Just as I run to exercise my body, I have exercises for writing. I try to find new ways of understanding who my characters are. In the past I have written letters to and from my characters to understand their personalities, but today I found myself writing a eulogy for the main character in “My New York Times Bestseller.” I guess I was working from the angle of what type of life this person lived and I felt the best way to do this was to write a eulogy from the perspective of another character in the story. As I began this exercise, I found myself getting closer to the character emotionally and as I felt like I was getting closer, I felt myself wanting even more. In the end, not only did I write one Eulogy, I wrote three. Two from family members and one from a friend. This really gave me pause as to the depth of this character and her relationship to those around her.
*Note: I am actually considering posting the final copy of one of the eulogies. What do you think?
6 comments:
WelI ,I guess its all about technique...if it floats your boat,fine...if it sinks it ,make sure you are not in it...Doyle
Eulogies??? Three of them??? Is it a sad novel, people die??? Or is it a
mystery, people get murdered??? Very interesting, Lee.
I would love to read it but I won't know the characters like you do, or like I will when I read the New York Times Best Seller.
Maybe it could work to build anticipation for the book. Maybe a marketing strategy. Will it leave me wanting more???
do it!
Christine
Might be interesting to read. How would you introduce it? Sharon
Building a character from death to life -- v. interesting! Sounds like a creative way to get to know your characters. Obviously I would love to read it because I'm dying to know more about the NYT Bestseller, but you don't want to give too much away ;)
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