Characterization: Going Deeper with the Characters You Write Through Listening

by Ane Mulligan @AneMulligan

I recently read an eye-opening blog about levels of listening, Crafting Characters Using the 7 Types of Listening—eye-opening because I hadn't fully examined that trait in characters.

As a theatrical director, I've seen scripts that made me laugh because the characters didn't listen/hear each other, and the dialogue had the characters talking over one another. 

What a great trait to give a character for humor. But what about the other kinds of listening? Right now, I'm writing a character who has made a couple of vague responses to my Main Character. What if I made this a trait she employs for to get around problems? 

The levels of listening are:

• 1. Not listening (ignoring)

• 2. Pretend to listen (passive)

• 3. Partly listening (selective—see your kids here?)

• 4. Focused listening (attentive)

• 5. Interpretive listening (understanding beyond the words)

• 6. Ineractive listening (responsive)

• 7. Engaged listening (emphatic & transformational)

For writing fiction, all listening levels can be used for our advantage when creating characters: 

Levels 1-3 create conflict.

Level 4 creates either peace or tension. The listener focuses in, eyes narrowing. The speaker falters … BINGO. Tension. 

Level 5 is what most of us do when we eavesdrop. We interpret—right or wrong—what the speaker means. This is useful for and in fiction. 

What if a character is told to leave but interprets is as "get out of my life" and acts according to their interpretation? Instant conflict.

Levels 6-7 are what most writers incorporate in dialogue. We show all the characters active and engaged in conversation. But think what great results could come from using the others.

I know I'm going to play around with some scenes using the various levels then compare the outcomes.

Join the conversation. Have you used any of these various levels of listening in your work? How has it affected the scene?

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Characterization: Going Deeper with the Characters You Write Through Listening from @AneMulligan on @EdieMelson (Click to Tweet)

Ane Mulligan lives life from a director’s chair, both in theatre and at her desk creating novels. Entranced with story by age three, at five she saw PETER PAN onstage and was struck with a fever from which she never recovered—stage fever. One day, her passions collided, and an award-winning, bestselling novelist emerged. She believes chocolate and coffee are two of the four major food groups and lives in Sugar Hill, GA, with her artist husband and a rascally Rottweiler. Find Ane on her website, Amazon Author page, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, The Write Conversation, and Blue Ridge Conference Blog.