On Wednesday over on Oasis for YA, I wrote a post about conflict within a story. Lots of that post focused on character conflict. Recently, I found this photo on Facebook. I'm sure you might have seen it. Did you do it? What were your results?
I thought it'd be fun to use this as a tool to develop our characters all while adding conflict. It's also something you can chew on over the weekend.
If the character was female, she might be the girl in high school, who hovers just beneath the general population's radar. Not very interesting. But what if I took these adjectives and added fear of large crowds with a stuttering issue? Then I made the character male and voted him in as the surprise new class president?
You can play with this. I'm sure you understand what I mean.
So using the face above, I gave my eyes a second chance to see something different. This time I came up with: Insecure, Thoughtful, Naive, Restless. Um...Accurate?? Totally different then my first attempt but nonetheless probably dead-on at times.
Once again, I could throw a wrench into that even foursome and have a female character, whose dad is some high-powered attorney, and have her framed for stealing cars. But she is naive. Did she do it? She's also insecure. Would she be strong enough to claim her innocence anyway?
Who knows? But that would be for the writer to decide.
This weekend, take a moment and use this silly tool. Think about your characters and what you'd like to accomplish with them and through them. I know it's fueled a new facet to one of my characters.
Happy weekend, Alleywalkers!
Hearts,
S~
I saw a version of this on Facebook earlier this week, but the words in that one weren't nearly as nice! I think the first word I saw was "whore" and after that I stopped looking!
ReplyDeleteHaha--just read Dianne's comment. This is a neat exercise. I usually uncover my characters' personalities through the story and their background, but it never hurts to think a little more about it!
ReplyDeleteLOL at Dianne's comment.
ReplyDeleteThis is a cool idea. I found passion, outgoing, and sweet. :D
Dianne - am I bad for totally just enjoying your comment. Haha.....
ReplyDelete@Dianne, I would have stopped too.
ReplyDeleteI found lovely, dependent, loyal, honest. I think that perfectly describes a character I already have.
This is a great exercise. Thanks for sharing.
Talented, outgoing, passionate, patient. Hmm, not sure about all of those...
ReplyDeleteHappy? Patient? Elegant? Peaceful??? None of these words describe me right now!!! :D LOL! OK, I'm happy, but the others... *snort*
ReplyDeletestill, what a superfun way to get character ideas! Love it. Thanks, Sher~ :o) <3
OKay- should I be worried if the first word that jumped out at me was 'mental'?? LOL
ReplyDeleteThis was fun. The first word I saw was "Cuasec" which of course is not a word. I was confused. I was like, I don't get this. Then I found "talented," and I smiled.
ReplyDelete:D
This is great. The fist four words I saw were love, thoughtful, witty & naive. I am going to do it again. This is really cool. I missed the one on FB and apparently I am glad I did ,considering the fisrt word Dianne saw. This is a nifty little exercise. I love finding fun things like this. Thanks for sharing
ReplyDeleteThis looks like it could be a lot of fun to use for character development. Thanks for the picture and idea!
ReplyDeleteI am, apparently, lazy, lovely, dramatic and passionate. Thanks for your kind words over at Lydia Kang's blog - delighted to meet you.
ReplyDeletePatient, love, drama, mop...Does that say desperate housewife or what?
ReplyDelete*dances* My first word was elegant. Course hubby always said so. (((hugs)))
ReplyDeleteP.S. I'll never tell what the other three were. ;-) They weren't as lovely as elegant.
ReplyDeleteelegant, eloquent, naive, sentimental - I'm going to disagree with elegant, esp. since I'm still sitting here in my jammies and an old sweater and am otherwise seen in jeans and a tee and my new fave purple converse sneaks. Not what I would call elegant.
ReplyDeleteFUN!
Just stopping by from the blogfest. I'm a little slow, but I really like to read the bogs not just hit and run. What an interesting post, she who is Happy, Impatient, Witty and Peaceful, said. I would say that's pretty much right on. Well not too sure about the witty part, but I try, Lord knows I try.
ReplyDeleteFun spot, I'll be back. Nice to meet you.