Honestly, I was kinda blogged out—until, after a multitude of phone calls and emails to kickstart a LOA from my night job, the following thought occurred to me:
“Rainey, you forgot to give characters in your new WIP health challenges, and/or physical limitations.”
Oh, for Heaven’s sake.
Below, I’ve listed those that came to mind:
Itchy skin, cough, fatigue = cancer (These symptoms could indicate a plethora of
illnesses.)
A whistle when someone speaks = false teeth
Arthritis = can’t hold a handgun properly, or leaves a crooked finger print.
Under the pseudo name of Robert Galbraith, JK Rowling created a mystery series in which the main protagonist, Cormoran Strike, (a private detective), has lost his leg in an attack in Afghanistan. Do you suppose this hero also experiences PTSD? If that isn’t enough, Cormoran is the illegitimate son of a rock star and a former Special Investigation Branch Investigator. In addition to dealing with mental and emotional challenges, Galbraith’s words paint this character’s physical challenges with fatigue, throbbing and raw skin.
What health challenges do your characters experience?
If physical challenges aren’t enough to make your characters more relatable to readers, here’s another thought.
There I was, lost in the beauty of falling snow, and I wondered,
- How does weather alter my characters abilities?
- How does it amplify their determination?
- Their temperament?
- Their weaknesses?
- Create an emotional impact?
- Does their pain, physical/mental/emotional, bring about a new side to them that even they didn’t know they had?
Let your imagination, observation skills, and technical knowledge create realistic characters. Your readers will become fans, and those fans will thank you.
This is such a simple (though not always “easy”) way to write more believable characters, not to mention increase representation for readers who might experience some of these challenges themselves. And weather can help set the scene while also adding more opportunities to write about a character’s experience with those challenges. Great thoughts here!