If it Doesn’t Kill You… Character Building II

This topic began a week ago and the first part of my comments on Character building is here.

I set my character up last Wednesday but I didn’t round her out. I just plunked her into a scene. My next steps in character building include her age, gender, we know she has presented as female, what does she look like? What is her favorite room in her house, apartment, rooming house, mental hospital, cancer ward, tent, tee-pee or skid row? What does she keep in her closet, chest, backpack, car trunk, garbage bag? These questions will get me closer to figuring out how the woman got to the scene in bare feet with her back to the water.

This character wears her hair at shoulder length, it is dark brown and wavy. She is of average build and height but a bit too thin. She is strong. She is decidedly female and is certain of her preference in a mate. She is old enough to have true regrets, thirty five years seems good.

Her favorite room is her bathroom. She has persuaded her property manager to let her paint the bathroom. This tells us she is renting. One bathroom. She has painted it in a loud color scheme of bright green and purple because the colors remind her of a trip she took to a Caribbean Island. She didn’t have to be rich to go there. Maybe she honeymooned there. This makes her married, separated or divorced. She likes the ocean. I would go on to describe the products in her bathroom, including big potted hanging plants.

Her closet is nearly empty. She doesn’t have much in the way of hanging clothes. Two pairs of shoes, one pair of running shoes and one pair of dark dress shoes. A simple black dress hangs with a summer printed sundress. Most of her clothes are in a dresser. Today, she reaches into the closet and takes the summer dress and simple shoes. She slips the dress on over her head and shrugs it into place where the skirt part settles over her narrow hips. She toes on the shoes and fluffs her hair in front of a full length mirror. She leans in to check her mascara and leaves the room without a trace.

Now that she is dressed for a summer day, my next step might be placing her somewhere and watching her interact with her surroundings and another person or two.

I’ll save that for another time. Thanks for dropping by and thanks for letting me indulge myself.