Have you ever browsed through a magazine and cut out images because they’re your favorite though you can’t afford them? Or your teacher asked you to cut out your future goals for a grade. Either way, at one point or another, we all have looked through a magazine.
But Kassandra, what does that have to do with writing? Here’s my answer: everything.
I used to collect lot of old magazines from school and bring them home. Every day I would go through them and cut out images that I liked and what I wanted to have. However, it was only after that I started cutting out images for my characters. I would glue the images to a sheet a paper under a specific name. What would so and so wardrobe look like? What about their homes? What could they buy? What do they wish they could buy?
All these questions helped me build my characters economic background. The way a character dresses, where they buy, etc. reveals a lot to a reader without telling them. With those images, I created a life for my characters that I could see and describe in my writing. That way, not only could I use the magazines after I finished looking through them but that activity allowed me to expand the way I create characters. It’s a fun and creative process to bring back the enjoyment – in my opinion- to creating characters.
While there are many articles and websites about character development, I like to believe that playing dress-up and house with your character is just as helpful.
Do you know any other non traditional ways to build our characters? What process do you use? Leave your answers in the section below. Thanks for reading.
Until next time.
Dabbling in the Art of Writing 