1/11/11 Junkyard: Specifics in Character and Language

“If you aim for the general, you hit nothing, but if you aim for the specific, you might hit the universal.”

I first read this as a throwaway statement in a 2004 publicity statement about one of Johnny Depp’s films, but I’ve never been able to forget it, and it has greatly influenced the writing choices I’ve made since reading it. It might help to explain why I remember so many of Johnny Depp’s characters throughout the 90’s and very few characters portrayed by his peers. Or why Soundgarden’s lyrics linger with me as strongly as they do, whereas those of their more mainstream peers fail to linger at all. Or why I was fascinated by the character interplay in Battlestar Galactica until the primary source of drama became romance, and why I was so disappointed by how they failed to realize in fundamental concept and execution their own premise of a gender-blind world. Or why I am drawn to Ellen Ripley far more than to the multitude of stock heroines as presented by Hollywood. Or why characters like Daenerys and Jon and Sansa feel so out of place in George R. R. Martin's world, and why, out of all the hundreds of characters Robert Jordan created, I care about Mat the most.

However, there is a conflict I have with the original statement that involves a significant aspect of my novel. It stems from language itself, the culture and inherent statement of the words we choose, how the language we use both expands and restricts our writing choices, how it can unconsciously reflect perception. There are times that I wish I had enough talent to write my novel entirely in Japanese, which removes certain limitations that English places on me, but Japanese also has its own range of expression. I don’t believe it’s possible or even valid to remove culture from language, for I feel that language is born of culture and feeds back into culture. They are symbiotic elements that take part in shaping our views. Starting my novel, I found that one of the hardest parts was finding a way around certain restrictions of English without limiting range of expression, to aim for something specific and alive in characterization without letting the culture of the language I write in alter my general concept. Perhaps this is one of the banes of the speculative fiction genre. I think the hardest part of sharing my work when it’s finished will be asking others to take that step, too.