Wednesday Writing Prompt: Character Study

Congratulations to my husband, Harold Eppley, on the publication of his first novel, Ash Wednesday.

One of Harold’s funniest characters is the librarian, Dorothy Moyers. She’s the head librarian of Dustin Public Library. As such, she’s taken it upon herself to talk about Harold’s novel at the Dustin Public Library Facebook page. Here’s what she said last week about the novel and the author:

Hi Dorothy Moyers here with some exclusive dirt on Harold Eppley, author of the book ASH WEDNESDAY, which is full of lies about me and is now available at Amazon & bn.com & will soon be at your local bookstore. I know for a fact that this man dresses up like a woman in his spare time (albeit a very attractive one).

And again: Hi Dorothy Moyers here to warn you that the book ASH WEDNESDAY by Harold Eppley is full of lies about me. It’s also a disgusting book and uses bad language. But if you want to buy it now that it’s available for pre-order on Amazon go right ahead. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!

For the Facebook page, Harold dressed up like Dorothy Moyers (with a little help from me and our daughter). That’s one way to do a character study! Here are some others:

Facebook Profile. If your character had a Facebook profile, what would it look like? What would the character choose to tell people? What would the character exclude? What pages would the character like? What kinds of updates and comments would your character make?

25 Things. A few years ago, folks on Facebook started posting lists of 25 things no one knew about them. Create a list for each of your characters.

Character outing. Take an outing to one of the places your character would love to go—but you do not. Pay attention to details—the sights, sounds, and smells that make the location interesting. What makes this place special to your character?

Your turn: What activities do you do to learn about your character? Share in the comments below! I still have a Bylines calendar leftover from the last giveaway–and one of you will win it!