Fifty Eight

Day Fifty Eight:  Characterisation

Focusing on monologues lately I’ve come to terms with the fact that I am a detailed writer, I love writing in the sounds a character hears or the colour of shoes they are wearing.  I have since I was young, and I think it might be my downfall.  I have recently read that it doesn’t matter what colour a character’s shoes is unless it pertains to the story, unless it reveals something integral about that character.  I don’t necessarily agree with that statement because really, I think any detail is important (as Judith would always say, it’s the little things about a character that make them unique) and so I will continue to include the tiny particular details that I love about my characters.

Take A for instance.  I’ve been working on A since about October, and A doesn’t have a super cool name or anything yet, but you wouldn’t be able to tell by looking at her.  She is tall, tall and falls over chairs on buses and the people sitting in them.  She visits her grandfather a lot, and likes to play chess despite her not really knowing what each piece does.  She carries a calculator in her back pocket, and instead of drinking milk with her dinner she has a juice box, it’s just what she does.  She would like to find a way to prove herself, and that’s just about as much as I’d like to give away.

When there’s a character forming inside of me many paragraphs like the one above erupt at any given moment.  Today the beginnings of that paragraph started two minutes after finishing my monologue in class, sometimes it’s right when I wake up, but usually it’s when I’m around other people.  When the things that the character does, or their tick’s erupt I have the impulse to stop what I’m doing and write them down.  Same with their surroundings, which the description changes for for short stories, novels, and plays.  In A’s instance she is in a play, which means most of her ticks and surroundings can be manipulated and changed if not written correctly.  But somethinglike her not knowing what each piece on the chess board does is easy to write in, but something like her need to prove herself is harder.  I am hoping that this play turns out, as it is very slowly being written, and will hopefully be completed by June (remember my post on goals?  I feel like my first post in March will be about the summer goals I have set). 

Looking forward to Friday, only one post left which will probably be an ending poem.  Can you tell I am starving for a good insightful post again?  I miss my meaningful (in that way) blog.

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