📝 Writing Course Chronicles: Interview your characters
Here's something I learnt last week.
Hello again! So, it’s been a tough old time these past few days. Mostly because I’ve got yet another sinus infection that took me out of action for half of last week. I’m still recovering (slowly) but between the decongestants and the hot drinks I’ve found enough energy to share my latest update from my fiction writing course. Let’s get into it.
🖋️ Creating a character
The first task in module 2 was all about creating characters. We were given a list of questions to ask ourselves about our characters to help flesh them out. I found the task really useful—I tweaked the exercise slightly so that I was interviewing a character and letting them answer for themselves rather than answering the questions for them. It felt more organic.
So, for this task, I ‘interviewed’ Emma Marsh—the main character in a short story I’m writing at the moment. What impressions do you get of Em? What kind of personality do you think she has? How does she look in your mind’s eye? Tell me everything!
💁🏻♀️ Q&A with a character: Emma Marsh
1. How would you identify your gender? Female.
2. How old are you? 26.
3. What’s in your coat pocket? Chewing gum, a used tissue, lip balm.
4. What do you drink in the morning? Black coffee—instant or otherwise, not fussy.
5. What do you remember most from your fifth birthday? My uncle (not really my uncle, just a family friend your parents encourage you to call uncle and hug him even when you don’t want to). He was drunk on arrival and fell arse-first into the My Little Pony cake my mother had bought.
6. What do you think about first thing in the morning? Lots of things. Today, it was ‘shit I haven’t taken the bins out, what time is it, have I missed the bin men?’ Such is my charmed life.
7. What do you think about last thing at night? It varies. Rogue waves. The library at Alexandria. The embarrassing thing I said 3 years ago at a party that everyone definitely still thinks about. Getting a cat.
8. How does your voice sound when they answer the telephone? Suspicious. Why are you calling me?
9. In what position do you sleep? On my back, hands resting across my tummy like a sick Victorian aristocrat with consumption.
10. What’s your favourite weather? Autumn.
11. Describe the smell of the house you grew up in. My mother used to light a lot of incense sticks. Usually lavender. It consumed the whole house.
12. What do you do when they're sad? I drink red wine and listen to my guilty pleasures playlist. Taylor Swift is in there.
13. How does it make you feel when you're late for something? Anxious. I like to be at least 5 minutes early. If I can be an hour early, and sit in a pub with my book and a glass of wine, even better. I need to ease into big social gatherings.
14. Do you mostly tend to feel cold or hot? I tend towards being chilly.
15. Do you remember their dreams? Vividly. Sometimes they wake me up with my heart going 100 miles an hour. Sometimes they give me ideas for my photoshoots.
16. How do you feel when they're swimming? Peaceful. Supported by the water, held.
17. Do you sleep well? Usually.
18. What secretly annoys you? People walking in twos or threes and take up too much space on the pavement. Parents who let their kids run riot and disturb strangers, then offer an ‘aren’t they adorable’ look instead of actually apologising. People who use two teabags for a cup of tea.
19. How do you feel about your handwriting? It’s okay. Messy but legible. I’m left-handed so most pens stain the side of my hand.
20. When do you feel the happiest? When I’m taking photos. Or hiking. But mostly taking photos–it’s almost a feverish need to snap, snap, snap when I get things just right, or the model looks at the camera a certain way.
Got any tips of your own for fleshing out characters? Want to share something about Emma Marsh? The comments await! 👇🏻
I read this and wonder to what extent your are the charector, and how much is pure fiction.
It then raises the question of how much any fictional charecter can ever truly be 100 made up, and how much inevitably must draw on our own experience.