Good Fiction Is People

 Fiction is all about people. At least good fiction is. That’s why good fiction stays with us. Why it’s memorable.

Theodore Sturgeon once said, “Good fiction is people. And people are people you know.” Which is probably the point of the old writing adage: write what you know.

It’s all fine and dandy for the writer to show off his or her knowledge about cars, or cooking, or stamp collecting, or orchids — but if those things don’t touch people, so what?

A few months ago, I was watching Colombo. It was a trip down memory lane, as I watched the show when it first appeared on TV.

The lieutenant is a wonderfully drawn character, and certainly went a long way to contribute to the show’s popularity. What I find of even more interest, is that Colombo knows people. He knows what makes them tick. What is likely and unlikely behavior. He’s a shrink masquerading as a police officer in a rumpled raincoat.

Columbo is all about people: their greed, their habits. And how it is that in the end, who they are is what ultimately trips up their attempts to get away with murder.

Good fiction is about people, because without people there is no story. How can a story exist without people? Sure, we can substitute animals for people, but that’s just a camouflage. The story is still about people, and still tells us something about the human condition. 

It is as Ray Bradbury noted: create your characters (the people), let them do their thing — and there is the story.

There are writers who get hung up on plot. They have to detail each little action in the story. Too often, what gets lost along the way are the people in the story. And the reader knows it. The characters are flat, lifeless paper dolls.

Now some readers don’t care. They devour the story and move on to the next one. Those readers are kind of like junkies just looking for a reading fix.

Other writers get hung up on world building. They have to know every little detail about the world their story is set in before they can even write a word. I think what these writers are forgetting is that it isn’t the world, it’s the people in the world that make the story memorable.

And while there are readers who are not very discriminating in what they demand from the writer, I believe most readers want a quality reading experience. They want to read about people like themselves, or about people they would like to become, doing wonderful and amazing things. They want to be moved, to live vicariously.

Tarzan is memorable because he personifies the best in us and is ultimately someone who we’d like to be.

I believe Jack Reacher is popular because he beats up bullies. And who of us hasn’t been bullied? We get our vicarious revenge through Reacher’s exploits.

Rex Stout gave us the sedentary eccentric genius, Nero Wolfe, and the wisecracking man of action, Archie Goodwin. I find myself drawn to both of them, but particularly to Wolfe. Why? Because I would like to be the master of that brownstone. Good food, good books, the big globe, beautiful orchids. I’d just sub tea for the beer.

I can’t recall a single story that I remember solely because of the plot. Why? Because the plot is usually meaningless unless it’s peopled with memorable people. The plot is just a string of events, which generally have no meaning apart from the people in the story.

I do, though, remember many stories because of the characters. Bilbo Baggins. Hercule Poirot. Sherlock Holmes. Carnacki. Jules de Grandin. Rona Dean (from RH Hale’s Church Mouse). Tony Price and Chris Allard (from Richard Schwindt’s two mystery series). Tatsuya (from Crispian Thurlborn’s 01134). Roland Sand, the Quiet Assassin (from Caleb Pirtle III’s Lonely Night to Die). And more. So many more.

Fiction is all about people. Fiction is us.

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy reading!