It helps me sometimes to have an item associated with a particularly unruly character that I can wrap my fingers around, see the colours of, smell the material. Having the item in my hands means I'm experiencing the character's reaction alongside them, and I can isolate my responses physically and emotionally, then put those into words on paper.
I've done this with coffee mugs, cutlery, stuffed animals, bodily injury (I didn't harm myself! I just pretended to be injured in a room, alone, with no one to see me so I could pretend to go from Point A to Point B in the way a maimed character might.), and recently purchased a marbleised tobacco pipe to have on hand while I write scenes where my characters are using one.
What about you? Do you have physical objects associated with your characters that you use to promote your writing experience?
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Ash Litton is a writer and lover of sci-fi, fantasy, and all things fictional. She is the author of Thoroughbred, Evening Hallow, Comeuppance, and Cabover Cabaret, and works on other Appalachian Dream Tales between her ongoing novel projects. She's also written No Diet, No Surgery, No Sweat, an ebook chronicling her weight-loss journey. When she's not writing, she's drawing, and when she's not doing either of those, she's dreaming up new projects to work on. Born and raised in rural West Virginia, Ash has always wondered what things lay hidden in the hills around her. She attended West Virginia University, where she studied the English language before returning home to her family in rural West Virginia. |
I've never used a prop, and really never thought about it, but now, I want to try it. I understand how using props can help you somewhat fill the character's shoes, and it might even stimulate some other thoughts you never even knew existed. So, yeah, this is a good idea!
ReplyDeleteI hope it works for you! :)
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