Becoming My Character

Assalamualaikum and greetings dear Bits and Pieces readers,

When I first started writing, I found it very hard to write about my characters. I didn't know how to describe them, how they must be feeling, how to translate their motivation into the right words or in short, it was really hard to completely understand them and put my understanding into words. It was a really frustrating period for me.

Of course, when writers write about the characters in their book, their characters almost always represent someone they know; friends, colleagues, family, people whom the writers' stalk (kidding :-P) etc. I find this quite complicated because I believe that it's very hard to definitely know a person.

Many also project their own personalities or emulate the dark monsters in them to their characters. But this method in my opinion, can only be put to use in two characters at the maximum. Plus, I'm quite shy to show to people my secrets inside; even though I can just lie about it should someone ask.

So I look for another outlet. And it came to me almost immediately; the characters from my favorite TV series, of course!

When I watch, my eyes can see the characters of the TV series. The expressions they have, the way they move, the way they talk, their sense of style...all are right in front of me. And it feels easier for me to get a sense of the characters because you see them exactly as they are. In addition, since it is a TV series, you can see exactly how they grow with you experiencing along with.

Now back to my characters. I analyse my characters and compare them with the characters of the various TV series I watch. Yes, it is hard to find an exact match but a correlation must exist. For instance, the character Harris Corlionessi from my published book is a brilliant and disciplined person. But he is also egotistical, conniving and emotionless. A TV series character that closely resembles him is Dr Gregory House from the TV series House. Thus I studied Dr House. I then fused my imagination together with the result of my study to write about Harris Corlionessi.

I bet you too have your own method of becoming your character. Care to share?