Who is he? Notes on characterization.
One third of the way through writing my next novel, Mycroft Holmes popped into the scene.
Although Doctor Watson greatly enjoys describing the scene and especially London, he also knows that characters drive a story. I have published one short story with the Holmes brothers and set it at the beginning of Arthur Conan Doyle’s “The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle.”
One may think that Mycroft Holmes would be an easier character to draw, than say my girl genius, Rachel Holmes. But that’s not so. At least not for me. Mycroft’s character does have a few paragraphs of reference, created by Doctor Doyle. Yet he is featured in only two of the doctor’s sixty stories. Plus as with any Sherlock Holmes character, an author must contend with the expectations of her readers and who Mycroft Holmes is for them. Whereas, Rachel and her family were drawn freehand with only the restraints of the story.
Delving into any character, and especially that of Mr Mycroft Holmes takes many forms of research.
- DOYLE’S ORIGINAL STORIES: He was 7 years older than Sherlock Holmes. A much larger and stouter man. His head was so masterful in its brow, so alert in its steel-grey, deep-set eyes, so firm in its lips, and so subtle in its play of expression, that after the first glance one forgot the gross body and remembered only the dominant mind. He possessed in a larger degree the faculty of observation and deduction than his brother Sherlock Holmes.
He lodged in Pall Mall, and walked round the corner into Whitehall every morning and back every evening. From year’s end to year’s end he took no other exercise, and was seen nowhere else, except in the Diogenes Club, which was just opposite his rooms.
He took snuff and was one of the founders of the Diogenes Club and one of its queerest members. He had an extraordinary faculty for figures, and had some office under the British Government. He drew four hundred and fifty pounds a year, remained a subordinate, had no ambitions of any kind, would receive neither honour nor title, but remained the most indispensable man in the country. Sherlock said that occasionally he WAS the British Government.
His government position was unique. He has made it for himself. There has never been anything like it before, nor will be again. He has the tidiest and most orderly brain, with the greatest capacity for storing facts, of any man living. The conclusions of every department were passed to him, and he was the central exchange, the clearing-house, which made out the balance. His specialism was omniscience. When a Minister needed sophisticated information only Mycroft could elaborate, and say off-hand how each factor would affect the other. In that great brain of his everything was pigeon-holed, and could be handed out in an instant. Again and again his word has decided national policy. He lived in it. He thought of nothing else. Except of course, his brother, Sherlock.
2. ACTORS WHO PLAYED MYCROFT: Stephen Fry’s definitive portrayal of Mycroft Holmes in Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes The Game of Shadows. Fry doesn’t just play Mycroft as an English Gentleman during Victorian times, as most do. Like Jeremy Brett’s portrayal of Sherlock Holmes, he gives us a view into the man’s soul plus his relationship with Sherlock. One doesn’t always know what Mycroft will do, yet his choices are always worth watching. Christopher Lee’s handsome portrayal in Billy Wilder’s The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes. Charles Gray’s slightly campy portrayal in the Granada Sherlock Holmes series. Robert Morley’s solid portrayal in the B-movie, A Study in Terror.
3. THE VOICE OF MYCROFT: Even though he has shown up in my story, as characters are wont to do – Mycroft’s voice still eluded me. So I pulled out my Characterization Questionnaire. Below are only nine of many possible questions. If it is your villain that you are studying, be prepared to ask many more questions.
a. What was your childhood like? Fun playing games with Sherlock. At School, horrible, until I figured out the politics and got my revenge.
b. Who were your heroes growing up? Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington. Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger.
c. What did you want to be when you grew up? Just what I am.
d. What is your biggest fear? That Sherlock will be done in by the dangerous villains he battles.
e. What is your greatest strength? That Sherlock is my brother.
f. What is your favorite way to spend a weekend? Relaxing in silence at the Diogenes Club.
g. What is your current job, and do you like it? Yes, and I do it better than anyone.
h. What is your ideal life? I’m living it.
i. What is one moment from your past that affects you today? The day Sherlock was born.
These are just a few of the ways to get to know your characters. Remember, the reason for these questions is to help you write. Not to get lost in research. Pick a question and let it lead you to your writing, then see where it takes you.
Always remember that no matter what anyone says about writing–the answer is to write!
Gretchen Altabef is an award-winning author of sensational new Sherlock Holmes mysteries written from a woman’s perspective. THESE SCATTERED HOUSES brings Holmes to New York during his ‘great hiatus’. REMARKABLE POWER OF STIMULUS follows in London. During the investigation of a gruesome murder, Sherlock seizes a second chance with THE woman, and they marry in anarchist-ridden Paris. The series continues with FIVE MILES OF COUNTRY. Holmes is called in by Thomas Edison to solve a murder in his unique film studio. While Mrs Irene Adler-Holmes triumphs on Broadway despite the antics of a theater ghost. THE KEYS OF DEATH is a genesis story of 221B Baker Street and its inhabitants, as told by Mrs Hudson. Sherlock Holmes FAR & WIDE mystifies with nine stories and one play, including the award-winning “Sir Arthur And The Time Machine”.
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