People Watchers

Want to make your writing truly great? Make it unpredictable.

One way to do that is to give your character's traits that are out of the ordinary--unexpected.

One of the things a great writer should be is a people watcher. I work at a clinic and I get to see a lot of people. Great material at the clinic. I'll bet wherever you work or hang out there's some good material too.

One person I come in contact with (and I have to be careful here so I'll be vague) is a woman who speaks in sentences that sound like one very long word.

Instead of Yes, I've been having some pain in my abdomen lately and I wanted to ask you a few questions about it, she says "yeahibenhavinpainatelyaneniwannaakyaafewkestionsboutit."

I have to really listen to try and decipher her meaning. Someday, I can almost guarantee you, that a character in one of my stories will speak that way. It's good stuff.

A friend of mine is so sweet he'd give you the fillings in his teeth. Even if you didn't really want them. I picked up a book of his by mistake, a book he still very much needed, but guess what his words were? "That's okay, you can have it." He says that a lot.

I'll save that little morsel away until I can use it in a story.

When I met my neighbor he told me his life story while tossing up a tape-measure and catching it, without ever taking his eyes off me.

Neat trick. Now one of my character's in The Demon Chaser has that attribute.

Making this stuff up is hard. But, we don't have to. Listen in on conversations. Watch people. Really pay attention. Then borrow something from this friend, something from that co-worker. Give your characters layers. Give them each something that will surprise your reader and make them seem real.

Just don't tell your friends which of your characters have traits based on them. Otherwise you'll start getting lots of friendly feedback that your character will need to be taller, better looking or smarter. Trust me on this one. If they guess on their own, just sing Carlie Simon's "You're so Vain" to them and walk away. Then watch their reaction. They might give you a funny look that you can use in the next story.