Character and Image

 

I thought it would be interesting for some of the key people to share a little bit about themselves. Perhaps a little unfairly I have linked a photo with each character to reveal something about each one:  emotion, interest, motivation and desire.

Originally I created a photo for each main character, this helped me in developing the story and the characters. In building the website I wanted to share an image of the character but I also wanted you to preserve your mental image of the character. Your image of a character’s appearance and how that is projected through their emotions, thoughts and actions is as valid as anyone’s. Certainly as valid as mine, the author. In reading Yellow Earth we are sharing an experience but viewing it through different windows.

So I changed the photos to look like sketches, slightly indistinct, with not too many details. But it was still my image, colouring the writing. I needed an alternative. And would have been disappointed if I could not conceive a more interesting proposition. The alternative I chose was an image to represent each character. I believe each image reveals something about the character in a more alluring, thoughtful way than their portrait. In sharing our revelations and views we enhance the image and character.

Some links between the character and their representation are more direct and obvious than others, whilst some are more tangental and subtle, revealing an essence about the inner character and motivation.

The main text is essentially quotations from Yellow Earth with a few tweaks for context. I think it very likely you will see not only what we all see but much of what we have not yet discerned. I would be very interested to see your views.

 

See Yellow Earth Characters.