One thing I mentioned in last week’s Music post is how the music in your own life can be a direct influence on character’s that you might build in your writing. I usually prepare an outline of main characters, of their physical characteristics, quirks and overall character. I many times have a complete mental image of my characters in mind before I even write one word of the book. Then, the real skill comes in giving a brief physical description of the character when you introduce them. I stick to their appearance, how they dress, and if possible try to tie the mind of the reader in with an approximation of something from my past relationship with certain eras of time.
I grew up in the 70’s/80’s, when Rock and Roll began to transition to a period of ‘Hair Bands’. As we were living in Europe, many of those bands toured Europe every year. Most bands were always happy to meet American dependents before or after concerts. I’m reminded of a picture some classmates took with Journey’s Steve Perry when they went downtown for their concert.
Some of my favorite bands were Cinderella, Ratt, Poison, Dokken, Def Leppard, Bon Jovi, Scorpions and standards like Kiss and Aerosmith. So I created a character named Buford who was a smoking hot, rolled up version of the lead singers of these groups who has a love for Poison, cologne that he buys from rest stops on road trips, who has no restraint on pursuing whatever gives him pleasure.
How often some of us get stuck in the era that we remember as having the most fun in our lives! We flee there when the pressure gets to be too much, putting on music that is guaranteed to chase away the blues.
Today, I don’t have to just have in mind who a character may resemble, I can just go over to an AI program and type in what I am looking for, then continue to fine tune it until I come up with that character’s features. This is for my own ability to keep everything and everyone in order, but I actually created a convoluted family tree for one of my most extensive series, (The Josef and Blair Series, 12 Books and counting!) which I plan to add to the next book in that series. I wouldn’t have dreamed of doing it in any of the other books that have already been released, as doing so could clash with what readers imagine, but all of these characters are firmly established in my reader’s minds and I believe they will get a kick out of seeing everyone in living color. Buford’s character shines in the picture above, just as I thought he would be. I write books that incorporate every culture, having grown up with people from cultures around the world.
Write what you know. Write what you feel. Build your characters with pieces of life such as an era of music that is sure to bring emotions (good or bad) to readers. I know that music is woven through my life, it evokes memories of fun times with friends, of words that said exactly what I was feeling after a breakup, of dreams, fantasies and dancing the night away.
This week’s playlist, ‘Oh My Crushes’, always gets me in the mood to write and I often have to go back and take out lyrics my subconscious mind just started typing, if I can sit down after dancing.
This playlist is dedicated to my bestie Alice Windsor, who died from a heart condition at the age of 22 when I was 23. We met on a job, and it was like we knew each other forever! She was a change of life baby, most of her siblings were 20 years or more older than she was. The brother nearest in age to her came home after basic training to meet her for the first time. Her parents hadn’t wanted to tell him about her mother being pregnant so he wouldn’t worry. I remember she told me he asked, ‘Who’s baby is that on the floor?’ and they told him, ‘Well, that’s your baby sister…’ Alice was my ride or die, she loved Hair Bands, dressing up in the latest fashions, and dancing the night away with me all through the DMV! My mother hated this era, she would say, ‘I can’t get you to do a thing, but that girl calls you all hours of the night, and you’re out of here like the house is on fire!’ Damn skippy, cause we were going to go find some trouble if we could! If you have a friend you haven’t talked to in a while from those young and dumb days, give them a call or a text, peel the years back, turn on some music when you hang up, get a beer, go out and pour a little of it out in a tribute to the homies, then dance the night away under the stars ‘cause nobody can tell you to come inside! You gotta live… #BeEncouragedTAL
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