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Chapter 5: Embodying Your Characters
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to speak, check out Chapter 6 where I discuss working with accents in dialogue).
Consult newspapers and phone directories for ideas on interesting
names.
2. Think of a number of non-gender-specific physical characteristics a
person can have. Examples include red hair, a prominent nose, a gap
between the front teeth and so on.
3. Choose a minor character you need to make more interesting or
haven’t yet described. Pick a name at random and then a physical characteristic
from your two lists. So, your doctor may be called Zuzanna
Kowalska and have thick glasses, and your lawyer is Jake Arbuthnot and
sports a natty blond ponytail.
Getting Under a Character’s Skin
Most characters are going to have a conflict between the way they appear
on the outside and how they often feel inside. For example, someone who
appears attractive and confident to others may be preoccupied with her
body image or how she comes across to people.
To help you work through these sorts of issues, try the following exercise:
1. Describe how your character feels about her body.
2. Write about a physical aspect that the person likes.
3. Write about a physical aspect that the character dislikes.
Thinking about emotional make-up
In life, people have no control over certain aspects of their physicality and
appearance, such as skin and eye colour, height, bone structure and inherited
health problems. Other aspects, however, they can control – for example,
weight, fitness, how they present themselves, how they do their hair, what
they wear and so on. The same is true of your characters – they are given
some physical aspects (by you!) but can change others.
Childhood events often influence how characters feel about their bodies and
appearance as adults. For example, children who’re overfed early in life often
have weight problems far into adulthood. People sometimes also overeat
to compensate for a lack of love and security in childhood, or perhaps they