How do you establish characters for your stories? Do your characters represent people that you know or are they all from your imagination? Do you create them from characters you see in movies and on TV? Maybe some of the people you read about in books or even newspapers, spark your ideas for characters. <\/p>\n
I know authors who dream their characters. Most of them have vivid dreams and remarkable recall. <\/p>\n
Of course, some characters start out rather mundane and ordinary. As the author builds the story, the character develops into something he didn\u2019t even imagine. You\u2019ve probably heard authors say, \u201cThe story took on a life of its own.\u201d Well, so do characters. <\/p>\n
You have to wonder how some of the most famous characters in literature evolved\u2014was it in the author\u2019s mind? Was the character developed or fleshed out before the story began to unfold? Some authors have their main character set in their minds and they write a story around him or her. Other authors have a story in mind and create the characters as they write.<\/p>\n
I knew a writer who created her characters by being observant. She often left her writing room and traveled to sites where there were lots of other people. Then, she would sit and watch. Much as a sketch artist, she would key in on someone and focus on their look, way of moving, mannerisms, manner of speaking, way of dressing and so forth. <\/p>\n
She might sit along the railing on the local pier and watch the fishermen and the honeymooners. She watched people in restaurants, at parks, leaving large corporations or factories at quitting time, walking along the city streets, at a sports arena, shopping, in the gym, at the beach, at the dog park or participating in the special Olympics or a marathon, for example. <\/p>\n
This author once wrote something about a newspaper cart-wheeling along the sidewalk. She got that by being observant one breezy day. <\/p>\n
I used to write poetry and, like my writer friend, I became highly observant on purpose for the sake of my poetry. I would watch the vapor trail behind a dot of a jet airplane and attempt to describe it in poetic terms. I wrote from the emotions I felt when I saw a majestic elk in Yellow Stone National Park being stalked and disturbed by unthinking, uncaring park guests. I viewed my cats from different angles when I wrote Cat Eternal<\/em>, a poem depicting the history of the cat. <\/p>\n Yesterday I sat amidst a group of people\u2014all very different\u2014all interested in one subject\u2014all listening to a single speaker on the topic of gardening. And I began to observe some of them. I imagined them as characters in a story. There was a man who couldn\u2019t stop smiling, a woman who ate what looked like a thick soup with her fingers, a couple in their late 60s who seemed desperately to want to look 30 again (it wasn\u2019t working for them), couple who don\u2019t go anywhere without their dog, an 80+ year old who still works her own garden and a woman with beautiful hair who doesn\u2019t appreciate it. Didn\u2019t look like it had been combed in a week. <\/p>\n How do you come up with your characters? How do you develop them? If you feel as though your characters are a little flat and your story a bit bland, these days, try getting out among people. Take your note (or sketch) pad. Observe others. You might just come up with the next Sherlock Holmes, Alice in Wonderland or Huckleberry Finn.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re looking for an editor for your completed or almost completed fiction or nonfiction manuscript, contact me here: PLFry620@yahoo.com. Learn more about me and my work at http:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/consulting.html<\/a> <\/p>\n One thing to keep in mind about choosing an editor is the importance of hiring a book editor\u2014someone who has their finger on the pulse of the publishing industry, who understands what constitutes a viable book in this marketplace and who can guide you in making important decisions on behalf of your book project.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" How do you establish characters for your stories? Do your characters represent people that you know or are they all from your imagination? Do you create them from characters you see in movies and on TV? Maybe some of the people you read about in books or even newspapers, spark your ideas for characters. I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t