Character Workout

I love great characters—characters who are fully developed and whose lives intrigue me. If the people who populate the books I read are layered and human, I usually enjoy the book. Despite the Hollywood-esque need to maintain an active plot with lots of external conflict, I prefer in the inner conflict. (Although a good chase scene is not always the worst thing in the world). Like real people, well-developed characters seem to create conflict on their own.

That being said, I think we as writers can always dig deeper in our characterizations. So I present to you—free of charge—Character Workouts. This is really just a fancy name for character development exercises.

Workout #1
List the contents of your character’s purse/wallet/backpack/locker/desk drawer (you get the picture). Then, imagine someone has stolen/ransacked/broken into the above storage place. When your character discovers the invasion, what item would he or she feel most upset to have been found by another? From your character’s point of view, write a first-person narrative of the secret item, the feeling evoked by its discovery or of having lost it, and why losing it or having it discovered is so important.

Hopefully, the workout (aka exercise) will give you greater insight into your character and help create another level of depth he or she did not have before.

Happy writing!