Of all the locations to hunker down for a tropical cyclone, a small island off the coast of Auckland wouldn't be my first pick. But for me and 14 other apprentice novelists, a storm couldn't stop us learning from iconic Irish novelist and playwright Niall Williams.
I've done my share of writing workshops, but nothing has unlocked the mystery of fiction quite like the days I just spent in a tin-roofed barn, shouting with delight over the pummelling rain.
One insight feels so important - and universal - it would be criminal not to share.
Character is revealed through behaviour
Niall Williams is a character-driven writer. His method echoes Greek philosopher Heraclitus: character is fate. Story, Niall stressed repeatedly, is seeded in characters - the more we reveal of them, the more the story unfolds. And not because of what a character says or feels... because of what they do.
Character is revealed through specific, dynamic behaviours: the peculiar, irreducible ways a person moves through the world. There are a million people just like you - age, appearance, occupation - but none of them have your particular quirks, because none of them have your particular story.
Weak writers tell us what a character is thinking or feeling, often buried in cliche. "She was nervous to see him," they might pen. "Her stomach churned." or "Her heart leapt into her throat."
Strong writers give us two more powerful things: specific descriptions and unexplained behaviours. From these, we make up our own minds. "Ann paced the same two floorboards for each of the 19 minutes Todd was late," they might write. "She stopped every few minutes to fix her hair in the cracked hall mirror. Licking the pad of her right thumb, she ran it firmly along each eyebrow, before wiping her hand down the front of her jeans."
The more specificity of detail and the more unique the behaviour, the better we understand the character - not as a trope, but as an individual. To truly round a character, many writing teachers teach that the author must interrogate their character's deepest desire.
But Niall's advice is much simpler: to understand what a character wants, you must watch what they do and how they do it.
Of course.
The purpose of a system is what it does
In the words of systems theorist Stafford Beer: the purpose of a system is what it does. To understand what a system is designed for, said Beer, don't read the vision documents, the business case, or the press releases. Look at the outcomes it produces.
Outcomes are not side effects. To understand a character, person, organisation, or system, you need only observe what happens.
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What this means for you
This idea has important implications for how we move through the world, the simplest of which is this: when in doubt, don't believe the exception or the explanation - believe the pattern. This is true in every zone of your life.
- In relationships: believe who people show you they are. Pay no mind to promises, explanations, or intentions. If someone intends to be honest but repeatedly lies, they are dishonest. If someone is kind when it’s easy but cruel when it’s not, they are unkind. If they are totally present when it suits them but ghost when you need them, they are unreliable. People's character is made of what they consistently do. Make relationship choices accordingly.
- At work: observe decisions, not narratives. Ignore the posters and internal comms. You best discover your organisation's strategy by watching what is done, and how it happens. Priorities, values and operating principles are clearest in everyday decisions - what's funded, delayed, rewarded, and ignored. Your strategy lives in your actions. To achieve different outcomes, require or incentivise different choices.
- To solve problems: notice trends, not outliers. In my local government work, Councillors often use anecdotes to allege a broken system. The unfixable pothole! The delayed consent! But we must be cautious about exceptions. Large and complex systems always have unsolved problems. Savvy Councillors ask: What is the overall success rate? Are most requests completed on time? Are things getting better, not worse? A true understanding comes from trends, not outliers.
- In systems: judge outcomes, not promises. Whatever a system consistently generates is not a bug, it is a feature of that system. If your workplace regularly produces burnout, exclusion, or harm, those aren't failures of the system, they're inevitabilities. If a justice, health or tax system generates consistent inequality, that is not a bug, it is a design principle. Different outcomes require new rules, relationships, and resource distribution.
- In life: reach goals with action. You don’t need to ask what you value - your life already shows you. Interrogate what you do, not what you want. Your spending reveals your values. Your calendar reveals your goals. Your attention reveals your priorities. These habits and patterns determine our lives - and change requires consistent, aligned action, repeated over time.
In fiction and in life, there is no great mystery: what we do is who we are.
... Who are you?
Til next week,
AM
P.S. Learn more about Niall Williams.
