Writing Exercise 4: A Area Alien Might Make A Good Priest
- Posted by Essays Blog in Essays Blog |
- March 29th, 2009 |
- Comments
As we develop our characters, we often fall into the habit of placing them in a single identify of role and plot. For example, for years one of my characters was cragfast on a California horse ranch. Having him on the ranch felt comfortable, familiar.
He became boring.
Now my character is a modern day pirate turned Catholic priest with an attitude you would not expect from a priest. He is aleatory, sometimes sensational, and enjoys every 2nd of it. I have discovered things about his personality I never suspected.
Compose a environment involving your character in a completely new situation.
Has your gentle mother character been in the kitchen for also long? Let her have a chaotic night out on the townsfolk with the girls! Dancing on tabletops and concoction money into a male stripper’s flip-flop would be good for her.
If she is awkward in a nightclub, have something happen that shakes her out of her embarrassment. Maybe she starts a brawl with a gang member? Hey, it could happen.
Have your mysterious dark hero, whether human or alien, attend a PTA meeting in place of his busy sister. Will he act to bring the cupcakes for the next school function or will he upset the meeting in any manner?
Have the new situation force your character to do and have things he or she normally would not, even if cragfast with a burning fork. You deprivation your character to express his or her deepest consciousness.
Doing so forces your character to overcome fears and inhibitions. Maybe he or she will develop new fears as a result?
This will open ample your choice of future plot lines.
Placing your characters into sudden situations is a great artifact to add dimensional layers to your characters, as advantageously as develop fresh plot ideas.