Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Character Collage

So, this was one of my favourite topics that I listened to on WriteOnCon. It was a vlog by author Tera Lynn Childs, and it was fantastic, because I am a very visual person as well, and I really loved her suggestion with this one.

What you want to do, is make a collage of the character that is in your story. If you really are involved and have tons of time on your hands (which unfortunately, I do not), you can actually make a collage of ALL your characters including secondary characters, minor role characters, and villains. Actually, I would recommend doing the villain anyway; it's always nice to see who your hero is up against.

So for your collage, you make a "scrapbook page" of your character. Tera Lynn Childs suggests using catalogues, home magazines, and Lucky magazine, to find pictures of people, homes and furniture, and things that reflect your character's personality.

With a piece of white paper, you find a background image that will act as your background image for your page. I would recommend finding something that is a large, scenic picture of something, such as a beach, a sunset, a meadow, anything that your character particularly loves. Then, you look through your magazines for a picture of a person who reflects YOUR character. If you happen to be particularly artsy, I'd recommend drawing your own picture and using that. Then look for objects that your character might wear, or things that your character would use, such as purses, wallets, cars, instruments, anything that is uniquely your character.

For the last thing, Tera Lynn Childs recommends finding words or phrases that personify your character. You can use these words to present a final image of your character, to show the heart, as it were, of your character.

For me, I think this is an awesome way to preview your character. When you're stuck and aren't sure what your character actually WOULD do in a given circumstance, I could see how perfectly these would boost you through a writing slump. You'd look up and see your character on display, and you'd know instantly what they would or would not do.

Thank you, Tera Lynn, for giving me this idea. I think I'm going to make collages of my characters and frame them.....

Actually, I wonder how my sisters would like that? Heeheehee.

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