Writing Tools: WEbook Writing Secrets
Surprise! It's Your Character!
By FirstYearGrad
The better we know someone, the more they surprise us with
their inconsistencies.
I once worked with a woman who color-coded her desk drawers. She sorted her pens and pencils into three
separate holders, depending on the duty they were to perform, and never thought
to put a plastic coated paper clip into the same pot as the shiny silver wires.
One day I agreed to pick her up for work. When I got to her house, I was shocked to see that her kitchen table was
covered with last night’s dishes, and her sink was full of even older dishes. A great orange tabby cat walked up and down
the counter, carefully picking its way around newspapers and old mail. The floor may have been clean, but it was hard
to see it under the pile of dirty laundry.
Now, if I had put this woman into a story before I visited her house, her character
would have been flat, one-sided, and uninteresting. As I got to know her better, she surprised me
all the time with new sides to her personality.
So, writer, know your character -- and you best know them better then that
person you sit next to at work.
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