For Every Like I’ll Answer: Writer’s Edition!
fun
What Would Your Character Do?
I just participated in this really fun thread on a NaNoWriMo forum, and I thought I’d share it here on my blog/Twitter.
These were some “what would your character do” scenarios posted in the thread.
What would your character do if put in one of these situations?
A. Somebody throughs your character a knife, and yells “KILL HIM” and points to someone the character has been suspicious of for a while?
B. Someone punches them in the side, and runs away?
C. Let’s say your character had to choose between saving their next of kin, or their best friend. Who would they choose?
Theaternerd77
I definitely encourage you guys to participate or to create your own versions in the comments (or link a scenario you created on your blog/Twitter).
Here was my response:
A. He examined the knife in his hand, then looked back at her. “Y-you expect me to use this thing after you nearly chopped my head off tossing it to me?” he said, rolling his eyes. “Just because the public thinks I’m a murderer, doesn’t mean I am.”
B. He curled up into a ball on the floor, and sobbed quietly as the children watched, their jaws dropped.
“Are you okay?” his niece asked, kneeling beside him.
“Do I look okay!?”
The children shook their heads.
C. He looked at the children, then to his best friend.
“Are you serious?” his friend snapped as he raced toward the children.
“You’ve already wasted twenty-four years of your life!” he cried back. “You should’ve listened to your parents and got a real job!”
His friend threw his hands above his head. “We work together!”
“Exactly!” he hollered, scooping up his youngest nephew. “Anyway, good luck getting out of here before they slaughter you.”
“We’re leaving him?” his nephew asked, looking back.
“He’ll be fine,” he lied.
“Wait my teddy bear!” his nephew choked.
“Don’t make me regret my decision!”
Omg. This was so much fun! I’m laughing a little too much right now. Best editing break ever.
Character Collage #5
This character is a really good friend, despite being known as a flirt and not always being the most reliable. Despite being a fan of fun and being the life of the party, he genuinely wants what’s best for the people in his life.
He also feels like he constantly needs to watch out for his younger cousin, which he finds annoying since she and his best friend are constantly at one another’s throats.
He’s had several failed romances, but usually prefers things with no strings attached. He doesn’t think he’s ready to settle down, since he’s put his life on hold to help out his friend.
Old friends perfectly describes his relationship with his best friend, especially when they were younger. Even when he thinks something is a bad idea, he’ll go along with it for the fun of it…that is until things have gone too far.
In the original draft he had a different name, but my editor and I changed it because apparently the letter R was my favourite when I named my main characters. It wasn’t something I had thought of before, but now I’m more conscious about characters whose names sound too similar (especially key characters), as it can be confusing for the reader.
After changing his name, I actually picture him differently, which is strange to me…but I like his new name. I picked it after a favourite superhero of mine, that I’ve had a crush on since I was little.
Character Collage #2
Choosing one song off this playlist is hard. There are too many really good ones! I have three for him…and I’m always forcing myself not to add too much to them. I think to keep things simple and consistent I’ll just share his cheer up song as well…which surprisingly isn’t a Ricky Nelson song, but a Nirvana song.
I didn’t plan or expect this one to have such a lack of colour…but I think it says a lot about his character.
He loves music and started taking piano lessons when he was very young. His older brother got him a guitar when he was a teenager, despite his parents protest. There are moments when he’s a bit fixated on death in the series. He doesn’t know how to deal with grief, nor has he really had time to grieve.
He feels guilty about how he acted when he was younger, and tries his best to be a proper “adult” but instead gets accused of being bland and boring by his niece and nephews. His niece especially, misses when he used to be goofy. The one habit he hasn’t managed to suppress is his spontaneity, which his friends consider reckless. He’s a leap before thinking type of person and isn’t as grown up as he likes to think he is.
Ardin Patterson 