How well do you know your character?
Well enough to hear their voice? Do you see them roll their eyes or sigh whenever you have them do something they don't want to or wouldn't normally? Do you see their face? Can you see the flecks of gold or grey or black in their eyes? Do they have wrinkles or scars? What about their hair? Does it look dark red until the sun hits it? Is it always frizzy or recently shaved off?
What about their hands? Do you see their hands? Do they have hang nails? Calluses? Chubby Fingers? Dirt caked in the ridges of their finger prints? Chipped, black nail polish? No polish? Professional manicures? Fake nails? What color would they wear if they wore nail polish? Why?
Can you answer these questions? Do you know how their hands look and, more importantly, what that says about their personality?
Now - the test - ask your critique partner or a trusted reader to tell you about your character's hands.
Can they? Can they tell you what your character's hands and nails look like?
Does it match what you see in your head?
If the answer isn't yes, you have some work to do. If the answer is a match, way to go!
My critique partner and I tried this test the other week, and it allowed me to see:
1. which characters were coming through loud and clear because our views of the nails matched
2. which characters obviously weren't coming through as clearly AND that allowed me to think about those characters and try to see WHY they weren't working.
So take a look! Let me know what you see!
Talk to you soon.
