Dynamic Characters Read Free Page B

more than do her reddened eyes. The frumpy clothes clearly have been forced on her by necessity, and so serve to tell us more about her current situation (poor relation) than her own taste. Do this when you wish to put your character's current situation in the foreground, so you can change it later (Hero becomes rich and well dressed).
    Use Details of the Home to Indicate Personality
    Among the first things we learn about Kinsey Millhone, Sue Grafton's popular detective, is that Kinsey lives sparsely:
    My name is Kinsey Millhone. I'm a private investigator, licensed by the state of California. I'm thirty-two years old, twice divorced, no kids. . . . My apartment is small but I like living in a cramped space. I've lived in trailers most of my life, but lately they've become too elaborate for my taste, so now I live in one room, a ''bachelorette.'' I don't have pets. I don't have houseplants.
    —'A' Is for Alibi
    Note that this apartment contains nothing living that might shackle its occupant. Kinsey has chosen this environment. Beyond letting us visualize setting, this is Grafton's way of alerting us that Kinsey is a loner, not materialistic, wary of close bonds. And so she is.
    Use Personal Tastes to Indicate Personality
    Just as homes can illustrate character, so can anything else that your character chooses: car, food, drink, music, books, vacation spots. Ian Fleming suggested quite a lot about James Bond with Bond's precise specifications for his martinis (''shaken, not stirred''). Is your character more likely to drive a Ford Escort, a Mercedes-Benz or a pickup truck? Conservative black, or gold with racing stripes? With or without bumper stickers? What do the bumper stickers say? What's in the back seat: decaying McDonald's wrappers, a complete first-aid kit, a change of clothes and toothbrush (just in case), fishing gear from last summer, broken toys? When was the car last serviced? Washed? Is it usually driven on a familiar round of home-work-mall, or has it seen both Acapulco and Anchorage?
    The man with volumes of Nietzsche beside his bed is not the same man with Turkey Grower Monthly beside his. Or maybe he is (interesting). Show us. Not everything, of course. Just two or three personal tastes that indicate a lot about who this character really is.
    Use Mannerisms to Indicate Personality
    Jenny Fields walks fast, swinging her arms. Carrie White stands with her head bent. Other characters may chew on their hair, endlessly jiggle one foot or carefully fold all pieces of paper into precise thirds before throwing them away. Such mannerisms—habitual physical gestures—tell us something about the inner life of each character.
    Some mannerisms, such as lighting a cigarette to show nervousness, have been so overused that they're now cliches. But the idea of using mannerisms is still viable. Search for fresh gestures that let us visualize what your character is doing while telling us something significant about her personality.
    Use Description to Indicate Relationships With Others
    Look again at the description of Macon Dead. We don't actually learn anything about what Macon looks like. What author Morrison does instead is use minimal physical description as a jumping-off place for authorial exposition about how Macon Dead relates to other people.
    Philip Roth uses the same technique in Goodbye, Columbus. Here is the narrator, Neil, describing his new girlfriend's mother:
    I did not like Mrs. Patimkin, although she was certainly the handsomest of all of us at the table. She was disastrously polite to me, and with her purple eyes, her dark hair, and large, persuasive frame, she gave me the feeling of some captive beauty, some wild princess, who had been tamed and made the servant to the king's daughter—who was Brenda.
    The actual visual details about Mrs. Patimkin are pretty generic: handsome, purple eyes, dark hair, large frame. That's because the visual details aren't the point. They're merely a springboard for the