: Re: What Can I Do to Familiarize Myself with my Characters? I'm a plotter, meaning that I develop and plan my novels before I ever start writing them. In my case, this is almost something of

@Debbie451

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Write a bunch of short pieces with no particular plot to get used to writing him. Drabbles (100 words), double-drabbles (200), flash (1,000 to 2,000).

Your stories should just be little windows into him to practice writing what he'll do. Like:

He's out of milk. He goes to the store to get milk, and the store is
closed. (What are his reactions? What does he do next?)
There's a leak in the bathroom faucet. (That can be an entire set
piece depending on his reaction.)
He decides to get a pet. (What animal? What gender? What breed?
fixed? name? Does it need a cage, a tank, a litter box, a leash?)
He has to sell his vehicle. (What kind of vehicle? Why? is he happy
about it? Sentimental? Annoyed? Desperate for money? Does he enjoy
negotiating to get the best of the buyer? Does the buyer get the best
of him?)

The point of these pieces is to become accustomed to figuring out what Dude 2.0 does rather than your original Dude 1.0 did, so that when you go back to your novel, the 2.0 version is already in your fingertips and you don't have to work so hard to access him.

Writing a bunch of little bits will help you to slough off 1.0's bad habits. Making them unconnected, meaningless bits which are not part of your novel will help you get past the concern of screwing up your current work. You don't have to worry about leaving your outline because these are essentially pantsed (discovery) pieces, purely for exercise.

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