When I was writing Where
They Dream in Blue, a friend who works in television
taught me a trick: when creating a character write a
one-page biography of everyone who’s a major player
in your book. This has to include their likes, dislikes,
interests, hobbies, habits, friends, enemies, and so
on. The more detailed, the better --- what television
show do they watch? Do they have a weakness for a particular
type of chocolate bar? Do they have any strange personality
quirks? Were they ever attacked by killer bees when
they were two years old, which might explain the unnatural
fear of honey they may have even at the age of fifty?
Naturally, when you are writing
your piece of fiction, you are going to make your characters
encounter situations and other people, and you will
want to make them react in certain ways. These ways
also have to be credible if you are writing con temporary
fiction. To have a housewife stride into the middle
of a business meeting and be able to handle a financial
crisis is not a very believable scenario, but a housewife
who is suddenly widowed, and then has to sort out her
husband’s finances might decide she has a talent
for business and decide to take over the company.
You will want to capture her thoughts
and feelings as she walks into bank for the first time,
to withdraw money, for example, from a joint bank account
right after her husband has died. Would she be nervous?
Confident? How would she walk if she felt frightened
of the bank tellers? Would she stand up straight or
slouch down, and fiddle with her hair? What might she
say to herself to give herself some courage?
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