Writing Exercise: Resolutions

2015 is rapidly approaching, which means it’s time to start making New Year’s Resolutions. But what resolutions would your characters make? Most people pick the standard things like losing weight and exercising more, but dig deeper: if your characters could change something about themselves, what would they alter? Knowing what your characters dislike in themselves is important to understanding them — and those feelings will affect their interactions with others.

This week, I invite you to choose a piece of your writing and analyze how your characters feel about themselves; identify what their resolutions for the future would be.

Writing Exercise: Mirror, Mirror

mirror-on-wall-1156610-mThere’s an old technique sometimes seen in fiction where a character looks into a mirror in order to describe his or her appearance to the reader. While this practice isn’t one I’d recommend, I do think mirrors can be used in more interesting ways.

When we look into a mirror, what we see is usually different from what’s really present. A lot of factors color how we view our reflections: current mental and physical health, feelings of self-worth, and the opinions stated by others. Pick one of your primary characters and explore what that person really sees when he or she looks in the mirror. Is the view positive or negative — and why?

Writing Exercise: Middle of the Road

Some people (and characters) are afraid to take sides: they may not like confrontation, or they may want to keep their options open and hedge their bets rather than be caught on the losing team. (An excellent example is Corporal Nobby Nobbs in Terry Pratchett’s war satire Jingo; during a battle, the generals would gauge which side was winning by looking to see what uniform Nobbs was wearing.)

These types of characters need a push to commit. What’s your character’s lever, the motivation that forces a choice? Write a story or scene where a character has been trying to stay in the middle of the road, and find a way to make him or her take a side.

Writing Exercise: Alterations

What would your characters change if they could alter history? It’s an interesting question (inspired by the card game Chrononauts rather than Doctor Who, as people who know me might have suspected). Most people have events in their lives that they wish they could go back and change, decisions and choices that they would have made differently if they had the chance. Those pivotal moments often define a character and influence their actions going forward, so they’re important to identify. This week, let one of your characters revisit the past in memory and either relive one of those key moments or envision a different ending.