Today’s Tiny Task in preparation for StoryADay May is:
Make a list of 10 accessories/physical features you can give your characters.
In a short story it’s important to orient the reader quickly. You don’t want them stopping to remember which character is which.
With main characters you can spend time working on the way they speak, think and act, to make sure that they feel unique.
But you can also ‘cheat’ by giving them (or walk-on/secondary characters) one signature item that lets readers identify them quickly:
e.g: the barrista in Friends with the shock of white-blond hair; The Doctor in Doctor Who‘s extravagantly long-flappy coat (in almost every regeneration!); Columbo’s raincoat; Aragorn’s sword; Captain America’s shield; the red coat worn by a little girl in the otherwise black-and-white Schindler’s List; the Narnia children’s gifts from Aslan…
Note: with an object there is also the narrative possibility of letting the reader know something is very wrong, if we show the item, with the character nowhere nearby…
DISCUSSION
Did you choose a mix of items and distinctive physical features?