Good morning, not a cardboard hero!Introduction. (Inseption)

So, we are starting a new series of articles - as promised. The previous cycle was devoted to the world inside the book in the most general and general description; we can say, the world order and world description as such - but the world is always, whether we want it or not, but just a stage on which the characters will play the play of their lives and adventures. The main thing after all (if we follow the classical approach, of course, and we are more committed to it than to any other) is who the world is inhabited by, who lives in it. People of this world. Conditionally, we will say exactly this - "people", and how much they are really biologically identical to the genus homo sapiens in one or another story is not so important. We, recall, use the word "people" precisely in the meaning of humanistic and philosophical. not biological. In fact, at least the notorious "bug-eyed aliens" may be there, it doesn't matter.

Our current conversation should be called something like this:

"Confidence levels: Ethnography and culture". Or "About the population of the world created in the book - in more detail." because, first of all, we were going to talk about cultural studies and ethnography of fictional worlds, and how to use wisely and skillfully knowledge about cultural studies and ethnography of a completely real world, but we thought... And in the end we decided that we would take a bigger angle of view and outline the widest possible horizon, and therefore our "Non-cardboard hero" is a series of articles from several chapters.

Why not a cardboard hero?

Пbecause no author wants to hear about his heroes that they are cardboard. The accusation of cardboard characters is the most common and the most offensive. And at the same time - the most general, non-specific. These accusations are equally easily thrown by "couch experts" and venerable lit critics. The label about the cardboard of the described people is a terrible dream of any fiction writer, perhaps.

And let's figure it out, what kind of cardboard is it at all? How to determine whether a cardboard hero or not? Well, let's start from the beginning. Cardboard characters, that is, flat, expressionless, inanimate - they are like bad actors in a movie, spoil even a brilliant script with a bad game, and even more so negate painstaking decorator and artistic work. Last week we talked - the script as applied to the book is your plot plot. Actors are heroes, characters.

Cardboard heroes are, simply put, heroes of the not-so-true-e. Themselves, time, place, situation.

What is authenticity? About this phenomenon itself, without practical application to the situation, we, perhaps, will not argue - it has all been told before us, many times, and we will not repeat what has been said. Let us briefly recall that reliability can be internal and external. External is, let's say, compliance with human simple logic, the laws of physics and the principle of reality (if this is theoretically permissible, this case says, then it may well exist - an object, phenomenon or situation, it does not matter) and internal reliability is when the described is anything (character, phenomenon, situation, again the same) do not violate the "rules of the game" and conventions of the described world set by you yourself, as the author.

And so. The non-cartonality of the hero is its authenticity and viability. At all levels at once. Both external and internal.

When we talk about living personalities - the characters of our stories - the inner authenticity, upon closer examination, also turns out to be a multidimensional structure, layered like that onion, and never easy to dissect.

But we'll try to figure it out - since we're here.

So, the inner credibility and vitality of the character - what does it consist of? We thought a lot, and identified for ourselves such points, or levels, of the character's credibility:

- ethno - cultural

- historical

- contextual (situational)

- psychological

- emotional and sensual

What follows from this?

That the author should remember at each of the levels what their hero is. Completely, completely, completely. Who are his relatives. How many roads, and which ones, the hero has passed. Whose blood flows in his veins, with whom and where he grew up, what he is used to, what he thinks is right and what is not, what the hero knows and what he does not know. What the hero thinks so. about something like that. What of this the author should mention, showing the hero, and what - leave the reader to guess, giving, however, a sufficient number of hints. And then, of course, more - how to do it as fully as possible? what to highlight and what to leave in the shade?

If you manage to cope with this complex tool - work on the levels of authenticity of the personality - then even the most malicious critic will not be able to accuse your hero of cardboard, believe me.

But - it is impossible to neglect at least one of these levels in any way. Otherwise... cardboard, chewed paper, I don't believe it. I don't believe it, game, nonsense... what else do evil-tongued critics say there? In general, this is all offensive and biting - it risks being a completely truthful remark.

Why are all levels important?

Because a living person (and therefore an ideal non-kart hero) is always something whole, and it is always more than the sum of the parts. And only after working through them - the levels, of course - all in detail in your head, you, the author, will be able to build their relationship in a consistent and understandable way.

Non-cartonality is a vital certainty, which in fact is a multi-level system. Often novice (and continuing) authors fall into the trap of what I would call the "deception of the emotional fountain" - such authors believe that super-emotional, tormented from all sides by different motives, emotions and impulses, the hero will never seem cardboard.

Alas, but no. Easy. It will be a hysterical unbalanced cardboard box - a cardboard box with emotions that will also seem fake and unreliable.

Therefore, in the next chapter we will begin to understand each of the levels of this inner certainty. And to understand how a hero is born as a person - and not a colored piece of paper with a set of ticks against a list of qualities.

And we will say to our non-cardboard hero - good morning, welcome ... "do you know how they were waiting for you here!?"(c)

Good morning, non-cardboard hero. Open your eyes. What do you see? Where were you born, hero? Who are your relatives?

The first level of authenticity is ethno-cultural. We'll talk about it in a week.

*the image is taken from open sources on the Internet.