Writing Prompt #21: CHARACTER ESSENTIALS

AN AUDITION

Hi Everyone,

Sometimes we don’t know our characters very well and it takes us months, even years, to get truly acquainted. Meanwhile we go scampering down blind alleys, or start throwing traits at them (like the proverbial spaghetti) until something sticks.

Over the years, I’ve been using what I like to think of as an audition poem to get at the essence of my characters. I don’t mean an actual poem (though you can do that, too) but more of a bullet-pointed list of 10-12 lines—maximum—of what is absolutely necessary to know about them.

There are only three requirements to your list:

1) We need to hear your character’s voice—a line they utter that offers us the distinct music of their speech.

2) One line from your character’s worst enemy. What can we learn from this extreme, agenda-laden perspective?

3) How does your character die? We must know the full arc of our characters’ lives whether or not it’s within the scope of our pieces. To quote Mexican poet Octavio Paz: Tell me how you die and I’ll tell you have you’ve lived.

So the prompt is … all of the above!

This can be a pretty useful exercise to put your whole cast of characters through. Once you have these lists in hand, you can spend the rest of your time unpacking the taut, rich, indelible details.

Have fun!

Abrazos,

Cristina

PS: Don’t miss my twice-weekly writing prompts—this Thursday’s is on writing sex scenes. Please subscribe today!