Mercy! Mercy! That Dang Nabed PERCY!

Stealing a Character

Stealing a Character

A colleague recently told me she has “No Imagination” and wondered how great writers come up with such wonderful characters. To myself I answered the question… Why they steal them from real life or from the works of others.

I know this sounds like a terrible thing to do but it isn’t. By the time you get a character you like (From wherever you dredge them up) settled into your novel they have changed in sound and appearance to the point where they are unrecognizable.

What I do is “CAST” around on all the screen plays, TV miniseries or soap operas I can recall until I find someone who fits the bill for a story I am writing. Now keep in mind that in the three medias mentioned above, you have a screen and a sound track. In your novel you don’t have either one. So you have to convert the image and sound into imaginative wavelengths and vibrations… By the time you finish doing this, the character has changed even more, but at least you started out with a character you like, who is close to who you are looking for. An alternative method is to start with someone you know or have seen.

In the case of the screenplay you have an image and sound that has “authenticity” and of course in a real life character you have the same thing. This is important as your character must look and sound the part.

Next you want to take on the role of actor with your character. I don’t go to the length of make-up and wigs and all that but I do stand in front of the bathroom mirror. I squiggle up my face and mimic the lines they spoke from the screen play or recollection of they spoke in real life. I want to become this character in the same sense that an actor tries to become the character they are seeking to portray in a stage or screen drama. Work on the accent and mannerisms and the squiggly face thing….Oh and make sure nobody is watching, especially co-workers or children or spouses…. They will rag you unmercifully… although children will catch on readily enough to what you are up to. What is happening is that your subconscious is creating a template of your character and the richer this template becomes the more vivid the character will appear in your writing. Have you ever seen someone who was a great mime. My wife is, I have friends who can keep you in stitches, and there is no shortage of comedians who do this sort of thing professionally.

Well, as a writer you have to develop a modicum of talent and skill in this regard to aid you in your character development.

Now you know you have the authenticity thing down pat when you begin to write about a character and you “HEAR” them taking in the voice of the character you are writing about and you “SEE” their mannerism repeated in your imagination. Then you know you are getting a handle on your character… When they begin to sneer, or strut and fret, or evidence that mannerism… as their twang, or nasal intonation or silly laugh fill your mind as you write you know you are on the road to a character that will come alive in a reader’s mind as they turn the pages.

If you don’t feel them as you write…go back to the mirror and get some more face time….if you can’t hear the resonance of their voice, talk to them some more. You should be able to see them in your mind’s eye, looking back as you write the dialogue. If that isn’t happening, if the experience is not close to speaking with a friend in a conversation, you don’t know them will enough….Get up from your desk or laptop and find a safe place to walk around in circles for awhile.