Writing question here! How do you really get to know your characters? I’ve been having problems getting into some of my characters’ heads for my novel and I can’t find any useful advice.

thebibliosphere:

I personally like to take my characters out for coffee. 

Drag them out of whatever world you have them in, and drop them into a different setting, a cafe in Paris, a busy NYC Starbucks—the coffee kiosk at Wallmart at 2am. What do they order? Is it a shot of espresso with biscotti on the side, the chocolate cake? Hot tea? Or is it three cans of energy drink, a pretzel with extra cheese sauce and a side of anti-acids?

How do they eat it, do they savor it, do they take neat little bites, do they let it melt on their tongue, or do they tear it apart and talk with their mouthful, gesturing wildly as they do. 

Do they people watch? Do they listen in to other conversations, or do they keep their headphones in keep their head down. Are they reading, sketching, or just phasing out? If they are listening to music, what are they listening to? What does that music taste tell them about you? Does another character phone them? Do they pick up and engage the call, or do they let it ring out and mull things over.

Are they dealing with issues with other characters? How do they feel about them right now, what’s on their mind? Do they have illnesses or an injury, a condition that affects their day to day life? How does that affect them being able to sit there and enjoy the moment—does it affect them at all until they move to stand up and feel the twinge run through them.

If removing them from their immediate world is too jarring, do it in world. A tavern, space cantina, market food stall watching street performers. Where are they headed to next.

Write them doing something mundane, come at them from another angle devoid of plot, just purely character thoughts and sensory exploration to how they interact with their world. Overall just try to get a feel for what kind of person they’d be, not a character driven by plot, but the person who needs to get groceries and do laundry before the end of the night or they’ll have no clean socks for tomorrow.

Play with them, mess around. There’s utterly no harm in messing with the world you’ve created for funsies if it’ll help you get unstuck. 

I hope that helps some ❤