Calumny

 

 The Calumny of Apelles, Sandro Botticelli, 1495, Uffizi Gallery, Florence

I'll talk about my character, and why he hates calumny so much, I promise. But first, I need to talk about this painting and why I love it so much. Unlike many paintings, I saw this one for the first time in person. I was fortunate enough to get myself to Florence about a year or so after I began this novel. I spotted this painting across the gallery and was drawn to it. It struck me as an illustration, a perfect, immaculate pictorial representation of everything I (and my character) had spent a year oh-so-clumsily attempting to articulate in words. 

The painting depicts a praying man being dragged toward some sort of king for judgement. Calumny, attended by Fraud and Perfidy, has him by the hair; she carries a torch that appears to illuminate, but its true purpose, as evidenced by the grip of Rancor/Envy is to blind the king, whose judgement is further clouded by his advisors, Ignorance and Suspicion. Meanwhile on the far right stands Naked Truth, ignored by all, save Punishment, who spares her a bored glance as she impatiently awaits the opportunity to commence her dark task. 

What I love about this painting is how much detail there is. Every little fresco in the background walls is intentional and deliberate. It's complicated, the way reality is, the way the quest for true justice, for true equity, for full truth is. My character, my novel's hero relishes this complexity. He sees the beauty in it. He needs that complexity to be beautiful, to be valued, to be recognized, because he sees it in himself. He is complex on his best days, conflicted on his worse, and contradictory (at least as it appears on the surface) on his worst. Faced with a world, that seems to desire the opposite, that seems to favor the simple and equate that with the divine, that blinded by the torch of calumny and motivated by Rancor would rather allow Fraud and Perfidy to wrap it in righteous indignation and join voices with Suspicion and Ignorance to call out for the punishment than face the truth, my character struggles, he fears. He's been lied to, all his life, by his family in the name of protection, and by his enemies, who attempt to manipulate him. He will ignore much grace if disguised behind a lie, and allow much malice if it is only bold enough to show itself for what it is. 

If you show him you value his complexity and are unashamed enough to show him your truth, you can bend him to your will. You will not need to drag him to Judgement or force him toward Punishment. 

He will walk to him freely, and give himself to her.

By the way, it is quite possible I am in love with Sandro Botticelli. I wrote about him for my term paper in high school and have been enamored ever since. A recent viewing of Sebastien De Souza's portrayal of him in Medici the Magnificent did nothing to temper this passion. You know that 'who from history would you like to have dinner with' question? Botticelli is very high on my list. 

 

Who Is This Character I Created?

A writer I follow, @tkjamesauthor, posed the following intriguing question in a recent tweet: 

What is something that your main character hates?

So, that turned into my morning; thinking, pondering, delving into what exactly it might be that my main character hates. 

Though-provoking character study questions such as these fascinate me. Not only are they fun, they can be incredibly revealing. Creating a character is so much more than slapping a name down on a piece of paper. It's a responsibility. I think we all realize, as writers, that the more consistency, dimension and depth a character has, the more interesting they are going to be to the reader. But what specifically does that mean? Considering how long it took me to answer what sounded on the surface like a simple question regarding a character I've created and spent time with for ten years of my life, it has struck me that, just like actual people, no matter how well you know, or think you know a character, you can always know and learn more about them. 

The more you know your character, the better and more accurately you can predict their choices and reactions, which means the faster you'll be able to develop a plot, create conflict and generally do all the magical things that move your story forward. 

What I really like about the character exploration work is that it can be done anywhere. Eventually you need to get everything out out on the page and there's no getting around it, I'm a big advocate of the benefits of 'writing while not writing'. When I do this, I feel I look forward to and better leverage the windows of time I do have to curl up with my laptop and get the story on the page. 

Share a car ride or a long walk with your character. Take them out for coffee, have them accompany you on errands, hang with them in waiting rooms. They'll be more apt to show up for you when you need them in your writing sessions. For those of us who are writing our novels in our spare time, we need all the time management tips we can get.  

Oh, and in case you're wondering, I went with calumny as something my main character hates. 

More on why in my next post. 

In the meantime, a picture is worth 1000 words. (I'm only a writer because I can't draw.)

 

The Calumny of Apelles, Sandro Botticelli, 1495, Uffizi Gallery, Florence