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Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Writing Down the Bones: Digging Deep with your Characters

I found another wonderful unnamed handout about building your characters and it made me think. 

How well do we know our characters anyway? We’ve all been told to know the characters worst fear. That normally is part of the plot so is their deepest desire but does that make the character three dimensional? The author asked some great questions to help you kick start your character development.

What does your character’s bedroom look like? What color is the spread on the bed? Is it neat or messy? What decorates the walls? What is on the night stand? Any books? What are the titles? Do they have any ailments that might make them keep medication on that nightstand?
What does your heroine have in her purse? Why? What size is it? How much did she pay for it? Is it heavy or light? You can ask the same thing about your hero. What does he have in his pockets? Does he carry a briefcase? If so what is in it?

What about the bathroom? What type of towels do they use? Toothpaste? Mouthwash? Are there perfumes in there? How about their brand of deodorant?

What is the make and model of their car? Or is it a truck? What do they have in their trunk? Is it a stick or automatic? Are their tags up to date?

How do they handle new people? Do they judge them off of their looks? Are they a good judge of character? Does meeting new people put them on edge?

Does your character scare easily? Are they shy? Afraid of physical contact? Or one of those people who violate personal space? Do they make eye contact? Talk loud? Talk too much?

This should give you a good jumping off point. I’m sure you can come up with a lot more questions to make your characters three dimensional.



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