Styling Characters - More Than Meets the Eye

 

Costume and style can situate the reader in time, place and era.
 Mulan (Yifei Liu). Photo: Jasin Boland. © 2019 Disney Enterprises, Inc. 

 

Character Clothing as Depiction

Costume and style reveal much about a character and for many authors, utilizing this technique comes naturally. But in writing workshops and critiques, costume design is often overlooked. I thought it would be fun to explore the ins and outs of this topic today. There is definitely more here than meets the eye.

Think about it. If a picture equals a thousand words, then how much are those images created in the reader's head? It's the perfect opportunity to portray the character's personality, background, and place in the world. Also consider what they keep close to hand, a bag of bones, weapons, books, quills, and potions. All can say more about who they are, without having to tell a thing. 

When a character walks onto a scene wearing armour and backing firearms, we know
they are ready to fight. A Mandalorian and droid 

Rank and Power

In my Amassia Series, for example, savants who raise their phantoms wear robes, the colours of which portray their advancement and skill level. Marcus explains it like this:

        "Each banner represents a savant's robe color: brown like the earth for the potentials who come in hopes of raising their phantoms. Then comes blue for young students who stay on .... Green, like me, for those graduating to the next level. Yellow for the successful initiates who've made the journey to Aku. Orange for the upper echelons of mastery. And red for the High Saant who leads us all.... actually, not all. The black-robed Bone Throwers are a clan unto themselves..." - Marcus Adicio Heir to the throne of Baiseen.

With this hierarchy in place, whenever we meet a new character we know by just looking at them if they are savant or non-savant. If the former, we also know their level of training without adding another word to the scene. It frees up space to notice other significant aspects without getting into a long and heavy backstory about how they grew up and where they fit in.

Note how style here confers rank and level of confidence.
 Adjoa Andoh as Lady Agatha Danbury in episode 102 of Queen Charlotte:  Netflix

Personality and Mood

Depicting style also gives the writer an opportunity to utilize what the character is wearing from the start, and contrast it when necessary. So when heavy boots come off, fancy dress is replaced by pants and a button shirt tied in a knot at the waist, or a formal suit is exchanged for PJs, it is telling. Of I should say, showing...

You can also use clothing to portray a deeper backstory and set your character apart. In Curse of Shadows, for example, Ash, who is non-savant, is set apart when she busts out her favourite lavender and black-lace dress. Earlier Marcus recounts having it made for her because her guardian is too auster to consider it. Marcus hides the truth by saying it was left behind by a delegate's daughter and he hopes it will fit.

It's a little Easter egg that pops up later, something the reader knows but Ash does not. Not just a warm moment, but an insight into Marcus's heart as well.

Characters may dress differently for the same event, telling volumes about their intentions.

Foto: Divulgação/Netflix 

Contrast for the Win

Another example is how Netflix' Lucifer situates all the ensemble cast in the same workspace, an LA precinct, but each of them wears very different costumes. From human souls to angels to demons and the Devil himself, their get-up offers a view into the characters' goals, desires and means to achieve them. 

So writers, be sure you are giving your characters the style that most brings the story to life, and readers, I would love to hear your favorite costumes, from books or films. Costume design is, after all, one of the Academy Awards, an essential part of storytelling.

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Posts in the 'More Than Meets the Eye' Series

Book Titles

The End

Backstory

Environment

Styling Characters

Desire

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Kim Falconer, currently writing as A K Wilder, has released Crown of Bones, a YA Epic Fantasy with Curse of Shadows as book 2 in the series. Currently, she is working on the third out in 2024

Kim can be found on  AKWilder Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. 

Throw the bones, read your horoscopes or Raise Your Phantom on the AKWilder.com site 

The Alchemy of Horror

Magic Realism Art of Rusty McDonald

Halloween, as Sup author Helen Lowe explains in her post this month, comes from Samhain, the Celtic day of the dead, where the spirits of those passed are placated with offerings of food. It makes me wonder what else we are placating when we welcome ghosts, ghouls and demons into our lives. I mean, we do welcome them, don't we?

I know I do.

Three of my favourite series off the top of my head are iZombie, Lucifer and The Vampire Diaries.

Three books that I've read or reread recently are The Southern Vampire Mysteries, Anna Dressed in Blood and the Sandman Slim.

All deal with supernatural and horror themes.

I certainly don't need the excuse of Halloween to immerse in these genres. Heck, I write the stuff myself - Books that go bump in the night.

The question is, why?

Why would anyone want to have Horror as a pastime, a career, as entertainment?

You can google it and find explanations like dealing with fear, power and control, an adrenaline rush in a 'safe' environment, living on the edge in the comfort of your own home... Sup author Merrie Destefano has written on this topic and covers it well.

But I can't help but wonder, is there more to it?

Musing on it, up popped a single word: alchemy.

Yes, I mean the exploration of consciousness handed down to us from medieval times.

This alchemy is "...a living form of sacred psychology... the projection of a cosmic and spiritual drama in laboratory terms, an art, both experiential and experimental. It is a worldview which unifies spirit and matter..." - Iona Miller, 1986

Simply put, alchemy reflects the process of personal transformation in the metaphor of turning lead into gold.

So, what does this alchemy have to do with books that go bump in the night?

Everything.

In the alchemical process, there is always a container, a vessel of some kind, real or imagined, that that provides the space for transformation to occur. When reading horror, the story becomes a container for the prima materia, the raw psychic urge for growth and transformation that lies within us.

Think of it like this: Every time we are moved to the heightened emotions and extreme fear of a scary story or film, we switch on a powerful psychological process that shakes us out of complacency. Within the alchemical container, we may learn to remake ourselves, transcending judgments, social conditioning, unconscious patterns and beliefs.

And then, abracadabra, we create a chance to live more authentically, in full awareness of the present moment.

It's a theory in progress, but the next time you pick up your fav fiction or switch on that scary show, you may notice the mystical fumes bubbling up from the cauldron, engaging you on the next step of your own, inner transformation journey.

And with that, happy Halloween!

xxKim

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Kim Falconer's latest novel, an urban fantasy, is out now - The Blood in the Beginning - and Ava Sykes Novel. You can find Kim on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Kim also runs GoodVibeAstrology.com where she teaches the law of attraction and astrology. 

Kim posts here at the Supernatural Underground on the 16th of every month, hosts Save the Day Writer's Community on FB and posts a daily astrology weather report on Facebook.