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Tag Archives: Characters

Goldmine for Characters

27 Feb

I love airports. The hustle and bustle of people from so many different places. Where do they all come from? Where are they all going? Why do they dress the way they do? What language are they speaking? I can think of few places better to study people. A large shopping mall would be a second option.

Take your notebook and sit down with a cold drink where you can see people as they pass by. Pick one and describe them, in detail. Be sure to include small details, not just their height and weight. Do they have any scars or visible tattoos? Might they have some hidden? Go ahead take a guess. I do not recommend you go up and ask them, unless of course, you are an extreme extrovert and don’t mind a hard slap in the face.

Now, think about what they are doing in the airport. Where are they going and why. C’mon, you’re creative. It’s easy. What sort of intrigue are they involved in? Did they just have a fight with their boss? Spouse? Stranger? What about? What conflict drives them? OMG isn’t this fun?

With a little luck you can hear them talk to someone else. How does their voice sound? Is it high or low? Does it have texture? Is there a dialect you can pick up on. What are they talking about? Business, Family matters? Corporate politics? Write it down. Don’t sit there staring at them. You don’t want to be arrested for stalking, do you?

Sometimes you have to write fast. They move in and out of your life so fast. That’s okay, there are lots more. If you can’t fill up a notebook during a two-hour layover in O’Hare or La Guardia, you are not trying very hard. Now the hard part is over.

Here is the fun. During the two and a half hour flight to anywhere, look through your notes. Try to regain the image of each character. Think about the story you are writing. Where can this character fit in? Some times it’s hard. But remember, there are lots of characters in your story. They may be minor but why not let them have the back story you created. Most of the time I come up with several good to great characters that can easily be inserted into my story.

I will leave you with one piece of advice. The next time you are traveling through an airport and you happen to see a man scribbling away in a notebook who occasionally glances your way. Have no fear. It is only me, adding to my list of characters.

Have a nice day!

 
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Posted by on February 27, 2012 in Other Strangeness

 

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The Keep – Flash #2

15 Feb

Here is another Flash. The prompt for this flash was a first line provided by another member of my writer’s group. The prompt was: “The cat tensed and then leapt…”

The hunting cat tensed and then leapt for Yursi’s throat. Yursi dodged but the agility of the cat allowed one paw to swat Yursi on the back as it flew past. The additional momentum threw Yursi to the ground. Before she could come to her knees, the cat was on her.

One paw on her chest and one on her right arm effective pinned Yursi underneath the one hundred and fifty pound animal. The cat bared its fangs and hissed as only a cat can. Its fetid breath made Yursi gag which spoiled the spell that was on her lips. Yursi struggled to force the cat off but it was too strong. The cat’s gapping jaws reached toward Yursi’s face. Yursi closed her eyes as she could not imagine this would be her death.

The rough tongue started at Yursi’s chin and, in one long lick, covered her face with cat drool. Yursi opened her eyes. The cat still pinned her in place but it seemed to be smiling.

     “That’s enough.”

     The voice sounded frail yet the cat obediently moved off Yursi and walked a few strides away. It then sat down and began grooming itself.

     Yursi rolled to her feet and looked around for the source of the voice. Leaning against the trunk of a large oak tree was an old man about Yursi’s height. Thin grey hair covered his head and his angular jaw had grey stubble.  A curved pipe was clamped between his lips and a column of blue-grey smoke curled lazily up into the tree branches above.

 
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Posted by on February 15, 2012 in Short Stories

 

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Heros and Villains

06 Feb

Which is harder to create and make real, your hero or your villain? Almost everyone I speak with says that villains are much more fun to write. “You can do anything and get away with it.”  “Let you mean side take over.” You can be despicable and no one gets hurt.” Well, I must be the odd ball. One of my greatest struggles is writing a believable villain. Now, I know that my antagonist must be at least as bad as my protagonist is good.  But, for some reason my bad guys keep coming off as cliché’s. The truth is that getting into the head of a psychopath is just plain scary. I’m not an evil person. I like to think that I’m a pretty nice guy. How in the world can I know what’s going on inside the head of a maniac? To borrow someone else’s quote, “Mean people suck.”

The good news is that over the past couple of months there has been a slight breakthrough. While doing some freewriting, I came upon the Keys that unlocked my antagonists. In one case it was a conversation with his mother-in-law regarding money and the fact that he can’t support her daughter the way he should. In the other case, it was growing up seeing the cleaning crews remove dead bodies of street people from the gutters of the slum each morning and finding out those bodies were taking to a man who was using them for interesting experiments. In each case there was a defining moment caused the individual to begin acting in an “evil” way. NOTE: For the record, I believe that evil is relative and is based on an individuals frame of reference. 

The Key is, what was the set of circumstances that set the antagonist on the path they walk? All of us, no matter how good and pacific we may think we are, if given the right set of circumstances, are capable of horrendous acts. This is the truth. If you do not believe me, watch the evening news or ask anyone who has been in a combat zone, worked in law enforcement, or emergency medicine. So, what is it that can make a nice, sane person turn “evil”? That is the question that I have been asking my characters. I ask them to remember their defining moment and then free write until I have enough material to explain their actions.

So, my friends, I have two questions for you: Do you prefer to write about your hero or your villain? How do you get inside your villain’s head?

 
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Posted by on February 6, 2012 in Other Strangeness

 

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