Solve a Problem by “Interviewing” a Character

When I begin to write a story, one of the most important aspects is developing a cast of characters. Creating characters can be more difficult than it first seems. It often takes effort to come up with interesting people who you are willing to spend an entire story (much less an entire book!) with.

What do I do when I’m feeling character-blocked?  Something counterintuitive.  I step away from my computer screen.  Good characters aren’t often discovered by staring at a flashing cursor on your blank computer screen. Characters from my favorite books seem so real that I sometimes forget they’re just fictional. So to make my characters real, I often base them on real people – even if they are people I’ve never met, only glimpsed for a moment as they walk by at the grocery store or the park.

Have you ever struggled for days with a problem, worrying and fretting and turning the same circles over and over in your mind, but no solution comes? Do what I do when I am feeling blocked creatively. Go to the park, or the mall, or the supermarket, and spend half an hour watching the people around you. Study their clothes, their manner of speech, their expressions. How old do you think they are? What do you think they are feeling right now – happy, sad, angry, bored? What do you think they are doing here? Who are they close to? Who are they fighting with? What are their dreams and fears?

This is helpful in multiple ways. First, trying to imagine someone else’s life helps you get out of your own life for a little bit – and, in turn, step away from your own problems and worries. When you return to them, you hopefully will find they have shrunk. Edward W. Smith, the creator of The Bright Moment Seminars and the e-zine One Minute Motivator, agrees. Here is his advice: “We tend to take ourselves, very, very seriously and work ourselves into a frenzy about things which if looked at from a larger perspective, do not matter at all. If you are having a problem, imagine that the problem has shrunk to the size of a pea, and you are holding it in the palm of your hand, then see how you feel about the problem. Chances are you will be able to look at the troubling issue without a lot of the stress associated with it and be able to solve it faster and with less stress.”

Another possibility is to use your imagination to “interview” one of the people you see – one of your “characters” – about your problem. Grab a sheet of paper and write your problem at the top. Then, pretend you are the character you have created, giving advice. You can write out the answer like a “Dear Abby” advice column. You might even find yourself writing an imagined dialogue or conversation between yourself and your character. What would they do in your situation? By unlocking your creative subconscious, you will open yourself up to new solutions you had previously been blind to.

About the Author:

Dallas Woodburn is the author of two collections of short stories and a forthcoming novel. She has written more than 80 articles for national publications including Family Circle, Writer’s Digest, CO-ED, Justine, and The Los Angeles Times, and she writes a regular column for Listen magazine.  Dallas is the founder of the nonprofit organization “Write On! For Literacy” that has donated nearly 11,000 new books to disadvantaged children. Her latest endeavor is starting a publishing company, Write On! Books, that publishes the work of young writers. In addition, she hosts frequent writing contests, teaches writing camps for kids, and is coordinator of the Young Writers Program at the Santa Barbara Writers Conference. Dallas graduated this past May from the University of Southern California with a B.A. in Creative Writing and Entrepreneurship. Contact her at her website www.WriteOnBooks.org or blog  http://dallaswoodburn.blogspot.com.

© 2009. This article was excerpted with permission from Dallas Woodburn. All reprints must state, “Reprinted with permission by Dallas Woodburn from www.WriteOnBooks.org. Originally published in www.WomensOnlineMagazineLosAngeles.com, September, 2009”.

DISCLAIMER: The information and opinions reflected in this article are solely those of the author and do not reflect on the publisher, editor, or editorial staff of Women’s Online Magazine Los Angeles. This article has been written and reviewed by the author. Any errors should be brought to the attention of the author.

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