Creating Real Characters
One of the best writing exercises you can use your journal for is creating characters. You might like to sit where you can observe people interacting and going about their daily lives. I like coffee shops for this reason. Not only can I listen in on conversations, but I can also watch people interacting.
Things to note are character quirks and idiosyncrasies; hair twirling, earlobe tugging, mispronunciations, emphasis on certain words, doodling while talking to others, they way they hold their cup, etc. Just open your journal and your eyes and watch the way people be themselves.
Of course, just listing these things is not enough to make your characters appear real. They will need motive and other inner workings just like any real person. But when you are out of the house you’re afforded a great opportunity to simply watch the people around you and make notes in your journal. You can spend time working on your characters in your journal to fully form their lives.
For further inspiration please check out the links below:
Robin Snyder’s blog on writing his novel
A character and cultural profile sheets to download
Jeff Heisler reveals four steps to creating believable characters
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POSTED IN: The Writer's Journal
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