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Quote
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Develop the winning
edge; small differences in your performance can
lead to large differences in your results.
Brian Tracy
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Announcements:
Make a difference in the
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Write Italia is
the first seminar from Write Across Europe, a new
organisation set up to offer high quality writing
tuition in historic European cities.
Based in
Sorrento, Italy, Write Italia is offering 10
days/40 hours of intensive tutorials under the
expert guidance of multi award-winning Bruce
Holland Rogers and Night Train magazine
co-founder and editor Rusty Barnes. Working in
the background to ensure everything runs smoothly
will be Mike Coombes, NFG magazine staff writer
and editor. Included in the seminar will be trips
to Pompeii and the Island of Capri.
The first
seminar will take place in March 2006. Future
venues are likely to include Prague, Barcelona,
Paris and Berlin.
Full details
are available on the website - http://www.write-across-europe.com
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Creating
Characters from Life
© Cheryl Wright –
All rights reserved
As much as we’re
told not to use ‘real’ people for the
basis of our characters, doing so can yield
wonderfully full-bodied characters.
Many years ago, when
working a day job, I came across an unforgettable
young man. He was a natural joker, friendly, hard
worker, and seven feet tall. On the odd occasion
when things weren’t going the way John
planned, he would use his height as a veritable
stand-over tactic to entice other people to
comply.
I ‘stole’ some
of John’s characteristics for my novel
"Saving Emma". And they work
beautifully.
This technique will give
you a whole new perspective on creating
characters, one that I believe you won’t
discard once you’ve tried it.
Draw up two columns
– in the first column, write the name of
someone who is well known to you.
Now write a list of
their physical appearance – eye and hair
colour, height, weight, and even the way they
walk. For instance, do they stand tall and walk
in a straight line, or do they sway as they go.
Now describe the type of
clothing they normally wear. It is casual
clothing, or perhaps they are more formal. This
may be determined by their occupation.
Think about the
different clothes they wear in changed
situations. For example, a detective may have no
choice but to wear a suit to work. When he’s
at home, does he then wear casual clothes, such
as track suits or torn jeans?
Think about his speech.
Does he talk quickly, slowly, or at normal speed?
(I once worked with a lady who was diagnosed as
being hyperactive; she talked so quickly, most
people had to ask her to repeat herself.)
Now give his language
some thought. His age will make a big difference
to the language he uses. A teenage may say
‘Oh man, what a day!’ but in contrast,
his mother would likely say ‘I’ve had a
cow of a day!’.
Now think about the
personality of this person. Is he shy and
retiring, or more open and outgoing?
What does he do in his
spare time? Perhaps he’s a model train
enthusiast, or he may prefer to go to the movies
when time allows. Does he read a book in his
spare time, or watch t.v.?
Now we’re ready for
that second column.
I want you to study the
first column. What you are about to do is
‘pump up’ your friend’s
personality. If you think it will be difficult to
rewrite your friend, give the second column a
character name. (That is, if Peter is your
friend, rename it to become Jordon for this
subsequent exercise.)
For every two or three
character traits listed, you need to change at
least one.
If the hair is brown,
make it blonde (for example)
If his height is 6 feet
3 ins, change it to say, 5 feet 7 ins.
For an outgoing
personality, turn him into a wallflower, or
somewhere in between. The character you end up
with will be totally unrecognisable. At least
that’s the theory!
During the course of my
day, I often come across people who are very
intriguing to my writer’s mind. One such
fellow travelled on the same train as I did when
I had early meetings at work.
His clothing was
scruffy, and he was always unshaven. He slept
across a number of seats, and always kept to
himself. He looked to be Italian or Greek;
definitely of Mediterranean origin.
I observed him for many
months, and was often on the verge of asking him
a few questions about himself. I never did have
the courage to approach him; after all, he could
have been a murderer, or an armed robber,
anything.
So instead, I used him
to create other characters in my mind.
About the author:
Cheryl Wright is an award-winning Australian
author and freelance journalist. In addition to
an array of other projects, she writes a monthly
travel column for a magazine in the US and is the
author of "Think Outside the Square: Writing
Publishable (Short) Stories" and "I
Wanna Win! – Tips for Becoming an Award
Winning Writer". (Both available from
www.writer2writer.com) Her debut novel
"Saving Emma" was released January 1,
2005 by Whiskey Creek Press. Visit Cheryl’s
website www.cheryl-wright.com
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Win writing
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Whether you want to win
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Now available! Full
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Change your
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For full details and
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*Bonus included
CLICK HERE TO READ PART
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