Tuesday, April 24, 2012

U is for Upside-Down

I took an acting for film class a few years back and I had to do this one scene in which my character was very serious and spooky and a little bit frightening. And at the end of my monologue, I smiled. My coach was surprised, but excited, that I had made that choice, and he asked me why I had done it.

I said that I wanted to take the scene, and flip it on its head - that I thought it would be more interesting and add more layers. And I had been right!

Try to do this with your characters. Find moments when they can say or do things that are a little unexpected, but still in character, to add those extra dimensions. It adds depth to your book.

What book have you read where the characters did unexpected things?

3 comments:

  1. Wow. Nothing comes to mind. But in my own novel the main character does something unusual at the end, something humanly impossible.

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    1. Same with me - only it is my characters who do it to me. They suddenly do something unexpected, but I always find there has been a good reason. (My plots happen while the books are being written - and I do smile when I get complimented on how meticulously plotted they are!)

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  2. Very interesting. I hadn't thought about it before but you're right. Thanks for this!

    From Diary of a Writer in Progress

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