Day 37: One dimensional vs. three dimensional

Between You, Me and the Lamp Post

Day 37: One dimensional vs. three dimensional

A few weeks ago, I had an idea for a story. A supernatural story. It’s a stretch for me, as I’ve never written anything like it before, but every now and then one must think outside the box.

For twenty chapters everything went fine, the story practically wrote itself. But then I hit a snag ...

A fellow writer said that someone had read her manuscript and found that her characters were too one dimensional. That she should make them three dimensional.

This got me thinking ... were my characters one dimensional? If they were, what could I do to make them three dimensional?

I posted this question in a writers group on Facebook but only got one satisfactory answer. Nick B said:

Imagine one-dimensional to be a shopping list.

Imagine three-dimensional to be a restaurant review.

Okay, I understood that I had to describe my characters in more detail. The question now was, how much is too much?

Take Barbara Taylor Bradford for instance. She is a well known and respected author of 35 novels. The first book I ever read of her was ‘A Woman of Substance’ which I loved. Since then I read numerous of her other books but eventually stopped reading her. 

Her stories were too detailed for my taste. Every outfit one of her characters wore was described in detail, as was the scenery and the meals. It was just too much for me. I didn’t need to know what kind of dress Laura wore, what she carried in her handbag, and what she had for dinner.

The opposite can be said of Lisa Jewell and her book ‘Trust Me’. All her main character wore was sweatpants and a t-shirt, day after day after day. All she ate was pizza, and over the course of the story, she drank liters and liters of wine. I wonder how this woman got anything done because she was either drunk or suffering from a hangover.

This makes me wonder how I should describe the characters in my latest story. Should I describe what they wear? What their home looks like? What they think, how they react? How much does the reader want to know?

I considered having the story proofread, but this will be of little or no help. Some people like a detailed description while others might think ... okay, just get on with it.

Another thing that confuses me is ... show, don’t tell. I’m not showing a story, I’m telling a story, so what’s wrong with that? If readers want a story shown, they can buy a picture book. When I buy a book, I’m interested in how the author tells the story.

Yeah yeah I know, as a writer I need to describe the places, the people and their feelings and emotions. But once again, how much is too much?