Thursday, October 21, 2010

Characterization

I'm in my second set of revision notes from my agent and I've been thinking a lot about characterization.

Callen, my MC, was originally more nerd-material, but with my agent's insight, turned way cooler.

He has to wear leather gloves everyday because of his "problem" with touch.

And now that he's really into motorcycles (my newest changes), I picture him slightly differently.

And doing a clothing collage of him through Polyvore really helped.

Here's what Callen might wear to school, with either his Converse or black boots, and always, always a pair of gloves:

20 comments:

Melissa said...

Nice! I've never done any sort of clothing collage or anything like that but seeing this is cool. i also didn't realize that what seeing what someone would typically wear influences my perception of them - with or without any other character traits (physical).

I love when characters surprise you and think it's pretty cool that your character is evolving in a way that you didn't expect when you started.

Laura Pauling said...

Definitely changing a nerdy guy to riding a motorcycle is going to change his image! Good luck!

Cherie Reich said...

That's an awesome idea to do a clothing collage to help capture a character. And, he's definitely not quite as nerdy any more. Good luck with it!

Janet Johnson said...

So interesting to see the changes that come through editing with your agent. Love the look, btw. Looks very cool. Definitely not nerd. :)

Matthew MacNish said...

This is really interesting. Certainly does explain the gloves. What's polyvore?

Amparo Ortiz said...

Love the clothing collage idea!! Maybe I should give it a shot...

Oh, and your brand spanking new character?? *swoon*

Meredith said...

Oooh, I can totally get a sense of him from these clothes! That's so cool! And I love those boots :)

Melissa Gill said...

That is very cool. It's great to see what really goes on when an agent gets involved. I love the collage.

Kelly Polark said...

I love this idea!!!! Callen does have very cool clothes!
I need to make a clothes collage for my mc!!

Maddy said...

How cool!! I can see how I clothing collage might helpful you visualize which direction you want to go with the character. And I think Callen would be right up my alley :)

Stina said...

LOL. Now I'm going to visualizing him in this get up when I read your pages. Oops! Maybe I shouldn't have checked your post out first.

Pamela Gold said...

Callen's got that shabby sheik thing going on. I like it! You're so creative. Are there no lengths you would go to for perfection?

Lourie said...

I have to tell you I am loving this. I am enjoying this journey. Thanks for taking us along.

Talei said...

Oh Callen's wearing dsquared? He's gotta be a cool dude. Love their stuff! ;)

K. M. Walton said...

I can not wait to read how he's changed. But he may always have a secret nerdy place in my heart ; )

Krispy said...

Hey, I like Callen's style! :) I never thought of doing a clothing collage. How fun and totally cool beans.

I have a character who always wears gloves too - also because of something to do with touch. She likes gloves in bright colors though, like red.

Guinevere said...

I've never done a clothing collage before, but it's a nice idea. I get a good sense of character from this too - I definitely picture a cool, athletic guy with a bit of an edge. Yummy!

Shannon said...

I do this kind of stuff for my characters all the time! Helps to really see them! :)

He looks like a cool dude!

Sherrie Petersen said...

Funny how one small detail can completely change who you thought your character was!

Elle said...

This is really interesting! I've only just discovered your blog and a glad I did!

I've never seen a clothing collage for a character before but think I might try this myself!