Character | The View Outside

I’m starting to think about characters…..people, for my A-Z Challenge which starts tomorrow *gulp*

Everyday most of us come into contact with other people. We live with them, work with them and think about them when they’re not there. Some we like, others we cant bare the sight of!. Meeting new people can be fun, but for a writer, it can be a facinating 🙂

In real life, when you meet a new person you learn a lot about them in the first few seconds. That’s the crucial moment when you form opinions and judgements. You base those on the way they walk, how they sit, if they’re smiling or what they’re wearing. You try to figure out what they’re thinking by their facial expressions. Even small details like the smell of tobacco or a stain on their tie will influence your opinion.

Then there are their gestures. The way they look over their glasses, the way they throw back their hair or constantly play with a ring on their finger.

Characters need to be real, as real as you and I 😉 They’ll have faults, bad habits, talents and tastes. They will have complex personalities, and all of it needs to come across in our stories, if we want our characters to delight our readers.

F Scott Fitzgerald said “Plot is character and character is plot.” I rest my case 😉

So people watching is a great idea when you need inspiration for characters. A cafe, park, restaurant, even a waiting room can have me scribbling away in my note book 😉

Do you people watch? Do you use what youve seen in your stories?

Try describing a friend or family member (they never need to see it). Its great fun and you can use certain aspects to create a fictious character 😉

The photo above is The Bookcrossers meeting the Hen Night Bunnies….. dont ask lol 😉

Yesterdays prompt about the backseat turned into a story about a young woman who arrives home to find that the birthday cake she had just bought is gone and in its place is a bag of money and a gun…..not sure where thats going yet lol. Todays prompt is the antidote to pain. That sounds very interesting 😉

Proverbs make great stories and they’re especially good for setting the theme of a piece. once you have a theme, the setting, characters and even the plot can follow easily. There are hundreds to choose from and each has a story to tell.

Pick a proverb…..
Write down the message, this will be the theme of your story.
Think about the sort of person the proverb relates to. This will be your main character.
Allow the setting and plot to evolve.
Think about structure. Something needs to change by the end of the story. Your character will need a climax and a resolution. What lesson will they learn?

A few famous proverbs I can see turning into great stories……

Between the devil and the deep blue sea
Theme – choosing between 2 equally bad alternatives in a serious dilemma.

First come first served
Theme – the first inline will be attended to first.

Faint heart never won fair lady
Theme – to succeed you must have the courage to pursue what you want, or, for a romance, all girlies like a brave hero 😉

A rolling stone gathers no moss
Theme – a person who never settles in one place or who often changes his job will never succeed or someone who keeps changing their mind will never get anything done.

There’s no smoke without fire
Theme – rumours don’t spread unless there is an element of truth in them.

You can’t have your cake and eat it
Theme – you must choose between 2 things because it’s impossible to have both.

You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink
Theme – You can help, support, or encourage someone to do something, but you can’t make them do what they’re unwilling to do.

…..and my absolute favourite (don’t ask me why, but probably coz of the imagery it conjures up).

A drowning man will clutch at a straw
Theme – a desperate person will do anything to save himself.

I bought these books a couple of days ago at Baggins my local fantastic second hand book shop. Sometimes, I just love where I live 🙂

One final note…..proverbs make great story titles 😉

Have you ever wrote a story based on a proverb?

Yesterday’s prompt about the piano wasn’t as easy as I first thought lol. I ended up with the start of a story about a woman at a hotel who stumbles across a man playing the piano in the bar early in the morning. I can see a romance developing lol. Tomorrows prompt is you’re taking off your clothes so I’m thinking I might try to come up with something a bit darker for that one!

As you can see, ive been having a fiddle…..I’m liking the new look, might stay with this for a while 🙂