Well hi there! It has come to my attention that I have been seriously lacking in my posts. To be honest, it’s more than a lack of motivation. I just don’t now what to write about. Do you have any ideas, or questions that you’ve been thinking about? I’d love to hear them in the comments!
Today I’m going to write up something short because I’m bored (and my little brother is ripping out black mold in my closet, so I can’t just chill in my room). *sigh* I guess I’m being forced to be semi productive.
This is going to sound super weird. Prepare yourselves.
When I am inventing a character for a story, I look at their back. Not their backstory (although that is important as well). No, I’m talking about their physical back. Their spine, shoulder blades, ribcage, etc. How they carry themselves. (Their whole torso, front and back, can be useful. I just tend to rely mostly on their back.) Why? Because it tells so much about them. Do they lift weights? Are they physically depressed? Are they skinny or more heavy-set? Anorexic? Are they uptight? It will show in their shoulders. Have they been physically injured or abused? Are they clumsy? It will show in the way they move and react, accompanied by scars, cuts and/or bruises. Are they a dancer? Are they confident or insecure? Do they hunch up at a desk all day, like me? It will show in their back. There might be small permanent bruises up and down their spine if they sit in a hard chair. All of this can be a verb basis. Depending on what kind of background the character has, I can define their physical shape and the way that they move just by looking at their back. Most people say that we carry many burdens on our shoulders; well, that is true. How we carry them and how heavy they are is what gives us away. So all the verbs I use for that character are easily found, because I know what it feels like to be in their body. For example:
Imagine you had been in a knife fight with a bandit three days ago. You have a deep cut in your back that aches with every breath you take. Bruises have formed on your sides, where he hit you after you kicked the knife away from him. Your shoulders hurt from dragging the heavy bandit off the road when the fight was over, and your whole body feels slouchy and painful. Okay, now what verbs are in your future? Probably not run, climb, carry, or throw. You’d most likely be leaning towards sit, lay, eat, or stroll. Just by describing the person’s back, you can determine the verbs and likely plot for the character’s near future.
So, yeah. That’s a thing I do.
Thanks for reading! I hope I didn’t totally waste your time.
Have you ever wondered where else you can find me? (Well, the obvious answer is in the corner somewhere probably crying. But that’s not what I meant.) My other accounts can be found by searching for these usernames in the appropriate sites:
Redbubble: BananaToucanA
Etsy: WhistlepigStudios
We Heart It: AkamaruDragneel (Will show up as Pax @AkamaruDragneel)
(P.s. if you know me well, take a look at my collections on my canvas. There might just be one that I made for you.) 🙂
♡, Shortie
