This week I thought I would do a little five day fiction thing... I think it would be fun to do this with a poem too (maybe I'll try) -- and would certainly work for memoir. But right now, I'm thinking about fiction... so there you have it.
Did you set up your space? Do you have your things? If not, you might want to take a look at Friday's idea to start you off... I hope to post M-F with weekend suggestions at the end of the week.
What a character!
Elementary:
To start off, do you know what fiction is? Fiction is something that is made up, it was created by the writer and, often for your favorites, an artist too. Sometimes this is easier to spot than others. Look around the house -- can you find two things that are fiction, two things that are non-fiction? You can tell the non-fiction things because they really happened. Maybe a story about somebody real -- news, magazines, letters.
Today, I want you to create a character.
A lot of times, characters are made with some idea of someone you really know. This helps, because the things we know are often easier to write about than the things we don't know.
First: Think about someone you know.
Imagine someone who is very special in your life. Someone who gives you a warm fuzzy to think about.
OR
Imagine someone who you wish you knew but don't. I really like the man who used to bring my mail. I often used to wonder if he liked cookies.
OR
Imagine a friend from school or a family member you don't see very often.
Now.
Describe that person physically.
What do they look like? What do they wear? What do their hands do when they are talking? What do you like about them most?
Now.
If this person were an animal, what animal would they be?
Now.
Imagine the animal. You can name it after the first person, or not, but now you have a new character. What do they look like? What do they wear? What do they do with their hands when they are talking?
Close your eyes and think really hard about your new animal.
Open your eyes and write the first ten (or five or twenty) words that come into your mind.
Now.
Write a journal entry as if you were that new character. A journal is something you write about your day and what is in your mind. You write it from the first person; that means you say, "I..." Write about what your character had for breakfast -- maybe it is what you had, or maybe they ate something crazy like ice cream with cookies, or snails on toast!
"This morning, I went to the beach. Then I came home and made breakfast for my son. Then I wrote this letter to you. In my letter I wrote about character. You can write about anything you want!"
Middle:
Ok -- so today I want you to decide on the character you are going to use as the protagonist for a story. The protagonist is the main person in a story -- if you don't care about your protagonist, no reader will, either.
So --
Do you want to write about someone everyone likes or someone everyone makes fun of? Do you want to write about someone who knows what they want or someone who is really confused?
Tomorrow we will have to think about conflict -- and that might come up for you today -- but today, the idea is to figure out who your character is.
Physical:
what do they look like? what do they wear? what do they do with their hands? do they wear make up or piercings or tattoos? what is their look?
Where:
Where do they live? What do they do? Is it a place you know? Is it far away? It's a good idea to write about what you know about... is there a place that you know about that no one else does?
Time;
What time frame is your story set in? Is it now? Is it ten years from now? 100 years ago?
Probably part of this is also what genre are you writing in? Fantasy? Sci-Fi? Mystery (I really want to write a mystery...)
Spend as much time as you need to just write as much as you can about your character.
Then:
Write page 112 of their autobiography.
High School and Beyond:
So this all comes to me because I am intrigued by character -- I always have been. This week I am thinking about a set of character vignettes (that I can't tell you more about or I will jinx it). When I was in college I used to pass a little book binary every day and was so intrigued I eventually asked him if I could interview and photograph him, which taught me so much!
For the rest of the week we will be working on different elements of story. Different people start different places -- for me I always start with the protagonist. Writing about characters lets us explore parts of ourselves and of society -- of other people. Allows us to learn and understand and communicate.
Just as with any good story, it all starts with the five Ws! We'll get to the what and the why a little later -- so start with three:
Who:
Who do you want to write your story about?
If you are stuck, you can look back at the younger versions of today's post to see if any of it interests or inspires you. My characters usually come from people I meet in passing. But they might just as well be inspired by people in my life I am intrigued or struggling with. Or characters from major works I think have been misinterpreted... I have a running list of stories I wish were written by other people... it can be fun to imagine! What if two authors were writing to each other? What if Jane Austin had written Brett from The Sun Also Rises, or Joy Harjo had written the characters in Watership Down? What if my ex-boyfriend were stranded on a desert island...
Anyway -- all of that was just to get you thinking. ..
Who do you want to write your story about?
Now picture them.
Physically. And emotionally. How does their emotion play out in their physical appearance? Does it show up in their aesthetic? Their profession? Their body language?
When:
When is your story set? This might ask a bit of genre too -- Sci-fi? Fantasy? I'm dying to write a mystery... last year? Twenty years from now?
Where:
This will be both where the story is set and then also where does the person live.
Today:
Write a description of their favorite place. (a room, a rock, a beach...)
Write a page from their journal.
Have Fun!
A pen, what for? To see it dance!
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