Getting to know you ...
Yesterday's prompt was an escapist exercise in empathising with a character as a person rather than a stereotype. I did try to think of a 'rock and roll' writer yesterday, someone so charismatic on stage that you could easily imagine stepping into their shoes. Who have we got? Salman Rushdie has just been voted Nobel writer of writers hasn't he? But whether you buy into notions of genius or not it is pretty difficult to come up with a writer as universally known and visually recognisable as Madonna. Are there any foxy writers? Why is it painting, music, acting - all these art forms attract hot artists. Why can't I reel off a list of authors with similar ease? Do we all have faces for radio as they say? We had Byron ... Joanna Trollope recently did a photoshoot in fishnets ... but I don't have a single writer pin-up, do you?
I sometimes think of fleshing out the people in my work as starting a conversation. I've mentioned previously that in the early stages of a book, you might find it interesting to cast the characters using recognisable movie stars or random models cut from magazines. At the moment as I'm cranking up my mind ready to start on the next book I have a pin board full of visual prompts (rather than pictures of hot writers sadly. Actually I tell a lie - I do have a postcard of Colette pinned up, but because I love her work and the quote not the photo: 'What a wonderful life I've had! I only wish I'd realized it sooner.'). The characters grow and change from the original, take on their physical quirks, but I like having someone 'real' to work with. My new heroine has Angelina Jolie as her starting point (the character's a strong but beautiful, maternal woman raising a baby alone in a strange country after her husband leaves her for her best friend - and who doesn't love the photos with the new twins). You have the little dance with the character at the beginning - the 'could we be friends?', finding common ground, discovering the things that make them unique. Stewart Ferris, author of a couple of handy reference books I have on the shelves (How to be a Writer and How to get published), has an excellent character questionnaire you can download from his site. It's a useful way to start the character 'skeleton', the person you are going to hang the story on. As a writer you may already know some of the back story on them, but I love the alchemy that happens - the moment when the characters pick up the story and run. If you start explaining to non-writers the process where once a story gathers its own momentum and the characters begin to do things that surprise you, you get 'that' look. The 'ok, I knew there was something funny about you, but you're saying there are people in your head and they talk to you ...' There is no need to put all of this background information in - somehow it just makes a difference knowing it, and it gives your characters a real sense of depth. I think it was Hemingway who said it's as much about what you leave out as what you put in.
TODAY'S PROMPT: Creating believable characters involves letting go of yourself and stepping into their shoes. It involves empathy, sympathy, really connecting with them. You need to know them better than they know themselves. We've said before that a lot of writers are generalists - I think a fair number of us probably acted, or at least love film and stage productions. If you are stuck with a character's development, get out of your chair and act them out (it is ok you are an audience of one). Say the dialogue, prop a mirror up on your desk and glance up - what emotion is there on your face? Get out of your chair, and into their shoes - it may just give your work the kiss of life.
I sometimes think of fleshing out the people in my work as starting a conversation. I've mentioned previously that in the early stages of a book, you might find it interesting to cast the characters using recognisable movie stars or random models cut from magazines. At the moment as I'm cranking up my mind ready to start on the next book I have a pin board full of visual prompts (rather than pictures of hot writers sadly. Actually I tell a lie - I do have a postcard of Colette pinned up, but because I love her work and the quote not the photo: 'What a wonderful life I've had! I only wish I'd realized it sooner.'). The characters grow and change from the original, take on their physical quirks, but I like having someone 'real' to work with. My new heroine has Angelina Jolie as her starting point (the character's a strong but beautiful, maternal woman raising a baby alone in a strange country after her husband leaves her for her best friend - and who doesn't love the photos with the new twins). You have the little dance with the character at the beginning - the 'could we be friends?', finding common ground, discovering the things that make them unique. Stewart Ferris, author of a couple of handy reference books I have on the shelves (How to be a Writer and How to get published), has an excellent character questionnaire you can download from his site. It's a useful way to start the character 'skeleton', the person you are going to hang the story on. As a writer you may already know some of the back story on them, but I love the alchemy that happens - the moment when the characters pick up the story and run. If you start explaining to non-writers the process where once a story gathers its own momentum and the characters begin to do things that surprise you, you get 'that' look. The 'ok, I knew there was something funny about you, but you're saying there are people in your head and they talk to you ...' There is no need to put all of this background information in - somehow it just makes a difference knowing it, and it gives your characters a real sense of depth. I think it was Hemingway who said it's as much about what you leave out as what you put in.
TODAY'S PROMPT: Creating believable characters involves letting go of yourself and stepping into their shoes. It involves empathy, sympathy, really connecting with them. You need to know them better than they know themselves. We've said before that a lot of writers are generalists - I think a fair number of us probably acted, or at least love film and stage productions. If you are stuck with a character's development, get out of your chair and act them out (it is ok you are an audience of one). Say the dialogue, prop a mirror up on your desk and glance up - what emotion is there on your face? Get out of your chair, and into their shoes - it may just give your work the kiss of life.
