I was driving home from dinner with a friend tonight and I started to think about tonight’s blog.
Before we had dinner, we watched a movie. We’ve seen it before, but it had been a while. it’s a fav so it was sort of an easy choice.
I got to thinking about inspiration for writing.
Whilst this movie doesn’t specifically cause me to write in a similar vein, it still inspires and encourages me to think. Even while watching the movie, I seemed to think about the characters themselves and not the actors who portrayed them. It’s sometimes easy to get caught up in the performance of someone you like to watch and neglect who it is they are portraying.
I looked at who the character is. There was the provocateur trying to discover the truth about their past. A mother who had forgotten the truth of the past. A son who had returned from the other side of the country, was obviously part of a wealthy family but really wanted to be out of it (but probably keep the money). A daughter who started off very, very plain and ordinary, emerged as a beautiful swan then turned ugly. A woman so enamoured by a man she could never have who lied about their knowledge of the past and ended up having a minor breakdown.
There are many more characters I could go through, but it’s challenging to see the character for who they are. That can be worthwhile inspiration. Characteristics that are clear and easily definable through a series of well-considered and deliberate actions. Characteristics that don’t always need lots of words to paint their picture. Of course, that’s easy for film, but it can just as easy for the written word. You can easily write things your character is doing that reflects who they are without having to go on and on and on trying to describe their complex, or not, nature.
I think my characters are good yet like any self-analysing writer, we do wonder if we’ve ever done enough.
Be inspired by things that are outside your normal parameters. Something my just be pertinent enough to incorporate it into your story.
Until next time,
Prolific writing.
GA Howie's Blog 