At the December CWC meeting, several of us got to talking about characters. In particular, character voice and how to keep each character separate, different, unique.
Several days later as wrapping paper flew; a common theme emerged in my residence. With a baby girl celebrating her first birthday and Christmas, the play area was awash in dolls and teddy bears, even a Raggedy Ann doll. Looking over the multitude of faces peering out from everywhere, my mind leapt to the previous conversations about unique characters.
One writing tool I have adopted in order to keep my characters from suddenly aging or changing hair or eye color is an index card profile for each character. Each card is taped accordion-style inside a file folder that is easily transportable. With the flick of my finger, I can access each character’s physical traits and other aspects that infuse them with life.
Since I frequently leave the house to write, this works well for me.
Yet, I can’t help but think as I look at the unblinking porcelain and plastic and cloth faces; what fun it would be to have a three-dimensional representation of each of my characters. I smile as I look over my own collection of figurines-I’m well stocked in dragons.