Dreaming of You
By Tori Winning
I am not one of those lucky individuals who dreams of their
characters at night. I think about them often, sometimes to the point of
obsession, but they leave me alone as I sleep. There's probably something
psychological about that, but I'm not a psychologist. What I do know is how to
bring my characters to life while awake and dreaming, and that's what I'd like
to explore with you.
I spent four years stage acting before taking a break, and my major strength was
my ability to become one with my characters, or to embody them. My drama group
giggled when I wrote a detailed history for my character in Dead Poets
Society, and I laughed with them, but they also told me how cool they
thought my history was. I may struggle to evoke settings, but anyone who reads
my blog can attest to how often I chat about my characters. Gina and Sam, two of
my main characters, are more than my muses: they're my friends.
Over time, I have melded exercises from books like Characters, Emotion and
Viewpoint by Nancy Kress and acting exercises I either learned or
improvised. I'd like to introduce you to some of these methods. Pick one to
start with, but even if you're skeptical, try all of them at some point. You may
surprise yourself.
First, though, be a good sport and relax with me. This will put you in a good
state of mind for the character development exercises ahead. (Read this through
before you do it, unless you have the ability to read with closed eyes.)
Lean back in your chair-- that's it, nice and easy-- and close your eyes. Think
about the one place on earth that gives you total peace. Picture the sights,
hear the sounds, feel the sand or pine chips beneath your posterior. Breathe in
that salty air. Keep at it until you've found your peace. Take a few steadying
deep breaths and smile.
Okay, now open your eyes.
Ready for the exercises? Awesome. Let's hop to it. Read them through and pick
your favorite. These will work best if you do them all at some point, but don't
feel pressured to do them all at the same time.
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* Find a song that your character would listen to when he's mad as heck, to the
point where he's tearing the eyes from his teddy bear. Sit back and let this
song wash over you. Try and piece together what made him mad. Let this feeling
fill you. Explore every nuance of the situation.
Let your limbs ease into whatever feels natural. If you feel your character
would pace, get up and see how it feels. If it doesn't feel quite right, clench
your fists or your jaw. Punch a pillow. Growl. If you feel silly, that's great.
It often means you're doing something right.
* Go outside with a notebook. Embody your characters and imagine they are in a
totally open state of mind. Do they notice the flowers creeping through the
cracks in the sidewalk, or do they see how many cracks they can step on? What do
they think of the man who zipped through a red light while on his cell phone?
How about that kid on a scooter who cut your character off? Walk around. Take
things in through the senses of your character. If something rings true, write
it down.
* Pick a pivotal scene in your story and write a journal entry from the point of
view of your character in the time leading up to the scene. Does he have an
inkling of what's going to happen? How does he feel about it? Does he wish he
could skip town? Write another journal entry in the space of time after this
scene, assuming the character is still capable of writing. If he's not, have the
antagonist write the entry.
* List as many of your character's traits as you can think of. Examples would be
qualities like courage or cleverness and faults like vanity and cruelty toward
animals. Allow yourself to stray into the realm of superficiality and record
physical traits as well.
Have your list? All right then. Time to twist it 180 degrees. If your character
is a willowy female, transmogrify her into a stocky male. Reverse her
personality as well. Kindness becomes cruelty and a hatred of kittens becomes a
desire to fill one's home with them.
Now put these two characters in a scene together. Nothing life changing, just a
day where they meet at the farmer's market or in line at a coffee shop. Do they
snipe at each other or do they feel a kinship? Don't feel pressured to make this
a romantic pairing, either. A platonic meeting can be just as interesting and
potentially more revealing.
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All right, now take a nice, deep breath. Go pour yourself a cup of coffee or
brew some green tea. If you were a good sport and did the exercises, you deserve
the refreshment. Hopefully your creative juices are percolating and you're
better acquainted with your character. And you know what? These aren't set in
stone. Tweak these exercises. Keep them in your purse/man-bag and whip them out
on the subway. There's no end to the havoc you can wreak in your characters'
lives.
Sure, sometimes I wish my characters would visit me in my dreams. But the more I
know them, the more likely they'll infuse my waking hours, stopping by to chat
and come for coffee with me. Sometimes they even offer to pay the bill.
It's a shame cashiers don't accept creative cash.
Tori Winning is a Canadian freelance writer and an
aspiring novelist. She has a passion for European history, especially the
troublemakers. When she's not reading, cooking, or stage acting, Tori loves to
dance in the rain. She keeps a regular blog at
http://britlitfantwin.livejournal.com.
