characters do for each other. Don't make the characters replaceable from scene to scene; show how their relationships change their personality. This turns a cloud of characters into... slightly smaller clouds, but slightly smaller clouds with personalities. It turns a slightly boring scene where each character says their piece and disappears into a vibrant chemical solution where each comment affects the other characters' balance. When Rainbow Dash says something sarcastic, all of the other characters respond to that, based on their relationships with her. Then one character responds to another response, and it concatenates from there.
So let's bring it back to where I started. Relationships help to make your characters more vibrant. What's more, you get double, even triple the characterization power of regular description when using the power of relationships. Hidden in all that flavor and quirkiness is real power, and it's within your grasp to take it. But to do it, you have to step out of the traditional image of characterization as looking at just one character. The character of the relationship can provide your readers with more insight into the themes and intent of your story than perhaps you even recognize. So step back for a moment, think less about narrative and art, and think about chemistry.
Interesting lecture Padre, not exactly ground breaking but an important topic that seems to be missed by some. I feel that plenty of authors go to step 1 and use the mold to create character and then customize him but neglect the step 2 and forget to extract them from the vacuum they have created.
This is perhaps most noticed with OC characters and I have seen OC guides also forget to point out that you should figure out how you OC deals with other characters. At best you get warning not to shoehorn OC into the show cast because then you just add an element that feels out of place if not handled properly (and even then in fanfiction you'll meet opposition because of potential head-canon alientaion). For this reason I tend, like you have said, to have two characters minimum in random situation where I can observe the development of two charters. Characters then grow in ways they sometimes actually surprise me pleasantly.
Because of this I prefer when making characters (OC or Canon) for my story, that I always have a pair as a start. They might not be equal characters but it helps to bounce personalty back and forth even if the other is there to just deliver pizza or won't appear in the story. at least I think best characters are the ones that can form a duo.
Also going a bit further with chemistry analogy have you ever created character chain, like a molecular chain (I am really rusty with chemistry and have no experience with english therms). Anyway like having at the start two characters that are very good friends, then adding to this chain more characters that they are friends with and then adding to these second generation characters a third generation and so on.