Robert Ellis: Who Created that Woman?

 

Who Created that Woman?

Recently, I was asked by a reader how a male writer could create a female character like Lena Gamble who defines what being a female lead in a crime story is or should be?

Heavy question … At first, I was speechless, but then I answered the reader with another question. How could a female writer (Ann Biderman) create a male character like Ray Donovan that defines what being a tough guy in a crime story is or should be?

The purpose of this blog is to explore. To examine rather than criticize. To respect the fact that as writers we know the time and effort and dedication it takes to start and finish any written work, whether we're writing for the stage, the screen, or an eBook reader. In the end, what happens to the work after it's completed means less than what happens to the work when we sit down and create something out of nothing. And, in fact, I think that the answer to both questions is somewhere in this paragraph. The answer is that we are writers. None of us need to rob a bank to create a thief, just as none of us need to become psychotic or commit a murder in order to write about a psychotic killer.

Good answer? Let’s keep going with RAY DONOVAN. And by that, I mean just the first two seasons when Ann Biderman was writing and producing the series for cable.

There's writing, and then there's writing. I happen to like both, but for very different reasons. Some people play at it within a formula and do it really well. Others work a story without a map and push it over the edge. RAY DONOVAN hits the edge before it even gets started. Tough guys are so rare these days, so difficult to pull off and still seem real. And Liev Schreiber, the actor who plays Ray Donovan, performs masterfully and has just the right touch. Between the actor and the writer, that’s where the magic is coming from.

For me, I haven't seen a film or read a book that lit me up like RAY DONOVAN in a real long time. But what I've noticed most about those first two seasons are the characters. Every single character in this series is horrific in some fundamental way. Whether it's Ray's bitchy wife cheating on him, Ray cheating on his wife, his father's willingness to betray him over and over again, the idiocy of the two Beverly Hills attorneys Ray fixes things for, the idiocy, but also the dignity of his brothers, his daughter, and old girlfriend--the plot fascinates me because the mix of different characters fascinate me. Their wants and needs clash without effort.

And this is something I think about when beginning a new story. Orchestrating the novel with characters who are different enough that it feels like a real world. A complete world. Rich and poor, big and small, smart and stupid, and most important of all, that one character whom I just know will turn the world of my characters (my plot) into chaos. Cutting my characters loose, letting the insanity take hold, and then trusting them to work things out -- for me, that's the essence of storytelling.

Link to CITY OF STONES

 

 

ROBERT ELLIS WRITERS BLOG

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