A Fiction Character, I Already Wrote About

Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter — What if? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers prompts -

My life today and early life or non-fiction are mostly what I write now. I also started writing poetry while writing rap for a grandchild who thought because I wrote, I may be able to write him a few rap songs. He came back with I didn't rhyme enough.

Now I can rhyme. Poetry came from that. This is what I started with.

Fiction is difficult for me

 I want to write rap to be

 a rapping granny you see 

 to write about a way we

 can see that life and maybe

 some other fun fiction hehe

The Exercise:

First work with a story that you've already written, one whose characters need fleshing out. Write the character's name at the top of the page. Then fill in this sentence five or ten times:

He (or she) is the sort of person who ___________________,

For example: Meyer Wolfsheim is the sort of person who boasts of wearing human molars for cuff links.

Then determine which details add flash and blood and heart to your characters. After you have selected the "telling" detail, work it into your story more felicitously than merely saying, "She is the sort of person who..." Put it in dialogue or weave it into narrative summary. But use it.

The Objective:

To learn to select revealing concrete details, details that often tell us more than the character would want us to know.

What I wrote about the character in my fiction story that I wrote in 2023: The clerk said that just before we came in, there was a woman who came in and grabbed some fudge, and when she left, a German shepherd was looking out the window of her car.

After speaking with the young clerk, we were convinced that our neighbor had taken the money from the church.

And what about that young store clerk? He was in church, wasn’t he? This is getting to be way too much for us to deal with alone. Let’s go to the minister and tell her everything we discovered, and maybe together we can decide what to do.

When the minister came to the door, we told her we had something to report about the stolen money from the collection plate. The police were in her office. And what a surprise to see the young clerk we had spoken with a short time before.

He admitted it was for life’s little pleasures, but there was too much pressure for the pleasures!

Write the character's name at the top of the page. Then fill in this sentence five or ten times:

The clerk/Benny/Mr. Fisher/Benny Fisher is the sort of person who _____________________________________,

Benny lives by us, and we love seeing him at church, as he sings in a loud baritone voice and has looked so sad lately when he enters, but he leaves with a smile on his face.

Benny is a kind, gentle soul with quiet ways and a definite love for chocolate.

Benny Fisher is someone I would not trust with my dog. He barks orders at his small collie, and his dog is panting heavily as they run by our house.

Mr. Fisher excused himself when my wife started talking to him about what happened at church.

Benny is about 17 years old and is always alone or with his dog.

Benny loves attention, and he will perform a solo at church without being asked to do so.

Benny was walking around the back of the house, checking things out, when I came upon him. I thought that was strange, but I went away with the feeling that he is a good kid.

Mr. Fisher is struggling to make ends meet after his divorce from his wife. Their five children take every cent he has, and that is with him working two jobs.

Benny Fisher works at the hospital during the week and at this candy shop on weekends. He seems unable to get a break in life.

Benny is a fun-loving teen living just down the road from us, and he attends the same school as our oldest grandson.