Exercises
EXERCISES
a) To converse with your character
Tune in to this person’s speech. How do they sound? What gestures do they use? What is their accent like?
- Imagine they are sitting opposite you, and talk to them.
- Write a dialogue between this character and a character which represents some aspect of yourself – your left-hand self maybe, or your internal critic. Is the speech of each character quite distinct, or is it sometimes unclear which one of you is speaking? How can you improve on this?
b) To do five-minute writings about your character
If this person were... an animal, flower, fruit, piece of music – what would it be? If they found themselves on a desert island, naked at a concert, having tea with the Queen, they would . . . This person’s deepest darkest secret is that they . . . When this person makes a cup of tea/mows the lawn they. . . (Choose any everyday task, not necessarily appropriate to the character’s period. Heathcliffe doing the weekly shop for example, could be quite revealing.)
c) To do 10 × 10
Make a grid, ten spaces down and ten across, big enough to write a few words in each space. Down the side of the grid list ten aspects of a character’s life: clothes, musical tastes, favourite food, pet hates, etc. With the minimum of thought, fill in the grid by brainstorming ten facts about each of those aspects (see Figure 4).
You now have 100 facts about your character. Because you did not consider them carefully first, some of these things may seem quite off-the-wall. Good. These are probably the ones which will make the character live – the unexpected or secret things which makes him or her unique. You will not use all these facts when you write about the character – but you will know them. This will make the character feel more and more alive to you. 
