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What’s in Character – Natural Environment

17 Mar

We started with the heart of the character, that being their core personality type. Then we added the skin which is made up of physical appearance. Now we need to start adding the bones and muscle that will make our character move and breathe.

Natural environmental factors such as birth order, family issues, education, talents, love language, and self-esteem are critical aspects to consider when you are creating a character with depth. As we look at each of these new layers, remember to go back to the core personality and see how this individual would be affected by the new layer.

Let’s start with birth order. Volumes of books have been written on the subject of family dynamics and the personalities of specific birthing order. Suffice to say that there are well-documented personality characteristics based on when a character joins the family unit. The oldest child tends to mirror the parents. Some call these children the golden children. The middle children tend to be adaptable and are considered the diplomats. I call them spies and instigators. The “babies of the family” tend to be overly indulged but are usually charming and … unusually handsome. 😉 Sorry, couldn’t help myself. These are very broad statements and are not carved in stone. However, they can be used to assist in developing how a character reacts to authority or a subordinate.

What kind of family dynamic the character was brought up in can have a huge impact on their abilities to cope with outside influences. Was the character an only child of a drug addict mother and an abusive father? Or, was it fourth out of ten kids with a family that was close-knit and fully supportive of each other? Remember to consider the character’s core personality. How would each of these family situations affect the personality you chose for your character.

How would the Twilight saga have changed if Bella Swan, the protagonist, had been the youngest of three children in a family that did everything together? Would she still have felt like she was born to be a vampire? Perhaps and perhaps not. However, the story would have been quite different, don’t you think?

How much formal education does the character possess? Did they graduate from the sixth grade or do they have several PhD’s from MIT. Perhaps the character dropped out of eighth grade and has been living on the streets of a major city until the age of twenty. They probably have street smarts galore instead of being book smart. This could have its advantages. Once again, look back to the core personality. What is the effect on the character.

Does your character have any special talents? These can be story related or not. An assassin who is also a cello virtuoso. Or, a coal miner who paints portraits. Or, from real life, a homeless man with the perfect radio personality voice. Talents can be obvious or hidden. They can be a driving force in the story or a side note. However, a special talent can and usually does have some impact on character development. For example, the shy stutterer that becomes the country music superstar when he learns that doesn’t stutter when he sings. You’re a writer, use your imagination. This alone can be the genesis of a story. For our purposes though, a talent adds depth and realism to a character.

A while ago, I was reading “Plot versus Character” by Jeff Gerke. In the section on character building he talked about a layer called Love Language. This one was new to me, but after reading this section a light bulb came on for me. I saw how it would affect my characters, but also how I am affected. Mr. Gerke referenced Dr. Gary Chapman’s theory that there are five love languages. They are: “Words of affirmation”, “Quality time”, “Receiving gifts”, “Acts of service”, and “Physical touch”. Each person has preferences as to how they give love and receive love. A quick definition is in order.

Words of affirmation – These people say the words. the feeling of love is spoken.

Quality time – These people show love by providing complete and undivided attention. They set aside special times to be with those they love.

Receiving gifts – These people show their affection by giving thoughtful gifts.

Acts of service – These people show love by doing things that they feel help their loved ones. Such as, cleaning the dishes, vehicle maintenance, watching the kids.

Physical touch – These are the huggers, the touchy feeley people. You know someone who always touches your arm when they talk to you or hug you hello and good-bye versus and wave or a handshake.

People can use any and all of these to send and receive feelings. However, each of us has a preferred method to send and a preferred method to receive affection. They are not always the same. Mixing and matching these can be fun. I am thinking of the lumberjack who gives everyone he meets a bear hug, being introduced to the British Queen. That would be interesting to watch.

Each of the layers we have discussed can affect and be affected by the core personality. Each of them will have an affect of the character’s self-esteem. How the character sees themselves may be very different from how others see them. Do they like themselves? Do they feel incomplete? Do they loathe who they are but feel unable to change? Very powerful stuff here. Take your time and think this through.

If you’ve been taking notes about your character as we go, you should have a number of pages filled with ideas. Your character is beginning to take shape, move, and breath. Next time we will add layers relating to life experiences and the external environment.

 
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Posted by on March 17, 2013 in What's in Character

 

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What’s in Character – Physical

04 Mar

Last time we gave your new character a core personality. If you have completed your research on your character type, you should have several pages of material that will help you in the days to come. However, there is much more to a character than their core personality. Today, we will give them some physical characteristics. As we work through this topic, remember that physical appearance is only the window dressing for your character.

When the chromosomes came together to create your character, there were two sets. make a decision as to whether your character has an X and a Y or two X’s. Depending upon your story, a different gender for your character can change the whole look and feel of the story. Writing cross-gender can be interesting for the writer. Some writers feel more comfortable using their own gender for the protagonist. It seems natural and can be somewhat easier. However, we’re not talking about you, we are talking about your character here. Other writers feel the gender of a character makes no difference. I agree that actions during the story can be accomplished by either gender. However, we are talking about the effects of gender on character development. Based on the personality type, how would the character be different, other than plumbing, if they were a different gender?

The potential race of your character can play a huge role in the way they see and interact the world. Once again don’t just consider race alone. How would the core personality respond to the effects of being a different race. As with gender, any race can act and interact any way the writer wishes. Stepping outside stereotypes can be very interesting and beneficial to the uniqueness of the story. I know of a particular author that chose to write about a Dark Elf, one of the most despised creatures in all fantasy. That character is now one of the most recognized and popular in the genre. Differences in racial morphology, especially if you are writing fantasy, can give the character a very unique perspective. More of morphology later.

The age of you character comes in two distinct varieties, actual and projected. Both can play differing roles in character building. Actual age should be considered during many character building stages. It is especially important to consider when building the layers which include life experiences and traumatic events. A child experiencing the death of a friend may deal with it differently than an adult. consider the core personality as well and things get twisted even more. For instance, how would a thinking extrovert child react to seeing its best friend killed in a drive-by shooting? Now make you character an adult sensitive introvert. How would they respond?

I will say two things about physical attractiveness. First and most important, attractiveness is in the eye of the beholder. Ever hear that before? Second, and this relates directly to the first one, a vast majority of people are average looking. That’s by definition. So, consider not only how your character looks, but what they find attractive in others. Most of us see our own physical flaws more clearly than anyone else. We also tend to not see or ignore the physical flaws in those we care about. Decide how your character’s personality type will view their own physical appearance. How will they react to those they find unattractive. Will they react with pity, arrogance, compassion, etc.

From the writer’s point of view, the general attractiveness of the character is not as important as the actual physical features. Face shape, body shape, eyes, hair, ears, complexion and any combination thereof can influence the character and the reader. What do you see when I give this description.

The man was a barrel with legs. A large round bald head sat squarely on his shoulders. A roll of fat protruded on top of his collar where his neck should have been. The roll disappeared into four chins in front with a thin black mustache and goatee framing thin lips.

How would you react to this character? How does this character see himself? Now place this physical description on a few different personality types and see what you get.

Now let’s add one more layer. Take this man ad put him in a $1,000 three-piece suit and $500 shoes. Does your view of him change? Now let’s say he is wearing a long purple robe with a jeweled crown on his head. How about a Speedo and a sunburn? Ouch, that even hurt my eyes. Sorry.

How the character dresses and how they groom themselves can also be affected by that pesky personality type. Are they meticulous? Are they flashy? Are they a slob? Why?

Okay, so far we have given the character a base personality. We have determined their gender, race, and age. We have decided on their physical appearance and what physical attributes they find attractive. And, we have dressed them appropriately for their personality. So far, so good. These are some of the tags and traits the writer can use to help the reader see the character.

I caution you. If you stop here, like most writer’s do, you miss the things about a character which are most important to your character and potentially, your story.

In the next post we will add other natural environmental factors such as birth order, family issues, education, talents, love language, and self-esteem.

If you are building a character as we go along, please let me know how it’s going. I would love to know. Also, if you would like me to dive deeper on any portion of this exercise, I would be happy to do so.

 
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Posted by on March 4, 2013 in What's in Character

 

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Actress and the Warlock Part V

24 Feb

This is continuation of a story that started as a writing exercise, My Scene. It is coming in flashes, both literally and figuratively.

Note: I deliberately skipped ahead one scene here. The skipped scene involves mostly dialogue which is difficult for me to write in a flash. Since it will be so critical to the end of the story, I thought it best to separate it out and spend some extra time on it. I hope you understand and are not too angry with me. So with that in mind, I move on to the next “island”.

A quick background: I am Derek Nantan, a North American Marshal in the service of the Wizard King. My territory ranges from the continental divide in the west to roughly Chicago in the east. I was tasked with helping Amy Hatcher, an Oscar-winning actress, by ridding her of a stalker that a local shaman suspects of being a warlock.

The sun set before Amy and her staff had finished telling their stories. Amy dismissed them for the evening which left the two of us sitting alone in the living room. I stared into the fire, but out of the corner of my eye, I saw Amy was looking at me. We sat that way for several minutes before Amy spoke.

“Are you really a wizard?” she asked. “I mean, can you perform real magic?”

I smiled without taking my eyes off the yellow flames that danced above red coals. For an instant I thought about waving my hand and extinguishing the fire or creating a glowing ball of light in my hand. However, magic uses energy and wasting it on needless displays is never an intelligent move so, I turned to meet her gaze. My smile faded as I saw the worry on her face. This was no place for a smartass comment.

I simply said, “Yes.”

Large brown eyes continued to look at me, urging me to go on and explain. I did not. Amy squinted for an instant as if making a decision. Then she sighed heavily and looked to the fire.

“The sheriff said there wasn’t anything he could do until a crime was committed. Deputy Torres was the one who recommended I talk to Puma.” Amy’s shoulders slumped as she continued. “The old man came out and hung those skulls on the fence and gate but the animals kept appearing.”

Amy covered her face in the hands and shook her head. “Those poor animals.” She looked up at me and worry was etched in her face. “And now they’re showing up near the house. If you can’t stop this, I don’t know what I’ll do if anyone who works for me gets hurt.”

“I won’t let that happen,” I said. I hate making promises I’m not sure I can keep. But, right now she needed some hope, something to hang on to. “I’ll find who’s responsible and put an end to it.”

She looked back to the fire nodding her head, “Thank you Derek. I’m glad you’re here.”

I looked out the large windows. Dark was rapidly approaching. The cloud cover would make any light from the last quarter moon non-existent. I needed to get a lay of the land and determine what I was actually dealing with. No time like the present.

“Amy,” I said drawing her attention away from the flames. “Try and get some rest. I’m going to have a look around. make sure your staff stays inside until I get back.”

“Okay,” she said as we left the chairs. “Please be careful.”

“Absolutely,” I said as I headed back to my room.

I pulled on moccasins to replace my boots. They were quiet and comfortable. More important tonight, they did not disturb the flow of energy between the earth and my feet. My grey wool shirt went on over my flannel one. Layers worked best to keep the desert night chill at bay. The revolver went into my dufflebag and was replaced on my hip by a six-inch fighting knife. No self-respecting warrior would be caught dead without his knife and my father had trained me basic knife-fighting before I learned to read and write. Lastly, I grabbed the large Apache Tear stone, that was my power orb and headed out into the night.

The last few streaks of light disappeared behind the San Juan Mountains to the west. The remaining clouds  covered the stars and the coming new moon was not going to add much light to the landscape. It was going to be a dark night.Only the security light on the six-car garage and the lamps at the drive-way gate broke up the blackness that tried to envelope the countryside. I slid into the shadows and headed out along the south fence line.

Amy’s ranch kept the natural landscape instead of trying to grow high maintenance grass everywhere. The smoked buffalo hide moccasins provided good protection for my feet against the sharp rocks and thorns of the prickly pears. Toe-heel steps allowed me to keep my eyes on the fence. As my feet felt for obstacles that might make noise or trip me, I reached out with my senses, reading the magical energies that flow through all things.

After about twenty minutes, I turned north at the fence corner. My internal alarm went off and I froze. An instant later talons brushed the top of my head as the owl sailed over. Even then, I never heard it. That’s why owls are the supreme nocturnal hunters. If I had been a mouse, my death would have come swiftly, without warning. As it reached the third post, it swerved and flared its wings as if attacking something in the air. Something squealed as the owl then plunged to the ground. Its wings spread and its head was down in a typical mantling posture over whatever it had taken.

“Ouch, ouch, ouch. Those things are sharp,” said a high-pitched voice as I approached.

The owl’s meter-wide wingspan blocked my view of its prey. But, I could clearly hear a voice that sounded like a child’s after taking a hit from a helium balloon.

“Aw, c’mon. You don’t wanna eat me. I don’t have much meat on me.” The voice squeaked again as the owl shifted its weight. “Ow. You’d only need to puke up my bones later.”

I stepped around the owl’s wingtip and couldn’t help but smile. Firmly pinned to the ground by the owl’s talons was a very rumpled sprite. Though larger than the owl’s normal prey, the sprite was still outweighed by several ounces. That and the fact that one of the owl’s talons was poised over its throat kept the sprite from struggling.

“Well, well,” I said as I squatted down next to the owl. “What is it that you have there, Lola?”

The owl turned its head towards me and then turned back down towards the sprite.

“Yeah, it must be ready slow for you to catch it in mid-air.”

The sprite looked up at me with a serious frown.

“Can you get this bird off of me?” the sprite asked.

“No.”

The sprite’s eyes went wide. “But…but…you know her.”

“She is a creature with free will. She is hungry and you were too slow to escape her,” I said, my smile now gone. “It is her right to decide what to do with you.”

The sprite looked up at the owl and then back to me, clearly unhappy with the situation.

“Help me…please?”

It looked so pitiful trapped underneath Lola, it was all I could do to keep from laughing. But, laughing at a fey can have repercussions as they have very long lives and they hold grudges.

“On three conditions.”

Somehow the sprite forgot about the owl and put on its game face. Negotiating a deal was very serious business to a fey.

“What conditions?”

“First, once Lola releases you, you will not disappear or fly away until the remaining conditions have been met. Second, you will answer my questions relating to the evil that is affecting the inhabitants of this place.”

I paused to see what reaction I would get. The sprite simply raised its eyebrow.

“And…?” the sprite asked.

“Lastly, you will hold neither Lola nor myself responsible for your current situation and take no action nor cause action to be taken by another,  that might bring harm or mischief to either Lola or myself.”

The sprite winced at the last condition. Clearly, it was already plotting its revenge.

Just then, Lola shifted her weight again and a talon dug into the sprite’s side.

“Ow. Okay, okay, I agree to your conditions. Now get this beast off me.”

I reached out and stroked Lola’s head once. She looked at me and then hopped off the sprite and flew up to roost on the fence post. Her long ears came up and her head turned around as if checking to make sure the coast was clear.

The sprite sat up and straighten its wings.

“Okay, what’s your questions?”

Check out the previous scenes at, Actress and the Warlock Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV.

 
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Posted by on February 24, 2013 in Actress and the Warlock

 

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What’s in Character – Core Personality

18 Feb

This is the first in a series of posts devoted to character creation. I will go deeper than just physical appearance and how a character speaks. During the series, I will tear apart the main character from my short story, “Good Night’s Sleep”.  I will show you how Yursi Sonal was developed.

I do not go through the entire process that follows, for every character in every story. However, all of my major characters are created using this process.

According to modern psychologists, which I am not, each of us has a core personality. It is part of our DNA and is the base line for who we are. Everything that we experience whether it is physical, mental, or emotional is processed by and layered to this core personality.

There are a multitude of tests to determine which core type we fit into. Each will provide slightly differing results. I started using one such famous test in particular, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator test. The results of this test indicate four important areas that make up a character’s personality:

Introvert(I) vs. Extrovert(E)

Sensing(S) vs. Intuition(N)

Thinking(T) vs. Feeling(F)

Judgement(J) vs. Perception)P)

This yields sixteen potential combinations of letters. E.g. INTJ, ESFP, or ENTP. Each combination describes a basic temperament for the individual.

As an example, let’s take my character Yursi Sonal. When the chromosomes that created this character came together, the result was a ISTP. That means Introvert, Sensing, Thinking, Perception. The full description would take several pages to list. But, the full description is important to refer back to, so I keep it close to my computer at all times.  For now, we’ll shorten the description to: 

Impulsive and sometimes naive, generous, tactical, ignores rules and can be insubordinate to authority, takes risks and loves to play, subject to boredom outside of the job, requires a long leash.

So, this is the core personality that all of Yursi’s experiences will be processed by and layered onto. The way the character views their gender, birth order, physical appearance, their family status, geographic location, external environment, education, life experiences, employment, financial values, etc. will all be affected by this core set of traits. In upcoming posts, we will begin to add these “layers” to the core. Each layer will add to the character’s personality

If you are creating a main character, I recommend you consider this as your first step. An invaluable reference book for writer’s who want to use this method to create characters is, “Please Understand Me II” by David Keirsey. Even if you don’t go to this much effort to create your characters, it’s a good reference for character behavior.

As a side note, take an established character and ask them the Myers-Briggs questions to see what core type the character is. If they are honest with their answers, you might be very surprised at the results!

There are other, easier ways come up with a character. However, as you will see, when we build a character using this type of baseline and layering life experiences on top, we will end up with a living, breathing character that can and will respond to any challenge that comes their way in a real and believable way. Isn’t that what we want from or characters?

 
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Posted by on February 18, 2013 in What's in Character

 

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What’s In Character?

08 Feb

Every story has at least one character. The character can be almost anything. It could be a person, a spider, a tree, a rock, a dragon, a storm, etc. What ever the character is, it has physical and emotional features. It has a point of view, perhaps a history, some kind of future. Most likely, it has a personality, a temperament  even feelings. A story without a character is not a story.

Characters are depicted in different ways by various writers. Some go into lavish detail about how characters look physically while others use virtually no physical description at all. These latter writers rely on the reader to create a mental image of their own based on the character’s actions and dialogue. Even though the physical description never makes it onto the page, I would bet that the writer knows what the character looks like and how they dress. Interesting characters have detailed backgrounds. It’s the character background that I am interested in exploring.

Most of my stories start with a character. My first writings were, in fact, character sketches for role-playing game participants. I enjoy character creation and have approached it from many different angles. Sometimes I start with a physical description, sometimes a profession, sometimes a core personality profile, and sometimes a history. Each one works and very well-rounded layered characters can be created, regardless of where you start. The key thing is, always build more into the character than you will actually use in the story. Sometimes, your characters will go someplace or have to deal with an issue that you may not have thought about when you started writing. If you have a detailed character background, you can easily determine how your character should respond.

Recently, have I tried to write without having a fully fleshed out character to start with. I am finding myself having to re-read previous sections to remind myself what the character said or did. This is time-consuming, so I have started taking notes as I write. I hope the characters turn out okay. we shall see.

My intention is to offer a series of posts devoted to character creation. During the series, I will tear apart the main character from several flash fiction pieces and my short story, “Good Night’s Sleep”.  I will show you how Yursi was developed. I actually created her twice, using two different methods. Each gave slightly different results, as it should be.

I look at character creation like creating a painting. The artist starts with a blank canvas and begins by drawing a pencil sketch, the a base layer of paint is applied. Then, the picture begins to take shape as the artist adds layer upon layer of paint to the canvas. Each layer uses the layer beneath and adds detail to painting until together, all of the layers make up the final image.

I have seen characterization addressed many times in blog format. Usually, it is a brief discussion talking about character tags and traits we use to describe characters within the story. I have posts covering those areas as well. I hope this series will be a deeper dive into the background material where those tags and traits originate.

If you are in the initial stages of a story or have a story with a character that seems flat, I will give you suggestions that may help you bring your characters to life. Along the way, if your character has a major problem area that you would like to discuss, I would be happy to do so. :-).

 
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Posted by on February 8, 2013 in What's in Character

 

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500 a Day (FAD Challenge) in Review

01 Feb

On December 1st, 2012, I started a mini writing challenge proposed by fellow blogger, Shannon M Howell. The challenge was to write 500 words a day for 62 days, (Dec. and Jan.). On one hand that’s a lot fewer words than the 1,667 a day required during NaNo. However, it lasts for twice as long. I thought the number was something I could hit. Also, different types of writing were acceptable, blog posts, magazine articles, Christmas letters, etc. However, the main focus should be on the current WIP.

First the bad news. I missed my goal of 31,000 words. 😦  The reasons, Work, holidays, flu, sound like excuses so I won’t bore you with them.

Now for the good news. Over the past 62 days, I have averaged nearly 350 words a day, added 12,000 words to my WIP novel, and have a good start on a new project. I knew that I don’t write fast. That’s why I never tried NaNo. However, I found out that when my mind and the keyboard do get in sync, I tend to average 500 – 800 words at one sitting. Apparently my mind thinks in blocks of this length. If I then take a break, I can come back a little later (time permitting) and turn out another 500 – 800 words.

The numbers listed above are all well and good. However the best part of this challenge is what I learned about myself as a writer. I found that lunch hours and quiet Saturday mornings at the cabin are my most productive times to write. I am more creative when I am pantsing a scene versus writing from an outline. However, I produce more words from an outline. Either way, I usually write the bare bones of the story during the first pass. Revision is where the five senses are added to description and the plot tension is enhanced.

Having more than one project to work on is good for me in the long run as I get inspired from one story and it carries over to the other one. Also, an epiphany hit me when I realized that evil characters are actually fun to write. Believe it or not, this was new territory for me. It’s about time. Now I can really get going on the middle section of my WIP. “Run thief, run.” Mwaahaahaa!

Most importantly, the experience created some writing habits that I can carry forward. My blog posts have become more regular, for one. Writing every day is not as important as writing on those days when I have determined that I should. However, I do try to write something, even if it’s only 100 words, every day. I’m still working out the best time for me on weekends when I’m not at the cabin. She who must be obeyed stated that if necessary she would start sending me to my room. 😉 You’ve seen my room. That just might be the winning ticket.

All in all this was a good experience. Those who tackle NaNo have my respect, but I will not be joining you in November. I could be talked into the FAD challenge again. Shannon, are you with me? Maybe we can drag some others along for the ride.

Armed with the knowledge gained during this little exercise, I made some realistic goals for 2013. Confidence is high that this year will be a good writing year for me.

 
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Posted by on February 1, 2013 in Musings and Odd Thoughts

 

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Actress and the Warlock Part IV

23 Jan

This is continuation of a story that started as a writing exercise, My Scene. It is coming in flashes, both literally and figuratively.

A quick background: I am Derek Nantan, a North American Marshal in the service of the Wizard King. My territory ranges from the continental divide in the west to roughly Chicago in the east. I was tasked with helping Amy Hatcher, an Oscar-winning actress, by ridding her of a stalker that a local shaman suspects of being a warlock.

For those of you who skipped the last part due to graphic descriptions of an animal carcass, here are the Cliff Notes. Derek and Amy went to see what Ben, a ranch hand, had discovered and found an animal carcass with a warning note attached to it. The note read, “Soon I will come for you.” Also written on the note were several symbols which Derek could not read but looked like sand paintings of some kind.

Fire is a universal cleaner. The problem is, it tends to destroy the article you are trying to clean. However, if applied correctly, it kills disease germs and parasites, it can neutralize some poisons, and can eradicate the remains of many magical spells. It was the later that concerned me. So, I carried the javelina carcass well away from the house and other outbuildings, drenched it in gasoline and burned it. I began to dig a hole in the red clay and sent Hector, the boy who brought me the shovel and gasoline, to my jeep to retrieve the grey wool shoulder bag behind the driver’s seat.

I had finished filing in the shallow grave by the time he returned. I opened the bag and removed a small leather pouch. I took a large pinch of the tobacco within and held it up to each of the four directions beginning in the west and turning clockwise. I touched it to the earth and held the offering to the sky.

“Grandfather, have mercy upon me. I am a pitiful man. I ask that you receive my brother’s spirit as I ask him to forgive my taking his life. I only wished to end his suffering. I ask this not only for myself, but so that the People might live. Ho. Mitake oyasin.”

I cast the tobacco across the place we buried the animal and closed the tobacco pouch.

“Let’s go back to the house,” I said to Hector as I replaced the pouch in the shoulder bag.

I saw tears in his eyes as he nodded to me. I picked up the bag and put my hand on his shoulder as we walked. On the way, Hector turned to me with a questioning look.

“What is it?” I asked.

“Ms Hatcher told us you were Apache.”

“Half.”

“That wasn’t an Apache ritual was it?”

“No. Lakota.”

Hector still looked confused.

“The Great Spirit is not concerned with where your blood comes from,” I said, guessing what was bothering him. “The Great Spirit is concerned with intent.”

Hector nodded slightly so I continued.

“Man’s belief systems carry as many names as there are people. Each has tools and rituals to help the individual focus and connect with the Source of their beliefs whether its God, Buddha, Allah, the Green Man, or within themselves. The problem is that most individuals get so focused on the tool or ritual, that they forget the intent is what’s important. Does that make sense?”

“Yeah, I think.”

“The key is to use the tool that works best for you as an individual. The tool only helps to make it easier for you to connect with the Great Spirit. It is not required. I have had many teachers.” I raised the shoulder bag and showed him the stone that was my power orb. “I choose to use the tools that work for me.”

“I understand. It’s kinda like Ben says, ‘The job is easier if you pick the right tool for the job’.”

“Exactly.”

I looked up and saw Amy watching us from the patio door.

“Let’s get inside,” I said. “I need to hear what’s been going on around here.”

We walked around the pool and Amy ushered us inside.

Check out the previous scenes at, Actress and the Warlock Part I, Part II, Part III.

 
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Posted by on January 23, 2013 in Actress and the Warlock

 

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