Make It Feel Real

Image: @thesouthernboheme

We so often write characters (fiction and nonfiction) that live in a vacuum. We write characters that do what we want them to do without listening to what they want. But, the best characters are the ones who stay with us long after a book is over. They are the characters who feel as real as we are; they laugh, and eat, and fuck more than anything.

Today, take a character from a piece you are working on (or start a new one) and examine who they are beyond your page. What do they want? What do they fear? Who are they without you? Go.