You do you

Chapter 1 - Character Mannerisms

There are a lot of guides that tell you how to plan your synopsis, plan out your characters, even go as far as telling you to interview your character to find out who they really are and how you want to portray them in your book, but in this chapter, I will be giving you some ideas that I’ve only come across once since I started my journey.

The devil is in the details, and I hope these suggestions will get your creative juices flowing.

Characters are just words on a blank piece of paper or a name you chose for someone in your book. Many writers imagine a character as a living breathing person while they are writing their book, and even the smallest of mannerisms is what can make your character feel real to your readers.

Here are some interesting ideas to think about while you develop your characters, and ways to show readers what characters are doing, transforming them from a simple two-dimensional entity to a fully-fledged-high definition, full-colour character.

You can use this chapter to guide you to convey a character’s traits through their normal actions instead of using only their thoughts and dialogue.

Ask yourself these questions:

• What is your character’s posture like?

Characters don’t just sit down or stand up. Some can slouch a lot, while others keep their backs so straight you wonder if they might have a stick up their butts. Decide on whether he/she or it has the same consistent posture, or changes under different circumstances.

• How would you describe their manners… I mean manners, Lol, not mannersism.

Is he a gentleman that holds the door open for a lady to enter? Maybe he is the kind of guy that opens the door just so he can check out the cute girl’s junk in her trunk.

Is her handshake stronger than a woman’s would be? Perhaps she is a fitness fanatic, and it explains her strong grip.

Perhaps their accent changes as the company changes. They could use a formal, more sophisticated language when they are in the company of colleagues while swearing like a sailor in front of their friends.

• Sometimes characters have a tell or comfort gesture.

Like an eye twitch when they lie, gripping their own arms when they get stressed, or rubbing their neck or eyes when they are tired. Do they fight to suppress these kinds of gestures, or do they do them often? They could go for massages when they feel stressed or have comfort food. Where is their safe space?

• The most interesting characters have incredibly expressive body movements.

Perhaps you have a character that is a hand talker and waves his hands about a lot. The most common body movement is the motion of their eyebrows. In the case of some characters, they might stomp their feet or even shuffle when they are tired.

• What does your character sound like?

Are they loud breathers? Perhaps they drag their feet when they walk, or their shoes clack on tile floors. Maybe they like fidgeting in a way that makes noise, or they carry a set of keys in their pocket that jangles.

• How does your character handle eye contact?

Are they someone who keeps eye contact, or do they look away? Do some research on body language and find out what it means if they look to the left, perhaps.

• How does your character act when they are alone?

Do they sniff their armpits when they think people are looking? Perhaps they sing in the shower.

• How would your character act when they are with people, or perhaps they don’t care what people think of how they act.

• How does your character suppress emotions?

The most common gesture would be lip biting, but there are others like the clenching of fists, or avoiding eye contact.

• How about their hand movements?

Does your character point at stuff, nod their head, shake their head, or just flippantly wave people off with one wave of their hand?

• Are they confident or shy?

Should your character be in a crowd, do they move out of the way of others, or are they the ones who stand tall and intimidate those around them to get out of the way?

• One thing that is sometimes overlooked is a character’s common reactions to common emotions.

Does your character tremble in anger, or do they do something weird like laugh in serious situations?

I hope this first chapter will give you some good ideas when you work on your characters, and maybe even help a little should you get stuck with writer’s block.

Happy writing

XX