Ha Jin, On Character in Fiction

00:08 [Ha Jin] For a short story, you really don't have a lot of space for character development. Often it is drama-driven, so basically you try to reveal the character through action, dialogue, and some other aspects of the fiction,

00:30 and basically the center is the drama. The depth, the complexity of the character should be suggested so that we know of this person, he or she is reading like a real person. That is important. But for a novel, very often, basically most novels are character-centered so you have to really think deep and even get into the character. Very often

01:00 you have to think through the character's point of view and from his or her mind. Because a novel has a lot of space, a lot of room, a series of actions, many lines of a drama sometimes. So as a result, you do have enough time and space for the character development. In that sense, you have to think almost every aspect of the character, live with the character for a long

01:30 time. I think basically whether a novel succeeds or not depends on whether the character really gives the sense of authenticity, whether it's a believable character or not. So everything must be reasonable, believable, through that character's consciousness. So that's important, the step by step. In a novel, one

02:00 cannot really hurry. You have to be patient, step by step, and when we reach the end, I think the character would come fully alive. It depends. If that is achieved, that means the book is good. But sometimes you work hard and it is still not working, so you really have to figure out how to fix it, how to revise.

02:30 Thoughts are also important. The thoughts can give a kind of depth and inner life of the character. Dialogue, if a person has a peculiar way of saying things, that is good, that means we can see the inner life of that person. I think thoughts very often -- thoughts are not actions, but if they are original, they can also be surprising. That would be good,

03:00 that would really add something to the character. So the inner life -- the thoughts and the impressions or perceptions. All these are important to reveal the inner life.