Pages

Sunday, 1 November 2020

Enriching Character


How is everyone coping with isolation, regarding the Rona crisis.

I’d love to say I’ve used this precious time to write my novel, but… I can’t. I have written things, though, and taken part in Zoom meetings, talked with family, keeping in touch, and working from home.

Yes, I can see your heads shaking, at all the procrastination, but it hasn’t been in vain, and while my hands have been otherwise engaged, my brain has been thinking of characters, plots, and short story writing.

My television has hummed and warmed itself, to life, after a four-year drought of blankness. I’ve serial binged more shows than I thought possible on Netflix, studying new things, and observing how movie characters develop, and work within visual plots.

And, I’ve come to the conclusion, we need to instil our characters with memorable phrases, and traits. Depending on your genre of course—you don’t want your detective giggling over the dead body, but then again, a nervous reaction to death, a coroner’s assistant, a nervous Watson, to a brilliant medical Holmes.

I always equate Stephen King's Delores Clairborne with ‘dust bunnies’ when in fact it was her employer Vera, in her demented fear, who coined the phrase, and so, too have I equated ‘dust bunnies’ in my own life, when fearful situations arise.

It brings to mind other movie legends:

  • Inspector Callinan ‘Go ahead make my day’ in Dirty Harry.
  • Terminator boldly asserting ‘I'll be back

outdoors character
I’m talking about movie characters, but it’s the same principle, your readers need to visualise your characters. If they're not real to you, they won't be real to your readers either.

We want our characters be:

1. rich
2. vibrant
3. memorable
4. to think of them as real people.

As our plot pans out you want your readers to be crying, laughing, and emphasising with your main characters.

I relish a good murder, and detective series are a good way to form character, giving you a chance to see how each character works within the story.

Detective plots:

  • are directive
  • they pan out over time, and
  • give you a feel of certain character traits
  • how they will interact with others,
Television is almost as good as coffee shop stalking, which unfortunately, we have not been able to do of late.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my revamped blog.

Come join me here.

How do you develop your characters?





No comments:

Post a Comment

Coach to Author

 Hi Everyone, If you're interested in writing your coaching book could you please complete my short survey. This is new it now allows fo...