Writing Interesting Characters: Quirks and Hobbies.

Alright, so one thing that I hear talked about a lot, is character creation and making characters that seem well rounded and not flat.

One interesting thing I have learned to do through the various books I have read on the topic, as well as the pod casts and videos I have watched is to give all of my characters interesting quirks or hobbies.

By giving a character a hobby, coin collecting for instance, you add a new dimension to that character. They aren't just existing with only the current happenings of the story to define them, but have something they care about besides the problems in the plot that add more depth. One I have used is dirt collecting. In my fantasy novels, the first mate of the ship -who is a dwarf- collects a little vial of dirt whenever he travels to a new location.

Now to you and me, dirt may seem boring or pointless. But it makes that character seem a bit more real. Why do they collect the dirt? Who knows, he just likes to do it. But I can relate to collecting and so can plenty of others. In real life I like to collect the squished pennies from the penny crushers whenever I travel somewhere new. It gives me something to look back on and remember fun trips I have gone on. My dwarf happens to keep all of his dirt vials in his cabin, on a rack, so maybe he likes to sit down and think about past adventures. Plus, dwarfs and earth (maybe a bit too cliche), am I right?

Besides that, you can use their hobbies to introduce new plot complications, or solutions. Maybe the dirt collector really knows his stuff, so if there's an issue where soil must be identified he can help out and still be believable. Maybe his collection goes missing - bam! new task for the characters to do. Time to catch the dirt-napper.

Anyway, that's just a quick little thought I had on the topic. Wanted to share it with you all, nothing earth shattering or revolutionary, but useful.

Happy writing!

Matt

Warhammer Wednesday! #1

I've decided that Wednesdays will be Warhammer Wednesday! *cheers and celebratory lasgun shots*

I love the hobby and I put a lot of time into it, I know a lot of others out there do as well. So, along with writing why not talk about warhammer sometimes too, right?

I'm currently constructing some Wood Elves. I have about 56 Glade Guard to build... decided to make one unit of 10 Glade Guard, one unit of 15 Glade Guard, and three units of 10 Way Watchers. Figure that gives me a ton of shooting goodness... which I guess makes them like my Eldar in 40k, which if I've never mentioned before, is the Renia Craftworld consisting of a sweet gold and red color scheme. (Side note: Swooping Hawks are awesome.)

Anyone out there play? What armies? 40k or Fantasy? (I'm just trying to get into WHFB hence the Wood Elves...) Comment below!

Dont forget you can follow me on Twitter as well! @MattTaylor1776

-Thanks,

Matt

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