Image by Loren Javier via Flickr
The other night I watched the first part of the American Horror Story Halloween special. The episode stars Zachary Quinto as one of the ‘Murder House’s’ previous owners.
In the opening scene Quinto’s character “Chad” is arguing with his partner “Patrick” (played by Teddy Sears). It’s brilliantly scripted and artfully acted. And watching it got me to ponder how we, as novelists, can convey the depth of emotion.
I’m the kind of writer who ‘watches’ the scene unfolding in their mind’s eye as they write. In my mind, my characters are masters of subtle gestures and slight overemphasis on words. But getting that across on paper often seems clumsy – after all, too much deep breathing, eye rolling and sighing makes my character seem farcical. It takes several edits before I’ve got the prose cleaned up enough to convey the imagery I’m after – the twitch of an eyebrow, the trembling of a lower lip, the downward glance. And even then, I’m not entirely satisfied.
I guess that’s why I love to convey my PoV character’s inner thoughts along with the dialogue – especially if what they’re thinking isn’t what they’re saying or doing. My characters can be screaming inside, but calmly pouring a cup of tea on the outside. And, unless using voice over (as used to brilliant effect in the fantastic TV show DEXTER) it’s the added bonus novel-writing has over screenplay.
But, whatever media I’m writing for, watching great actors at work in TV series and film is a wonderfully rich learning experience and inspiration.
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Tags: American Horror Story, character development, DEXTER, Halloween, novel, screenplay, Television program, Writing, Zachary Quinto
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