Amidst conversations on writing compelling characters, I had a bit of a moment. Please bear with me as I call it a Hegelian realization.
At the risk of frightening off casual readers and of revealing my own ignorance, let me brutally paraphrase a Hegelian notion so that I can misappropriate it for writing.
Hegel talks about the Absolute (crudely, God) as having created us as limited beings who learn about God (the same Absolute who created them) so that He (the Absolute) can learn about himself through their learning.
It's complicated and that's a bad summary, but here is why I talk about this now: when I write characters, they are typically drawn from limited portions of my own Psyche. When I put them through the paces, they learn how to cope with broader reality. In this process,I am therefore hoping to learn something about myself. And I am hopeful that by identifying with the characters readers can do the same thing.
I don't suppose that's earth-shattering, but it helps me better understand what I do as a writer so I thought I would share it.
Anyone else have any recent insights they'd like to share? Even if it doesn't seem grand or complicated?
.Nevets.
P.s. This post has nothing to do with Teilhard, but I could not resist the pun.
Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.0
