Building Character

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Building Character

• An exercise from Barry Lanes After the End

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Snapshots

• Writers have a magic camera that can point at
  the world and create snapshots that contain
  smells and sounds as well as colors and light.
  They did up specific details that help bring a
  character to life.
• Listen and notice the details of the following
  snapshots.

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Thoughtshots

• Write down exactly what you are thinking right
  now. It doesnt have to be appropriate because
  were not going to share it and you can throw it
  away. Just put down all your thoughts on paper.
• Just as writers make physical snapshots of their
  characters, they also take a snapshot of what is
  going on in their characters head.
• A thoughtshot is simply a look at what a
  character is thinking and feeling.

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Step One

• Take a look around the room. Select one of your
  classmates to study and write about for this
  exercise. Do not tell them you are writing about
  them.
• OR . . . create a fictional character to write
  about.

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Step Two

• Paint a one to two sentence snapshot of your
  character by simply describing them rather than
  calling them by name.
• The tall woman with the briefcase hurried into
  the building.

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Step Three

• Climb inside your characters head, revealing a
  thought about a recent problem.
• Darn, cant this elevator move any faster?
  Thought Carla.

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Step Four

• Now paint a close up snapshot of your character
  in three to four revealing sentences of detail.
• She wore her best blue wool suit and dangly gold
  earrings that hung like wind chimes over her
  shoulders. Her three inch heels, sensible but
  current, tapped staccato rhythms on the tile
  floor as she waited. She snapped open her cell
  phone to check the time and her messages and
  hurriedly tucked it back into her pocket.

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Step Five

• Now have another person speak to your character.
• Oh, Ms. Thomas, youre--, Shirley cried at her
  boss as she entered the office.

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Step Six

• Have your character respond in thought and in
  speech.
• Dont say it, Shirley, she thought. Yes,
  dear, I know, Im running a bit behind, is the
  president here yet? She hated when people
  stated the obvious. Hated when anyone else
  noticed her flaws.

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Step Seven

• Tell something thats going to happen, but your
  character doesnt know it yet.
• Carla didnt know it, but this presentation was
  about to change her life forever.

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Revision

• Choose one of your microfiction stories and add
  in two thoughtshots and two snapshots.
• If you hand write them, put an asterisk where you
  want them to go in your story. If you type them
  in, please italicize them so I can see where they
  belong.

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