Young Writers Society

Ok, this will sound a bit weird at first but bear with me.

Think of ten random things. If you can, cast your your mind into nothing-ness (perhaps a white wall? works for me) and things will just pop up. e.g. my list :

paperclip
wig
dagger
balloon
semi-quaver
the sun
an old-fashioned water pump
a black hole
a nightingale (bird)
an envelope


What can you deduce from these things? For example, an obvious one is a dagger. Possibly your character is a murderer? Or is missing a body part due to a dagger? Another one, a paperclip. Used to attach things, usually paper. So, possibly this character has an obsessive compulsiveness. Get the idea?

I tried it last night and it started to become very funny as i got more and more imaginative...

N.B. And yes, i do know that 'nothing-ness' is not a word... (Or is it...)

thanks for that

i can usually make-up characters but there's always a detail i should have included, maybe this will help

That is a really good idea. I'll have to try it sometime. Sounds entertaining.

It is indeed a clever way to give your characters interesting quirks and personality traits.

My list of things:

Rum
Shadows
Ink
Berries
Beetle
Handcuffs
Hippo

and that was it. Hmmmm.
Upon experimentation, this doesnt seem to always work. Maybe I'm trying to hard.

Actually, I could come up with a lot with that. Maybe she's a villager who lives near a port, and traders/pirates often come to the village for supplies and women. The rum and shadows could suggest the pirates/traders, and maybe ink is valued there... Berries could be used for stains, or simply for food (trading, perhaps?), and beetles might be valued as well, almost worshipped, maybe. Handcuffs... Maybe not the traditional metal handcuffs, but simple ones made out of ropes, to take villagers away... And hippos can be quite vicious. A hippo attack might have wounded/crippled the girl.

*laughs* I can't just make a character, I have to make a whole story around it....