Mute…
One of the hardest characters I have written so far is Nicholas, one of the joint protagonists of The Shifu Cloth, because Nicholas is disabled.
If Mr. Sewell was younger, he is just how I envisage Nico.
He cannot speak.
And given that dialogue is a swift way of delineating character and ratcheting the narrative up a notch, how to do it when one’s character is non-vocal?
I’ve only had laryngitis once in my life and it was accompanied by a dire cough, so not speaking was fine, soothing … and temporary. I didn’t care overmuch because I knew my voice would return when I got well in a few days.
But Nicholas’s physical voice may never return and so there is a whole novel where he will not vocalise a word. He is twenty, virile, intellectual, a brooding thinker. So I have to be able to show the gamut of his emotions, silent as they may be – depression, frustration, rage, grief, even humour and love.
To give him another kind of ‘voice’, I place thoughts in italics, putting them on their own line so they hopefully elicit more power – a style I tend to use in all my novels. In addition his body language may be more marked, but given that half the narrative is from his POV, emphasis on body language begins to look egocentric and one thing that Nicholas definitely isn’t, is egocentric.
He also uses a basic sign language and scribbles notes when he wants to make himself understood. But they are scribbles, not treatises. So in essence it’s a method of communicating in single words to his companions and there’s not much you can imply with single words.
I love Nicholas. To me is multi-layered. He has enormous flaws made more raw by being mute. But he is stalwart and compassionate and that is what I want to show – otherwise the ending will have no meaning whatsoever.
In the meantime, I am trying so hard not to be repetitive in conveying nuances.
But if I am, I guess my sharp-eyed editor will pick me up on it…
I think this is a wonderful challenge for you as a writer! Constraint feeds imagination, of course. I don’t know much about mute people – what must it be like?
You are right. Constraint. I think it might give me a chance to give Nico’s emotions even more impact.
Certainly frustration is a big part of that, his frustration, but it is only a part of the whole man and I would hate it to be a novel about frustration alone…
You certainly like making your writing life difficult for yourself, Prue! 🙂 But what a very fascinating idea.
Thank you, Giselle. And do you know what? I didn’t plan it. As with all my writing, the twist just happened. For good or bad, time will tell…
Prue I read recently that watching TV with the sound turned down, trains the brain to identify and focus on the nuances of body language and facial expression. Have tried it…fascinating to see what you notice when words are silenced.
It’s true. It’s like watching an actor on stage: body language is vital.