Spaces<\/strong> – what is your character’s house like? Their bedroom? Workspace? How do these spaces show your character’s personality?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nNow, how do you impart this information to your readers without boring paragraphs of description? Remember to show, not tell.<\/p>\n
Here’s an example – let’s say we’ve got our heroine, Sandy Shores, who’s a quirky\u00a0lifeguard with a secret dislike of children.<\/p>\n
We could tell about her:<\/p>\n
Sandy Shores was a tall green-eyed redhead who strode the beach with a possessive eye. It was her stretch of sand, after all: hers to guard and keep safe for the tourists and their rugrats. She twirled her battered whistle – a keepsake from her father’s days as a high school football coach – as she patrolled. She spotted a stray bit of litter and pounced. Blasted kids and their candy bars. Why didn’t their parents teach them to throw their garbage away properly?<\/em><\/p>\nHowever, it’s much more effective to show – and drop in your background tidbits as you go:<\/p>\n
“Patrolling your beach again, Sandy?”<\/em><\/p>\nSandy Shores turned eyes green as the sea on Officer Law. “Laugh if you want, Doug, but these people are on my sand. They’re mine to guard.”<\/em><\/p>\n“Even the dreaded house apes, eh?”<\/em><\/p>\nSandy shuddered, watching a particularly sticky urchin toddle across the beach, holding a dripping ice cream cone. “Somebody has to keep the brats safe, yes.”<\/em><\/p>\nOfficer Law laughed, his eyes on the battered whistle in her fist. “Why don’t you get yourself a new one, anyhow? That one looks like it’s on its last legs.”<\/em><\/p>\nSandy closed her fist protectively. “It was my father’s.”<\/em><\/p>\nSee the difference? Now, you try it – you don’t have to put everything about your character into the first scene, but drop bits and pieces of their life into your story to make them more believable.<\/p>\n
![\"WP_Pencil_Journal\"](\"http:\/\/www.jeshays.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/WP_Pencil_Journal.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n