I needed to get inside my main character’s head. I did the usual, the character lists and questions, filling out a character sketch and daydreaming. But I wanted something more. So when I saw the idea to scrapbook a character from Author 2 Author blog, I was inspired.
Now, I’m not very artistic so I stuck to basics. Like cutting and gluing. I can do those.
The library was giving away some old magazines, which was perfect for my project. I cut out all the pictures and words from those magazines that pertained to my main character. Then I glued them onto a large piece of paper. I hung it by my writing space.
So now when I’m pondering what my character might do, I stare at the collage and it focus’ me.
How about you? How do you get into your character’s head?
23 comments:
What a great idea to get inside a character's head! And I love doing collages.
This is a fantastic idea! I never once thought to do a collage for my character but I am going to have too!
I love this idea. I'm not a very visual person, but I can see this being very helpful when you're feeling particularly stuck. When I'm having trouble getting into my characters' heads, I try putting them in a bunch of different situations and see how they act. Often they do/say things that surprise me and that tell me a lot about them.
Hey, I like this idea! I have heard of the old tip of having a magazine photo beside your computer to help with character description. have never tried the collage.
Good idea, might try it. thanks!
That's a GREAT idea to do with the main characters! I will scavenge through my old magazines!
KristinCreative
What a great idea! Affirmation boards are suppose to get you to where you want to be, so why not do the same thing for your main characters...love it!
i do character profile - what they love and hate. I love the collage idea though
Wow. I have wanted to do this so many times, but never actually gotten around to it. But I can see how not only doing it, but keeping it nearby to look at while writing, would be a great help. Maybe I need to dig out my glue after all. =)
Thanks!
I love all of your practical, creative tips. Great visual! Thanks!
awesome idea! I love it!
So cool! I love the creative ways writers have of going about things. I love getting in my characters' heads because I was (once upon a time) an actress, so it is really fun for me. When I run across things in a store I will sometimes think - hey MC would love this! But it's not for me.
This is such a good idea! I was thinking of getting a new notebook today for a project I'm revamping that has four MCs.
I was going to just use it as a "voice" journal, but maybe I'll add some pictures, too. Thanks!
I've never done this, but know of others who do ... My favorite way to get into a characters head is to actually write letters from the character's POV to various people -- starting with best friend, parents, siblings, priest.
I especially love this idea because I'm such a visual person. It would be a quick way for me to connect to my main character when I sit down to write.
Cute collage, I'll have to try it--now that I know where to get free mags!
Ooh, this is a great idea! We're going to start a blog for our characters. I think writing blogs a few times a week from their perspective will really help us find their voices.
Yeah! I love everyone's ideas. Thanks for sharing. If you do ever do a collage of your characters, take a picture and put it on your blog too. I'd love to see them!
I'm not a visual person either, as some commenters said...so honestly what I do to get in my characters head is just keep writing. Sounds overly simple but I find by writing and deleting, writing and revising, that's how i understand them. It's time consuming, but I process everything through words, so it works!
I have always done that when I want to update something in our house. I pick out pictures, put them on a bulletin board and try to focus on the look I want. But what I do for writing is make up inspiration boards, little snippets of images to help place me in the current story. But the idea of character faces is a very good one. Thanks!
PS I followed you over from Shelli.
Holy cow--what a great idea! I love it!!!
Thanks for the blog shoutout Christy!
I've never done this for characters but I'm busy collecting pictures of my setting for inspiration. After all, you have to describe setting more than characters, right?
What a great idea!
Post a Comment