Artist Martine Charalambou’s painting in progress of Drag Artist Jonny Woo, at Sutton House live painting event in May
Last Sunday, Creative Writes participants of the Creating Character workshop were sent out into the wilds of Muswell Hill Broadway to take inspiration from ‘real life’ characters.
Before setting out, we wrote a list of characters/people that we admire – real or fictional. We then wrote for 10 minutes with the option of keeping one of these characters in our minds and writing ‘I’m thinking of’ in their voice. As with all Creative Writes exercises, participants were encouraged to think and edit as little as possible and just keep the pen moving across the page. Try this at home!
When out and about, our intrepid writers were encouraged to observe their characters very closely – looking at the way they moved, looked and if possible – spoke. They were asked to imagine zooming in & out as if they had a camera pointed at the character and to notice any features that stood out – for example, clothing/birth marks.
When the writers returned with their characters in mind, we constructed a list of interview questions which we asked each other, in order to develop our character further. We answered without much time to think, so the answers were often surprising! We included questions which covered the character’s appearance, background and personality. We then wrote down the answers as quickly as possible. Interview questions included: Who are their family? What is in their purse/wallet/bag? What is their biggest secret/fear? What makes them laugh? What are they wearing on their feet? What are they doing on Saturday night? Try this at home & think of your own questions to really get inside the character’s mind.
Enjoy!